MANCHESTER AND SALFORD Newsletter and Walks No 21 September 2014

MANCHESTER AND SALFORD Newsletter and Walks No 21 September 2014 Manchester and Salford Local Group (M & S Ramblers) MANCHESTER & SALFORD AGM RECENT SOCIALS & LOCAL WALKS The Lloyds, 617 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester M21 9AN 1st November. Walk 11.00 am Lunch 1.00 pm Meeting 2.00 pm. Speaker: Carragh Teague funded by the Department of Health to promote walking and wants to work with us on promoting Green Corridor in Manchester and help develop materials for the Salford Trail You can come for all or part of the day. In July we combined a walk over Stanage Edge to Hathersage and an evening swim. After the walk we had afternoon tea in Hathersage and had a great time at an open air swimming pool with music and food and got the train home. The weather was wonderful. Mags Metcalf. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Folk Train to Glossop October Date to be confirmed Imperial War Museum North Tues 18 th Nov Guided tour of First World War Exhibition Salford Quays. More details soon. Christmas Social Monday Dec 15 th Drink at Christmas Markets, Food and quiz at Paramount, Wetherspoons, Oxford Rd 9 of us on a lovely sunny headed off from Blackrod towards Rivington and Lever Park on roads, through a farm yard then into Lever Park, and the shores of the Lower Rivington Reservoir. More details Chris c20kew@googlemail.com WALK PROGRAMME The latest programme up to the end of March 2015 is at the end of newsletter. 1

Coffee and cake at the Bowling Green cafe with lovely views across the reservoirs and beyond. We made our way across Upper Rivington Reservoir up to Yarrow Reservoir and back to the start point and a well earned drink at The Rivington pub. 10 miles on a fine day with some excellent views across the moors. Bob Lenihan Morecambe bay sands walk July saw the opportunity for a group of us from Manchester and Salford Ramblers to walk across Morecambe Bay Sands with the official Queens guide, Cedric Robinson. The event was in aid of three charities, The Air Ambulance, Friends of the Lake District and Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention, which was the one chosen by the majority of us to support. In August we walked round the Worsley area, tea at the local community centre and lunch at the garden centre - lovely walk. Mags Metcalf. The weather forecast for the weekend was not promising, with thunder and lighting over the North West, but the Sunday of the walk saw a welcome change and we were fortunate to have a wonderful sunny day, and joined in with the 500 or so other walkers who d signed up to the event. The walk was due to start at noon, so we had time for the obligatory pre walk coffee and cake, then joined the rest of the walkers and made our way from the starting point at Arnside. Other walks on Frogatt Edge and the Goyt valley plus evening walks to Tandle Hill and Bramhall have been enjoyed by all. The walk began following the coast line and heading towards Morecambe, then once in the bay, turned right and headed over in the direction

of Kents Bank, which gave us stunning views across over Arnside and Grange over Sands, with the Lake District in the background. The Walk In June, three friends and I walked the Way from Melrose, in the Scottish borders, to Lindisfarne, just off the Northumberland coast. We did it over 5 days, with the last day being a walk over the sands on the old Pilgrim route to Lindisfarne. It s a long walk, 100k plus, and not easily split into smaller bits. Basically it s Melrose to Harestanes visitor centre 26km, Harestanes to Yetholm 27km, Yetholm to Wooler 21km and Wooler to Lindisfarne 28km. The walk was approximately 8 miles, mostly on sand banks with some wading involved, then a bit of channel jumping over to the finish point at Kents Bank train station. It was a great experience, enhanced by the blue skies and sunshine, one that most of us would like to do again in the future and hopefully raising money for a worthwhile charity. Bob Lenihan WALKING ELSEWHERE St Cuthbert s Way Part One History St Cuthbert was born in 635 and is thought to have been brought up in Lauderdale, in the Scottish border country. As a 17 year old shepherd, he had a vision of a soul being escorted to heaven by angels. Next day, he heard that St Aidan, founder of the Melrose and Lindisfarne communities, had died. He resolved to join the Melrose community, eventually rising to become its Prior. He held other major church posts, and was finally installed as Bishop of Lindisfarne. He died in 687 and was buried on Lindisfarne where his tomb became a magnet for pilgrims. In 875 Lindisfarne was threatened by the Vikings and the monks decided to remove Cuthbert s body to a place of safety. This was the start of its travels! The monks carried Cuthbert for 7 years until they were given a church at Chester-le- Street, near Durham. This was only a pause, because in the 10 th century a Danish invasion threatened, so Cuthbert was on the move again! At one point in his travels his bones lay at Durham where the saint apparently gave signs that he wished to remain there. Finally he was moved into the new cathedral at Durham in 1104. All being well into bus pass territory, we decided to have our luggage transported to allow us to carry only day packs. We rendezvoused in Melrose, where we left our car to be collected later. After a pleasant stay in a B&B, and a full Scottish, we set off on a lovely sunny morning. Almost immediately we had to climb a long set of steep, wooden steps. Not too pleasant on full bellies! However, we were soon in open country and heading for a gap in the Eildon Hills. Splendid views from the top! We were to look back at these hills for the next few days. Then we descended through lovely woodland to walk by the Bowden Burn to meet the River Tweed and walk along its banks for a while.

feeling very hot! We were rewarded at the top with fine views and a cracking ridge walk. At Maxton we turned south and joined the Roman road Dere Street which we followed for several kilometres, eventually entering woodland near Harestanes visitor centre. We were staying in Jedburgh, which is about 5km south of Harestanes. Nobody wanted the extra walk so we carried on just for 2km to Jedford Bridge. When we judged we were about 30 min from this, and we had a mobile signal, we phoned for a taxi to collect us. Unfortunately I misread my GPS waypoint and it turned out we were a bit further away than I thought. Consequently, I had to dash ahead the last kilometre to meet the taxi! All was well however, and we were transported to our B&B in Jedburgh, where our bags had magically appeared. We did 28km this day. A little more than needed but it knocked 2km off the next day. After a good dinner, a good sleep, and another full Scottish we were collected by taxi and dropped off at Jedford Bridge. It was another lovely day as we set off along Dere Street again. Soon we turned off this on to the recommended Cuthbert variation. More fine walking in lovely woods, which shaded us from the strong sunshine. A big plus of the Way is that there is much beautiful woodland. Not many horrible pine plantations. The Way is well looked after with plenty of waymarking. We kept meeting the same strimmer and mower team keeping the paths clear. We arrived at the tiny hamlet of Cessford, where there is a rather fine ruined castle. This was the home of the Kerrs, a famous Border Reiver family noted, amongst other more violent things, for being left handed. Walking on, we came into Morebattle where we had our lunch in the village centre. It had been looking a bit gloomy for a while and it began to drizzle, so it is fortunate there is a pub here, the Temple Hall. It was a no brainer to go in for some refreshment. Dallying for as long a possible, the rain stopped as we left and the sun came out again. Maybe there is something in this pilgrim thing? The sting in the tail now was that the next section of the walk was the highest part of the Way. Soon we were plodding up hill and First we crossed Grubbit Law, then Wideopen Hill, at 368m the highest point of the Way, then Crookedshaws Hill. A steep descent from here put us on a lane heading into Yetholm. We left this for the last km to walk by the Bowmont Water coming out on the bridge between Town Yetholm and Kirk Yetholm. Pleasingly, after walking 26km, our B&B for the night was just 200m away, over the bridge in Kirk Yetholm. And yet again the bag fairy had worked her magic! There were some heavy showers that evening but we managed to get back from our dinner at the pub in the dry. Divine intervention perhaps? After consuming another full Scottish the four of us walked out in blue skies and sunshine for the next section to Wooler. Up the last section of the Pennine Way and then down to the Halter Burn. It was rather a flog then, climbing up to pass Green Humbleton and over the border into England. Descending towards the Elsdon Burn we entered a conifer wood which proved the only iffy bit of the Way. The path was indistinct in the trees and an attempt at guidance with orange tape wasn t clear. It was only a short section though, and GPS indicated we were on the right track. As we left the woods it was back to the waymarking again. We walked about 3km on a lane until we reached Hethpool where we were able to leave the tarmac and cross the College Burn. It was now a steadily climbing track on moorland, passing Torlee House and Tom Tallon s crag. Hot and tired, we walked on over Grins Law and came on to a lane by the Country Park at Brown Law. The Way takes a big zig-zag here but we decided to save ourselves a bit of work and walk down the lane into Wooler. We still did 23km though. I had a drink in the Black Bull, a very nice, old pub with good beer. I felt I deserved it! Robin Dean Part two in next newsletter

More walk reports and photos on FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/groups/267164806739 239/?ref=ts&fref=ts Like! Join! GET NEWSLETTERS BY EMAIL We would like to have as many members as possible on our email list. If you haven t yet please let us have your email address - Mags RAMBLERS WORLDWIDE HOLIDAYS NEW PARTNERSHIP Ramblers is pleased to announce that from October 2014 it has entered into a three year agreement with Ramblers Worldwide Holidays. The agreement is focused on online opportunities to promote each other and we hope that it will bring in more members who want to support our work. HF Holidays have been a committed and passionate partner and a delight to work with. HF and Ramblers continue to share a common history and passion for walking and we are happy to work with them again in the future if an opportunity comes along. Ramblers thank HF Holidays for its support over the last three years. So don t forget if you take a Ramblers Worldwide Holiday tell them you are a member of Manchester and Salford Ramblers FOOTPATH CLEARING Help needed We have allocated dates to do this and will have more details nearer the time. If you can help on any of the following dates please contact Salle for details of where to meet or a lift. 2014 Sept Sun 7 th, Tues 16 th. October Tues 21 st. November Sun 2 nd, December Tues 16 th 2015 Jan Sun 4 th, Feb Tues 17 th, March Sat 7th Committee - Position, Name, Address and e-mail Chair: Salle Dare, 33 Brundretts Road, Manchester,M21 9DA salle_e_dare@yahoo.co.uk Secretary: Mags Metcalf, 83 Blackburn Street, Salford, M3 6AS margaretmetcalf58@hotmail.com Treasurer: Mike Lyons, 20 Darley Ave, West Didsbury, M20 2YD mikelyons@btinternet.com Walk Co-ordinator: Maggie Smith, 118 Manchester Road, Swinton M27 5FQ maggie.smith400@btinternet.com Membership Secretary: Alan Moffatt, 57 Winnie Street, Moston M40 9LP alan@moffatt6310.fsnet.co.uk Footpath Officers Salford Chris Clark clark.christine27@yahoo.co.uk Veronica Yates veronicayates@hotmail.com Footpath Officer Manchester Richard Cleverley rwcleverley@googlemail.com Website Administrator Helen Grady helen@tinhat.eclipse.co.uk Newsletter Editor Margaret Manning mmanning@ntlworld.com Social Secretary Chris Quinn 20 IrkVale Drive, Chadderton OL12TW c20kew@googlemail.com Publicity Officer Bob Lenihan r.lenihan@ntlworld.com phone 861 8491 839 3865 445 0826 794 3565 947 0273 788 8144 07891 685 993 434 0887 07533 651 250. 861 8390 633 9167 OTHER WALKING GROUPS WHO ARE PART OF THE RAMBLERS The Manchester Weekend Walkers is a walking group that provides regular walks, socials and weekends away. The group is primarily for people of working age who enjoy walking at the weekend. As there is already a group for people in their 20s and 30s in Greater Manchester, we expect our membership to be mainly made up of people in their 40s and older but we welcome people of any age! http://www.mwwalkers.org.uk/home.htm If in your 20s and 30s longer walks run by the Manchester and District walkers (MAD walkers) for people who live in and around the Greater Manchester area http://www.madwalkers.org.uk Longer walks in Area programme http://www.manchester-ramblers.org.uk Members can also go on walks with any other local group see their website links on Area website.

CURRENT WALKS PROGRAMME Please watch the website www.manchesterandsalfordramblers.org.uk for any changes to the walks programme For information contact - Mags Metcalf 07947 864 534 Please bring a packed lunch/drink on walks Day Date Walk Description All walks circular unless stated. Short walks 5/6 miles. Long walks 10/12 Long walk 8 miles Sept 27 Oct 14 Whalley area Meeting Place and time. All walks start at 10.30 unless otherwise stated. Train approx 9.00 Oxford Rd station/victoria (depending on rail works) or Whalley station at 10.10 Walk leader and contact details John Ireland 07966 490216 Oldham Springhead, Lees Oldham Mumps Metro station Martin Riley 07908 081959 AGM Xmas walk Oct 25 Nov 1 11am Nov 11 Nov 29 Dec 9 Dec 27 12pm 2015 Jan 13 Jan 31 Feb 10 Feb 28 March 10 March 28 Manchester Airport Runways and nature trail Short walk before AGM See newsletter Daisy Nook, Park Bridge Salford Trail Irlam to Cadishead Linear Chadderton, canals, country park River Irwell, Prestwich Clough, Church Inn Middleton. Oaken Bank, Hopwood and Boarshaw Clough and Rochdale Canal Green Corridor Walk Didsbury area Ramsbottom area Astley area. Higher Green, Gin Pit. grid ref SD004704 Romper Pub, Wilmslow Old Rd nr Runway Visitors Park Bus 200 from Airport or 88 from Altrincham Metro Lloyds Hotel, Wilbraham Rd., Chorlton at 11 am. Bus 86 or Metro to Chorlton Car park at Daisy Nook Country Park Bus 231 Piccadilly Irlam train station. Bus 67, 100. Car parking nearby or at station Mills Hill Train station, Chadderton Prestwich Metro 12 pm Entrance to Hopwood Campus, Rochdale College, Middleton. 17 bus. Park on Rochdale Rd or turn left into college drive then first left. Café at Fletcher Moss Gardens, Wilmslow Rd., Didsbury 42,44,142 bus from Piccadilly Metro East Didsbury Ramsbottom Station. Bus 135 from Victoria station approach 9.23 am or tram to Bury. Bus 472 at 10,15 am to Ramsbottom. Or check East Lancs Railway timetable for steam/diesel trains from Bury to Ramsbottom Corner of Higher Green Lane and A580 (East Lancs Rd), Astley. X34 bus from Piccadilly at 9.42 Mags Metcalf 07947 864 534 Margaret Manning 07786 786811 Alan Lowe 292 0351 Roy Bullock 736 7306 Chris Quinn 07791 452798 Maggie Smith 07879 465 047 Dave Lees 643 6558 Margaret Manning 861 8390 07786 786811 Richard Cleverley 07891 685 993 Wendy Olsen 07796 998 293 Crompton and Newhey area. Shaw & Crompton Metro station Martin Riley 07908 081959 Pendlebury area Car park near Isis restaurant/st Maggie Smith Augustine's Church, Bolton Rd., 07879 465 047 Pendlebury Bus no. 8 from Shudehill