Peak Practice

On Friday afternoon, I drove my daughter down to London to watch her sax teacher perform at the South Bank. It was a great concert, but we didn't get home until 1:30am. I was up again at 5 to set off on a recce of next week's challenge walk - The Cloud Seven Circuit. I didn't want to be taking the team the wrong way on such a gruelling event, so armed with maps, pens & compass, I left 'Tegg's nose' at 6am at a brisk pace. Not a bad morning, but a little misty.

Looking back towards Tegg's Nose from Croker Hill

It was very quiet at this time of day, and over the course of the walk I disturbed plenty of wildlife (some of which scared me witless!) including pheasant, grouse, woodpeckers, rabbits, a hare, dogs!, a fox, a heron, skylarks, ducks, squirrels and 5 deer on the top of the Roaches!



This was about the only place I had mobile phone reception all day, which was a bit of a problem as I needed Christine to pick me up at the end of the walk!

Bosley Reservoir

 I was quite taken with some of the countryside skills on show, including hedge-laying, thatching and dry stone walling. I wasn't quite as enthralled with all the muck-spreading on the fields I had to cross!

How to build a dry stone wall over a mound!

Sadly, as the day progressed and my energy levels deteriorated, the weather closed in and I spent the last few hours in very heavy mist (worse than 'wet' rain!). The temperature dropped dramatically on the top of the Roaches.

The Roaches looking menacing in the mist



At the end of the day I'd walked in 3 Counties - Cheshire, Staffordshire & Derbyshire, covering just short of 25 miles and 4,000ft of ascent in 8 hours 40 minutes. I was absolutely cream-crackered - and I have to do it all again next week, albeit at a much more leisurely pace!!