David and Jacinta's Walks- 2023

Marsden and Standedge The weather forecast looked O.K. although the day was very misty in fact and, on the tops, dense enough to block out the view. We skipped our regular coffee in The Arcade but, instead, visited the delightful Wateredge Café for the first time. This is an eighteenth century lock keeper's house at the mouth of the Standedge Tunnel and largely untouched since this time. Inside the Wateredge Café- lots of reading and historic photo of the cottage Standedge Tunnel decked out for halloween As usual, we made our way up to the March Haigh reservoir, admiring the changing colours of the foliages- not that we could see a great deal! It's beginning to feel a lot like autumn There were few people about, save for a group of Chinese students who were having an adventure in the mist and having a break from their doctorial studies at Manchester University. Up March Hill in the mist, with a lonely cow lurking in the background. Company on the hill We stopped for lunch on St...

Marsden and Standedge A slightly truncated walk by David on his own and no photos, for some reason. I covered a fair bit of familiar ground, one way or another, including passing an air shaft for the Standage Tunnel that I'd last seen that back in 1969, while I was walking the Pennine Way and we'd been marooned at Peter's Pennine Way Café by the Standedge Tunnel. It's funny how one's memory plays tricks- I was sure that this shaft was directly southeast of the cutting! 9.3 miles, 500m ascent, a tad under four hours.

Dark Woods and The Huddersfield Narrow Canal It was the Dark Woods Open Day so we thought that we'd enjoy a trip over to have some great coffee and edibles, and to take a walk beside the canal. As ever, the coffee and food didn't disappoint and we managed to have a brief chat with Ian and Greg, both of whom were working, of course. We bought some coffee to enjoy at home, including the incredible Common Grounds - Bourbon Whiskey Barrel Aged Coffee; we'd already had an inkling of what this would be like, as we'd previously bought a barrel that had been used to create this blend. When we cut the barrel into halves and drilled drainage holes in it, we had the phenomenal blast of bourbon which was still present in the ground coffee that we'd bought. After the visit to Dark Woods, we decided to walk westwards along the canal towards Marsen and the Standedge Tunnels rather than our usual eastwards towards Slaithwaite. First sight of interest were the beautiful brown sheep ...

Marsden, March Hill and Pule Hill- David and Paul As Paul was back from New Zealand and had lent his car to Laura, we met at Marsen (for the convenience of rail travel) to start our training for September's trip. It was easiest to do a walk that we both knew well, and set out along the canal towards Standedge Tunnel and beyond. At Hay Green we took the somewhat neglected path up to Lower Green (up to Lower Green? Yes!), passing a new gate that had replaced a rather frail stile that Jacinta and I had passed back in March, just over a month ago. New gate on the way up to Lower Green We passed a number of workmen on the March Haigh Reservoir dam- they were wiring up several sensors which should be able to provide 3-D images of the dam and any movements. Up on Standedge we had our lunch and took in the view of the Castleshaw Reservoirs before descending to the foot of Pule Hill. Castleshaw Reservoirs and a clear if chilly view The ascent of Pule Hill (flattened perspective!) The ridge ...