Cold, but with a reasonable forecast, we set off early for Brockton ready to resume the route at Cranberry Rock. reached Brockton in good time and set off on short hop back to Cranberry Rock.
What a difference in climate from Brockton to Cranberry! Everything at Cranberry had a thick covering of frost - absolutely beautiful - but hardly conducive to walking and a thick blanket of fog/mist blotted out the views!
We kitted up and started up the wide, well-worn track to Cranberry, but it soon became obvious that continuing was not sensible. The fog made it impossible to locate landmarks and judge distances and the cold was biting. We retraced our steps and headed back to the car, where we decided to head down to the village of Stiperstones to the pub! We had three choices - go home, move onto our next planned section to Welshpool or continue with todays route, missing out the high, exposed ridge.
At the pub, unfortunately closed, the weather was much warmer and clearer, so our best option was to walk on from there. We will go back and walk the ridge from Cranberry Rock to the Stiperstones Inn another day.
Fortunately, the route takes you right past the pub, so we were straight back on course, once suitable thawed. From the main road, you take a track opposite the school, off over a ford, towards Buxton Wood. Here I realised I'd forgotten to start my tracker , which then promptly resumed our initial foray at Cranberry Rock and creatively filled the car journey with a straight line! Some cunning IT juggling needed to sort that out!
Climbing up through the wood, you then take a bridleway around the edge of Lower Santley Wood before dropping down across farmland. This was a well walked route and easy to follow. The route rises and drops onto a lane and then heads uphill on a track to the top edge of another steepp wooded slope. Fortunstely, most of the climb has already been done so you just get the benefit of the scenery!
As you drop down, you leave the woods, through fields to cross the A488, passing through Hope. You see little of Hope as you crosss straight over and continue on, but you do go through someone's garden. They've obviously embraced having a right of way over their land, providing a grassy area with animal statues and painting the pedestrian gates and bridge bright purple!
Through the purple gate and over the purple bridge takes you on a wooded footpath to the cemetary wall, and a church! There must be another accesss point! Holy Trinity is a tiny church with a bell tower seemingly in the middle of a wood!
Soon after, you pop out onto a lane and continue to follow lanes to Bromlow Callow, who sounds like a character from a Victorian novel! It is in fact a rather perfectly shaped hill with a top-knot of trees - a very distinctive landmark for miles around.
As you run out of lane and revert to track, you begin the climb up Bromlow Callow. \a bit steep, but you don't climb all the way to the summit, you meet a lane and follow this around the hill to Abel's Harp, a very welcoming Inn, vintage shop and accommodation. The pub wasn't actually open, but they were happy to serve us coffee and we had a very welcome picnic on the benches outside.
Suitably refreshed, we headed down the lane, reassuringly signposted Brockton, with what would be stunning views on a clearer day. Although clear, the day remained dull and murky and chilly!
Rather than follow the lane all the way to Brockton, the route cuts a corner off by heading once again over fields. Initially grassland, you cross several ditches or streams (all have bridges!) and then crops. Again, due to the time of year, no pathway was visble, so off we went heading for the best landmark. Just as we were congratulating the farmer for his excellent drainage, we hit claggy soil, so ten tonne boots again.! Yuk!
Luckily after this section, you meet a farm track, which takes you back to the lane just outside Brockton, giving the opportunity to unload your boots! After a bit of technical jiggery pokery, we'd covered about 6 miles of the route. We'll return to the ridge in better weather!
Photos to follow - I didn't take one! What with my technical nightmare with route mapping, I thought I'd leave photos well alone (and my fingers were cold enough anyway!)
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