Friday 20 January 2012

Walk Two - Roaches Ridge

I have been wanting to walk across here, and to the summit for so long, I can't really remember. I don't know why I never did it when I was younger .. I guess I just stuck to the easy, flat parts back then.
I love The Roaches ... I grew up just down the road ... spent the first 30 years of my life hanging about up there.
Dad always used to take us up there when we were littlies, in fact, he made more of an effort to get us up there when the snow was bad in winter, than he did during the summer ! It was such emense fun though !!
I remember the snow being taller than me at the roadside up near the Mermaid pub, which is sadly no longer a pub :(

Anyway .. I could go on for way too long about the good old days, but I hadn't better !

The walk .... What a beautiful day !!!

We started out from the Don Whillans Memorial Hut, where Staffs Wildlife were having a meet and greet ... there was free coffee and a VERY nice slice of lemon cake !



After a brew, we walked up to the base of the Roaches crags. There are steps carved into the rock, making for a very quick ascent. In theory, this sounds like a great, and rather civilised idea ... in practise, they are formidable !!!! I had to take a break on the way up, as my poor legs were going numb !

Here's a picture .... you can only see a portion of them in this photo though ...


After almost keeling over, lol ... I just had to sit down on a rock and get my breath back .... it was lovely up there though :)


And then we set out along the ridge :)
It was actually quite a lovely, undulating walk across the ridge. The beautiful weather made the views just HUGE !!! We could see for miles ... Staffordshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire !
We walked along the ridge for a short while, and arrived at Doxey's Pool ... oh what a beautiful, and yet lonely place this is !


Here's an interesting link to a little folklore surrounding Doxey's Pool :)

We also bumped into some of Rob's rock climbing mates up there ... nutters, the pair of them !

Anyway ... onwards ...
We carried on along the path ... the colours on the ground were just beautiful !

And more of the view ..

And after a bit more walking and some awesome rock formations, we finally reached the summit !
YAY !


Now ... I know I keep saying that the views are stunning, but up here they really were !
I felt so pleased with myself for getting up there ... the reward was immense !


Some possible cup marks ...... we're undecided ...



We decided, after a well earned coffee, to go back along the ridge and then cut down into the moors at the back of the Roaches. 
I don't think that the back had seen the sun at all that day, as everywhere was still frosty and frozen !
It was cool walking down there, listening to the icy puddles cracking under your feet :)

The view down into the valley, across the moors


The frozen ground, once we were down


We walked back along a pretty flat route, towards the back end of the Roaches, up by Hen Cloud.
It was getting fairly late in the day by now (we were late starting on this day), but just look at the view that we were rewarded with on our way back to the car ..


How beautiful is that eh !!!

All in all, I think I faired quite well ... the route was so steep at the start, but had really been quite easy along the rest of the walk :)

We got back to the car .... had some tea at Rob's, then went to the Dyers and the Dog n Rot for a few pints :D

Phew ! 
Blog finally updated !
Thank you for reading, if you've taken the time to do so :)

Hopefully we'll be walking on Axe Edge Moor this weekend ... maybe up to Three Shires Head too ... we shall see :)

Oh and here's my latest necklace, ready for Longnor Craft Centre, inspired by my Roaches Ramblings :)











2 comments:

  1. I love your pictures of the Roaches, i did that walk a good few years back and it was nice to see the scenery again

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  2. Thanks Jille :)
    It really is a special place:)

    ReplyDelete