One of the trails through Delamere |
Descending the trail into the Forest |
Another descent and climb had us emerging by a useful little tea-room at the top of Kelsall where a sign stated 'Muddy Boots - Welcome'. Handy to know for future reference. Descending into Kelsall, the views across Cheshire with the setting sun were stunning and photos do not do it justice.
The sun setting over Cheshire from above Kelsall |
We entered Kelsall village itself which meant navigating down streets and through alleyways which had been fenced out.
This wasn't the most pleasant section of the walk but soon had us out of Kelsall and back to once again cross the A556 dual carriageway which was negotiated successfully in the dark, without dazzling oncoming drivers.
Educational this walking lark |
A short section of road later, we were once again into fields though the path across it wasn't clear. It was quickly noted the field was planted with spiky gooseberry bushes which was a problem for those of us walking in shorts so a diversion was proposed and as we walked along the field boundary there came a distant barking which got steadily closer with our headtorches picking out a pair of eyes int he darkness. Thinking this was a dog constrained within a property we continued towards it only to find it was roaming free and not at all happy we were there. Dutifully, Simon sacrificed himself for the sake of the team and shall be hereforward known as 'The Dog Whisperer' after successfully placating it.
After negotiating the gooseberry plantation and the hound of the Red Harrows, we entered a field where the path ran diagonally through it. Helpfully (or so we thought), the farmer had taped the route across it only for us to realise it was an electric fence and actually blocked the path. Testing the insulation of the handle of his aluminium walking pole, Martin bravely pressed the wire down so the team could step over it with no ill effects. Thankfully apart from a small navigational error and missing the point where the path left the road, this was the last of the evening's events as we trekked across the fields full of sheep to the cars and the waiting pint at the The Goshawk in Mouldsworth.
The walked finished as 14.6km long and we managed it ahead of our expectations in 2hrs and 53 minutes with an average speed of 5.1km/h. The stats for this evenng's walk are here.
This weekend's Training Walk is scheduled for Saturday morning. We're going to have a go at Croker Hill in the Peak District again and come down a slightly different way. We think it should be about 18km long with 600m of climb and expect it to take us about 4hrs and 20minutes. This is the route.
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