#27 Rooley Moor and Top of Leach

11.81 Miles

578 Metres 

The weather was warm but misty, meaning no views and hot and sweaty!  Today’s walk was partly to find a good long walk for winter when staying in the area.  I wanted something that I can do in rough weather, that wouldn’t involve sinking and had a good mileage and ascent.  Rooley Moor road fits that bill.  It’s a track up onto the moors and is mostly stone slabs. 

Walking from Whitworth down a short section of the Healey Dell nature reserve brings you to the Pennine Bridleway and the Mary Townley Loop.  This begins the climb up to Rooley Moor on mainly farm tracks, through Prickshaw and onto the Moor.  The landscape is quite strange in parts with lumps and bumps, probably tailings from the mines and queries in the area.  Unfortunately some people still use the area for dumping waste, the ease of access can be a bad thing in places.

#26 Crook Hill to Brown Wardle

8.70 Miles

495 Metres 

Last Wednesdays walk up to Copy Clough had given me a few ideas so I set off today to explore a little.  Following the same route up to Copy Clough brought me out at the top of Ramsden Road, from here I planned to take the ‘long Causeway’ onto Crook Hill.  However I couldn’t find an obvious path, especially one with such a grand name!  So I went off piste up the hill to the obvious footpaths on top.  

I headed over Crook Moor heading towards Crook Hill and had planned to just wander over the moors between the paths.  There was however a well walked path in the general direction so I just followed that.  This led to a well-made stone circle shelter with great views across the whole of Manchester.  Even on an indifferent day in terms of mist and smog, it was still easy to make out the tower blocks in the city centre.  Might have to come back up here on a clear day!

#25 Snowdon - PYG Up, Miners Down

8.51 Miles

846 metres 

The weather was forecast to be rubbish and it didn’t disappoint.  Ideally we should of set off later in the day but the morning fitted in better with Marks day off, so it was an early start to the day.  Leaving Manchester before 6 meant we were the first in the PYG car park and hit the trail just after 7.30.  Admittedly the empty car park may have been due to the weather forecast!

Sorry it's blurry....did I mention the rain?

 It started raining soon up the first climb on the PYG track so the full waterproofs were called for.  It then got wetter and wetter! Oh and windier!  The rain varied between sideways and torrential.  It was a hard climb and going this way round involved a harder initial climb than the Miners but got some of the climb out of the way! 

#24 Copy Clough

5.84 Miles

368 Metres

After a flight back from New York Yesterday and spending most of the day in the car driving up, I needed to get out and about before tomorrow’s big walk up Snowdon.  So I headed up Waingap Hill and onto the Pennine Bridleway.  Normally I head down towards Ramsden Road and Watergrove, but headed up towards Rough Hill instead.

 

I had a bit of a time limit on this walk plus I wanted to be down of the hills before it went dark so after getting to Copy Clough I decided to turn around.  This short leg stretch gave me a few ideas for another walk which could include Rough Hill, Middle Hill and Brown Wardle.  Depending how I feel I might get to do later in the week. 

High Line to Staten island ferry

5 miles

50 metres

Whilst urban walking isn't everyone's cup of tea it can give a different look to a city. The High Line is a 1.1 mile long urban park built on an old elevated rail Road.  Run by volunteers the park is a green oasis and is well tended.  It's only problem is that it is not long enough!

Running from 30th street to Gansevoort Street (it's like I'm a local!) the park cuts a path between and at times through buildings.  It runs parallel with the Hudson River a block or two over, and forms part of an urban renewal turning the old warehouses and tenements into a trendy area.  A small park (run by volunteers) has helped form a renewal of an area, a quite inspiring idea!

Challenge Update - August

After a relatively poor July the wheels where firmly stuck back on in August.  However most of the walks were my 'usual's' and lacked variety.  It is good to be out and about ticking over a few miles though. 

August - 62.63 miles and 913 metres ascent.

July - 16.24 miles and 258 metres ascent.

June -  82.05 miles and 1063 metres ascent.

Need more hills to meet the challenge and to get ready for events next year.  Though it has to be noted that 160 miles (in 3 months) is more than what I did in 7 months from October 2012 to May 2013.  In fact in the 8 months before this challenged started I did a total of 213 miles, which will be surpassed in September this year (25 miles done already).

So all in all, much better than the last challenge, though I'm still missing days where I could of done more!

I have also made a few changes (minor) to the blog so I can post on the move (via an app) and post pictures without formatting issues.  Modern technology is great!

Testing

Sorry just testing Airstash and blogger app!  

#21 Peaks wandering and Breaking the rules

13.73 Miles
703 Metres

First off, confession time, I didn't intend to walk 13 miles or to walk this route.  Therefore I broke many rules in the safety handbook.  I survived, others may not.  Today was planned to be a fairly simple walk of about 8 miles, from Edale, up Chapel Gate, along Rushup Edge, Mam Tor, Lose Hill down to the train station at hope.  Easy.  It was another dry day and was actually quite warm, short sleeves the order of the day.

I've been up Chapel Gate a couple of times and it's another walk I wanted to use as a test of any improved fitness.  It was actually better, still hard work and sweaty, but not quite as many breathless stops.  On planning walks for Edale I had often thought of doing a loop from Kinder over Brown Knoll, but every trip report I saw mentioned bad bogs and general sinking.  I mused that it had been a dry summer, not rained in a week and the forecast was due to change to heavy rain from tomorrow.  I could go and see how bad it is...

#20 Ringing Roger

4.45 Miles
596 Metres

My initial thoughts on this walk were posted earlier as I slowly collapsed into a sweaty heap in Hills 1-0 Andy.  Now I have to say I was a sweaty mess.  Much more than I thought I should be.  However, I got up, ate some Jelly Belly beans and carried on.  The plan had been to go up towards Ringing Roger, round the top and back down via Grindslow Knoll.  In to the pub and job done.  A nice warm-up at the end of the day.

In the end I was a bit late and with the light fading I decided that as I didn't really know how far it was round (I guessed 5 miles in total) I better just do a short walk and drop back down.  After my moment I headed up Golden Clough onto the tops and up over Nether Tor.  I was enjoying myself, it was dry and the paths good (too good in places!).  I got to Upper Tor before I figured it was best to turn back.  

Hills 1 - 0 Andy

This is as good a time as any to test this blogging app... So here I am sat on a rock half way up towards Ringing Roger. I've blown a gasket already,sweat poring and feeling a bit demoralised.

I didn't think hills would suddenly get easy, but after losing 20kg's and doing a lot more walking I though I might notice a tidy difference.  As it is I'm all for walking back down and packing the tent up!
 

Admittedly it's a hot day, I spent 3 hrs in a car, put tent up quickly and headed straight up here but tonight was meant to be a warm up for longer walks over the next two days!  Oh well at least I'll be having a steak for tea!