Captain's Log

Lyme Park

We arrived at the National Trust’s Lyme Park at 08:15. Officially the park isn’t open until 08:30, but the gates were open and other cars were going in and so we followed them. I’ve always arrived  at the park before anyone’s arrived at the National Trust’s ‘payment’ office at the start of the drive to the house. I’m not sure whether you have to pay for the carpark if you arrive later. I did ask a local visitor on a previous visit and she said you don’t have to pay for the carpark. Maybe you just buy tickets to visit the house and the gardens at that office on the drive. Now that’s all cleared up, it was time for today’s walk. 

The Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted were with me today to extend their recent Ethel’s ticking spree. Today’s walk would include two Ethels: Sponds Hill and Black Hill (also may be known as Whaley Moor). We’d start from Lyme’s main carpark and head through the parkland and surrounding countryside to the top of Sponds Hill. From there we’d visit the bow stones and make our way across to Black Hill (Whaley Moor). I’d not told the Cabin Boy about all the cattle that had greeted me on that hill on a previous occasion since I didn’t want to worry her. After completing the Ethels for the day, we’d head around the north side of the Bollinhurst and Horse Coppice reservoirs and then re-enter Lyme’s parkland. Our way back to the carpark would be via the impressive building known as the Cage on Cage Hill. Kitted up, smothered with suncream and sunglasses attached, we headed off on our walk. 

Parkland

We followed a National Trust litter-picker on the road out towards the hill known as Knott. 6 hours later, we’d see her again, litter picking in another part of the parkland. She seemed dedicated to her work. The tarmac ended and we entered Hase Bank Wood. I stopped for a pee behind a tree and gave strict instructions for the Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted to give me a warning if anybody approached along the trail. I was in the midst of the procedure when I was surprised by a mountain biker tottering up the trail on his bike.
‘Morning!’ he shouted to me.
‘Morning’ I replied. He was going so slow, I felt I needed to say something else. ‘It’s a lovely day’ I added.
‘Yes, super.’ It was as though I wasn’t having a pee. For one moment, I thought he was going to stop for a chat, but he was just standing up on his pedals to get him uphill. 

It was nice and cool in the woods and we followed a stream around to West Parkgate where we joined a single lane tarmac road for a short distance. 

Sponds Hill

Our forest route had taken us downhill and now we had to pay for that by heading uphill on a bridleway. I’d walked along here last year (see the Captain’s Log, A Bit Of Sponds With Lyme) and so I knew about the barn converted into a little church next to the route. For some reason the Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted didn’t want to step inside it and have a look around. I did though. It was certainly a curious place. It has religious artefacts along the walls and a trestle table set out like an altar at the far end. A few chairs had been placed around the perimeter if you wanted to sit down and say a prayer or two. It had a friendly and welcoming atmosphere and was well worth a visit. I stepped outside to find that the rest of my team had continued along the path without me.      

Some horse flies took a great interest in my legs in the next field and one of the critters drew blood. I’m not usually bothered by horse flies. Maybe it was my team members that had attracted them. I started heading directly across a field towards the Sponds Hill trig that I could see on the skyline. We reached the crest of an intervening hill to find our way blocked by a herd of cows a few hundred metres ahead. I drifted back to the public footpath in order to bypass them. The diversion wasn’t a big deal and we soon reached the trig point. There was a wonderful view towards Manchester. Its jagged skyline of high-riser buildings looked remarkably clear today. I could even see the M62 mast near to where the Pennine Way crossed the motorway. Over to the west, Jodrell Bank’s domed telescope was pointing vertically upwards. First Ethel of the day ticked, we headed north towards the Bow Stones. 

Bow Stones

The track took us to the head of the tarmac road that leads to the house at Bowstonegate. The Bow Stones were tucked away in a little area at the side of the road. They are easy to miss if you aren’t looking out for them. There are two stones about a metre high. The Cabin Boy immediately commented that they looked like two penises. My first thought was how many penises she had seen that were decorated with 10th century markings. My second thought was that I didn’t really want to know and so I didn’t ask. The stones are in fact a pair of Anglian cross shafts, but I decided not to impart this information to the Cabin Boy in case it got her too excited. The other parts of the shafts can be found in the chapel at Lyme House. The local legend is that Robin Hood (yawn…yes, him again) and his merry men used them to restring their bows. Despite the Cabin Boy’s exceptional interest in the artefacts, the Kapitan and Ted seemed less so, and so I had to forcebly drag the Cabin Boy away from the ancient monument by her ear lobe so that we might continue our walk. 

Black Hill (Whaley Moor)

The road took us down into the valley. We were nearly mowed down by a mountain biker who was flying down the road behind us. Why don’t cyclists use bells nowadays? We dropped down to Dissop Head and then headed across fields towards Black Hill. I suppose it had to come…
‘Are those cows in that field?’ asked the Cabin Boy. I’d noticed them as we were dropping down the road. They were all clustered around a feeding tray  on the west side of the hill and so wouldn’t be a problem for our ascent. We climbed the stile into the field and couldn’t even see the cows. This was a lot better than the last time I was here when I had to walk amongst them. This particular field was open access and so we headed off directly uphill towards the summit. It was a steep climb and there were no tracks to make it easier. There was a plateau at the top and I waited for the rest of the team to catch up. The view southwards across the valley was stunning. I could see the pointed peak of Shutlingsloe in the distance. Looking east I could see Eccles Pike and the ridge of Chinley Churn where we’d summited a few weeks ago (see the Captain’s Log, Feeling The Burn At Chinley Churn). We made our way across the tufty and boggy plateau to the far corner of the field that was the summit of Black Hill (Whaley Moor). It wasn’t a brilliant spot, but we sat down next to the stone wall to have our lunch. 

Reservoirs

It’s a shame that there wasn’t a footpath that connected this area of access land with another area further along the ridge. It would then have been possible to make Black Hill (Whaley Moor) a circular walk, rather than an out-and-back. The map showed no public path and there was no stile to get over the stone wall and so we retraced our steps over the plateau and dropped down the steep southern slope. We crossed the stile to exit the field without ever seeing one cow in there. We headed north and joined the drive from the High Peak School. The school’s in a lovely location and looks a bit like a hotel from afar. Its website says that it deals with children with special needs. 

We field hopped our way down the valley towards East Lodge. Bollinhurst Bridge had been repaired for pedestrian/cyclist use since the last time I was there. At a major junction of six footpaths we took the one that went north westwards towards Bollinhurst Reservoir. It was a nice path and we were enjoying it immensely until I came across the grisly remains of a lamb on the path. The maggots and flies were having a field day and the Kapitan and I had to shield the Cabin Boy’s eyes so that she couldn’t see the appalling sight. There were no tears and so I presume that she didn’t see it. There’s not really an opportunity to get a good view of the reservoirs since there’s a fairly high stone wall that runs along next to the path. We did get a glimpse of it at one point and saw a flotilla of geese floating on the water like the boats at Dunkirk. The path led us back to the main drive where we entered the park in the car this morning. 

Cage

We’d lost quite a bit of height as we’d dropped down from the school and passed the reservoirs. We now had to reclaim the height by traversing Cage Hill. Part of the route was cobbled and must have once formed part of the main drive to the House. Before reaching the House, we encountered the Cage on the summit of the hill. This was an impressive  three storey Elizabethan hunting tower, originally built in the 16th century. Over the years it had been used as a watchtower, a banqueting room and a prison for poachers. The previous times I'd been here, the place had been closed to the public. It was open today though and was free access for anybody. The Cabin Boy took one look at the narrow spiral staircase to the floors above and decided that she’d prefer to wait outside. The stairs weren’t that bad really, although it wasn’t possible for people to pass, and so there was a bit of toing and froing on the way up and down. If Lyme House is an example of decadent furniture and art, the rooms of the Cage turned out to be a minimalist's dream. Apart from the antlers from some stags on the walls, there wasn’t really much to see internally. I’m sure, they’d have done the place up a bit during its banqueting days. There were some decent views out of the windows. It wasn’t possible to get on to the roof of the building, which was a bit of a shame, but I presume it was done for safety reasons. Tour completed, we headed off towards Lyme House. 

Return

The Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted aren’t National Trust members and so it wasn’t possible for us to visit the gardens and house without them paying for the privilege. That was a bit of a shame since the gardens and house are definitely worth a tour (see Captain’s Log, NT Lyme And Gardens).  The Cabin Boy was astonished to find the carpark full. It was a lovely sunny day on a Sunday and the place is very popular. There was a queue at the café and I didn’t fancy waiting to get an ice cream and so we headed back to the car. 

I’ve not had a bad visit yet to NT Lyme. The parkland and surrounding countryside provides delightful walking. As stated above, the House and Gardens are well worth a visit too. The Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted were happy; they’d ticked a couple of more peaks off Ethel’s list. It had been an excellent day out.