Xmas Sqwalk 2015

The weather leading up to this date wasn't too good and so it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by a warm and sunny day. More surprising was the arrival of our long lost pal, Dave Thacker, who had decided to ditch his reclusiveness for the day!! It was great to see him after such a long time. The numbers were further augmented by a late entry in the form of Tom Flackett.

Whilst the group waited outside the Raddle Inn for any straddlers a Watchout reported seeing 3 lone walkers about a mile away making their way to the start line. As they approached they became identifiable as Yup, Stubbie and Midweek Tone. Overcome by the beauty of the day they had decided to vacate their taxi early and go that extra mile. Their cursing of the taxi driver continued for some time but it was noted that their extra effort was later to become a brag in the form of “I've walked one mile further than you”.

Twelve of us set off - Stubbie, Tony, Yup, Keith, Tim, Tom, two Daves, Steve and two Hectors (that's not an area!). Within 30 minutes we arrived at the first stop point where we admired the old ruin. Turning our attentions from Yup we then admired the ruins of Croxton Abbey - a Cistercian abbey founded in 1176 by Bertram de-Verdun, a knight of the Norman conquest. The abbey was dissolved in 1538 by Henry V111.

The White Hart Inn welcomed us in and we all sat down in expectation of bacon butties. The pub is owned by the community and have volunteer helpers. We were then treated to a 'Manuel' type performance from the comic waiter who presented the tea pots but couldn't find the cups. He gave assurances that the three coffees ordered were on the way but they were to appear way down the food chain. Manuel served the bacon baps slowly, two at a time. Things were going well for him but a disgruntled Yup was betting his bap would appear last. And it came to pass that the last bap was indeed for Yuppy. Manuel approached with the last and biggest bap for Yup but stumbled at the table and Yup's bap was seen hurtling towards the far side of the room. Sod's law came into play as the bap hit the floor, opened up and decanted the bacon across the dirty carpet. Manuel spent some time repeating his apologies. He went on to explain that no more bacon had been cooked and another rasher would have to be specially prepared. Yup then tried his luck by asking for an extra rasher. When the freshly cooked bap finally arrived Manuel steadied himself to prevent a further clanger and Yup quickly devoured the bap claiming it also contained an egg but the evidence for such a claim was lacking.

Several members of the party had to be dragged away from the tempting beer pumps that had been admired from afar and we reassembled outside.

Four members had collected at the rear beer garden of the pub where they were admiring the best kept allotments in the universe.

Collectively we then made our way to the nearby Alton Abbey with its colourful roof tiles and view down to the Churnet Valley.

Then onwards through picturesque woodland to the Ramblers Retreat café where we admired the nearby house over-looking a magnificent pool with black swans.

Then onwards along the disused railway line to Oakamoor and to the Cricketers' Arms. We stopped to admire the river cascading over the long weir before entering the pub. The choice of the connoisseur was Doombar. Granpop Bill sat dejected in the sunny beer garden where we rested. He sat watching the bubbles rising in his pint of lager claiming it was his choice of drinks although we all knew the Doombar had dried up as he arrived at the bar.

Heavy, the only person to know the route, kept quiet about the very steep hill to come next in the walk. Two pints inside us made the hill even steeper. We all made it up though before descending down again into Dimmings Dale where we stopped to admire the pool that had widened out in a section of the stream. A large tree had collapsed into the pool and Wendy refused the invitation to walk along the trunk for a photo shoot. Another big hill faced us out of the valley and eventually on to a high but flat ridge that gave us views each way and over to the Alton Towers rides. Dave Thacker, one of the few wearing shorts, claimed he could see a big one but it was only the Smiler.

The high ridge was about 2 miles long and eventually took us back to below Hollington where we were faced by one last hill up to the Raddle Inn. As we entered the bar the staff were quick to point out that our inconsiderate parking at the over-flow area had stopped camper vans accessing their parking area but it was hard to appreciate the problem. Most of the group got their turn to be scolded and had their ear full of how over-worked and busy one of the female staff was. She was later to be seen several times partaking of a cigarette at the back of the pub. The meals arrived promptly at our outside table and we enjoyed the remains of a sunny day. Yup made frantic efforts to ensure the taxi would reach the pub this time fearing he couldn't make another mile on his weary legs. So ended a satisfactory day that I think we all enjoyed.

Regards

Heavy Machine