#28 Cowpe Moss and Rooley Moor

#28 Cowpe Moss and Rooley Moor

Distance - 9.07 miles
Ascent - 534 metres

Whilst up north for a few days I decided to take the dog for a wander on the moors above Rochdale.  Heading up the old pack horse trail of Rooley moor Road you soon leave the suburbs behind.  While at the same time you never quite leave behind the modern world with the Scout Moor wind farm in prominence and occasional views all the way across Manchester (I say occasional, as it depends on the rain clouds!).

 

Scout Moor



Rooley Moor road is a cobbled/packhorse track that was rebuilt in the 1800’s.  Not sure why these trails go straight up and over the moors whilst all other roads take to the valleys.   However they do give quick firm access to the moors (some people abuse this by fly tipping…) and now form part of the Mary Townley loop and Pennine bridleway.  The cobbles will give a quick descent on a bike but I’m guessing the bone shaking cobbles will remain in the memory of many!

#27 Barton Le Clay

#27 Barton Le Clay

Distance - 10.0 miles
Ascent - 217 metres

Two walks in two days?  I'm getting extravagate! Todays walk was a planned 8.5 mile wander around Barton Le Clay and the edge of the Chilterns.  The weather again was pretty perfect and warm enough for short sleeves and sunblock!  Nick was visiting from the South so I dragged him along.

The Chilterns



Heading North/east out of Barton Le Clay along the John Bunyan trail the path is wide, flat and easy walking.  The views are across open pleasant farmland with 'big' horizons.  The scarp slope of the Chilterns is obvious to one side and contrasts sharply with the flat farm land we was walking through. 

#26 Great Barford and Roxton the Sequel.

#26 Great Barford and Roxton

Distance - 7.19 miles
Ascent - 28 metres

Earlier in the week I did a 5 mile walk along the Ouse with a loop round Roxton.  I thought I'd come back and do the full Great Barford/Tempsford loop, mainly before the nettles get much higher (they are growing and growing!).  The weather was perfect, I arrived with plenty of time, I was in no rush, what could go wrong?

The Ouse



The section between Great Barford and Roxton is fairly well known to me now.  It's a flat walk along the river, it's quite nice and easy to follow.  As I mentioned last time the rubbish in the trees does detract a little but it is/was offset by the wildlife on show, swans, ducks, birds (I'm such a twitcher...) and butterflies.  The river is very slow (artificially so due to the weirs and locks) and you would be hard pressed to work out which direction it flows in for most of the walk.

#25 Great Barford to Roxton

#25 Great Barford to Roxton

Distance - 6.21 miles
Ascent - 11 metres

Back to regular haunts down the River Great Ouse.  On a nice Saturday afternoon I had planned just to take a wander to Roxton Locks and back.  Should of been about 5 miles long but I decided to extend it slightly with a walk through the village of Roxton.

The river walk was as quiet as usual and it wont be long before the nettles invade again.  The river bank was showing signs of the wet winter, a clear brown 'tide' mark along with (unfortunately) quite a bit of rubbish caught in the tree branches.  It spoilt to whole calm river ambiance to be honest, no thoughts of a wind in the willows style of scene when their are carrier bags blowing in the willows.

The lock and weir had more water flowing through it than I had seen in a while (I avoided the path in the floods), last year it was more like a trickle over the weir.  This year there was more of a rolling rumble.  Much more exciting (if weirs can be exciting to a passer by, more exciting to a boat owner I'd guess!).

The village of Roxton was very pleasant and quiet.  Didn't spot a pub or a shop, but that's quite normal these days.  However even on a quiet Saturday you never escape the 'hum' of the A1.  Would be nice to live in the middle of nowhere someday!

Well a short and sweet posting!

#22 Grafham Water Loop

#22 Grafham Water Loop

Distance - 8.82 miles
Ascent - 80 metres

After a few false starts I decided to try and get the full loop in.  On a nice day at the weekend I feared the worst as far as crowds go.  It turns out I was justified!  The first car park was full of bikers, with BBQ's etc (it's about the size of 3-4 football pitches, a big car park).  The second was taken over by the Riding for the Disabled.  And the third?  Nearly empty, phew!  Luckily Grafham has more parking than most town centres!

Almost like the Seaside

Starting from the opposite side of the Water, I decided to go clockwise for a change (oh I live on the edge!).  It was busy with bikers, walkers and families due to it being the weekend, but not that bad.  The path is pretty wide and generally caters for all!