On Top of the World – or at least Shutlingsloe!

Daniel, our lad, and I have entered this year's Mountain Marathon! Seemed like a good idea at the time – and the time is this weekend!

For preparation, I have been doing some walking with the Audlem Ramblers and last week with the East Cheshire Ramblers. I also did the loop I used to run when with the Macclesfield Harriers.

It was last Friday and I couldn't have picked a better day. Having dropped the car off for it's pre-MOT assessment(it failed!), I then walked out from Macc along the canal up to Langley and took it from there.

Gurnett Cottages, where James Brindley was an Apprentice

 

Plenty of water in Tegg's Nose Reservoir

First climb of the day – up Tegg's Nose, about 550 feet

Looking south, across to Shutlingsloe

The views from the top of Tegg's are wonderful and you look down onto the Cheshire Plain. There is a good view of Macclesfield and one of the Astra Zeneca works at Hurdsfield.

The route necessarily has some road in it though soon sets across to the Lamaload Reservoir (Bollington water supply). I took a break in the valley to get some food down before the climb up to Shining Tor, which at 1834 feet is the highest point in Cheshire.

 



  Good morning – from one woollie to another!

Climbing the 740 feet up to Shining Tor

 

The day was clear and quite warm with good views although a little hazy.

Reasonably good under foot meant my pace was consistent!

 

Looking over to Shutlingsloe from the top of Cumberland Clough

 

Cumberland Clough – down I go!

 

By now, I was tiring and needed to stop several times on the last climb up the steeper slopes of Shutlingsloe – a climb of about 650 feet from the road?

The Trig point on the top of Shutlingsloe, looking north, where I had come from!

A view down, across High Moor to Macclesfield Forest

 

However good a walk on the fells, it is always good to get back down safely – and so I walked back into Langley. Quite tired by now, I waited at the bus stop when an old colleague from my rugby days offered me a lift to the garage.

Alas, the car had failed the pre-MOT assessment!

Still the walk had been a good, solid piece of preparation for the Mountain Marathon.

I had covered about 15 miles all told with a good 2,000 feet of climb. It had taken six and half hours. Will it have helped for this weekend efforts – we'll have to find out?!