Warrington HF Ramblers By Daphne Thomas Over the Bank Holiday weekend a number of members set out to do the Sandstone Trail, a 34 mile walk between Whitchurch and Frodsham.

The first group of about half a dozen opted to do the walk over two days, each 17 miles long.

After a bit of car shuffling they set off on the Saturday to walk the first half of the route from Whitchurch to Beeston.

The first part of the walk along the Whitchurch Arm of the Llangollen Canal, was fairly easy and accompanied by bright sunshine.

The second part of the route included going over Bickerton, Bulkely and Peckforton hills and despite some very heavy showers we had some good views from the Sandstone Ridge. More shuffling of cars to return the drivers to Whitchurch.

The second half of the walk, on Sunday, was from Beeston to Frodsham, mainly through fields, then Delamere Forest and finally Helsby Hill and Frodsham Hill.

Again it was a mixture of sunshine and showers, this time the showers were more in the morning and the sunshine in the afternoon. Each day’s walk took about eight hours.

Three people opted to do the trail on one day, and elected for the Sunday.

Starting off about 7.45am from The Bear's Paw in Frodsham they headed South towards Whitchurch. The first two hours of the walk were in heavy rain which made the going tough. Despite getting lost once and losing around half an hour’s time retracing our steps to find the path again, they made good time in the morning, completing the first half in around five hours. The second half of the trail, from Beeston over Peckforton and the hills was tough going, the ascent equating to climbing a small mountain! By this time the weather had cleared and there were some beautiful views to be had from some great viewing points at the top of the hills. On finally dropping back down they made their way over the remaining 10 miles through farmers fields where the styles proved a challenge by this stage. Arriving at Grindley Locks, they felt that this was the true completion of the walk, but were forced to carry on into Whitchurch itself, completing the total distance of around 34 miles in just over 12 hours, not taking off the time taken in getting lost and stopping for breaks! At the end of the walk at least two of the walkers declared they were glad they had done it but never again.

For details of forthcoming walks contact the secretary on 821156.

Warrington HF Ramblers By Daphne Thomas On September 3, starting from the Denby Dale Pie Memorial Hall, home of the famous Denby Dale Monster Pies, 21 of us began our 11 mile walk passing Bagden Hall and a working coal mine. We arrived at Cannon Hall Country Park for lunch just in time to watch the 12 o’clock sheep race! Having taken time out to enjoy the hall and gardens, we continued the walk, albeit somewhat late, through the village of Cawthorne past Bentcliff Hall, Gunthwaite Hall and through Upper Denby. The last leg of the walk took us along the bottom of an amazing viaduct back to the start point and a welcome pint.

For details of forthcoming walks contact the secretary 821156