The party gathered around their objective – indicating the exact spot with their poles
Ralph Atherton led 15 members of East Cheshire Ramblers on an 11 mile “noughty” walk from Padfield on Saturday 3 September. We are sorry to disappoint some readers, but this is not a spelling mistake and the ramblers did not walk in fetching combinations of boots, stockings and suspenders! No, this was a walk to discover the place on the moors north-west of Tintwhistle where four Ordnance Survey 100 km squares all meet and the grid reference locating the spot to the nearest metre is SE 00000 00000. It is not easy to locate this exact spot as it is not marked by a cairn or tracks through the heather, and a GPS is only accurate to about 5 metres so a ten zero reading has a short lifetime.
Looking at the fountain below Bottoms Reservoir at Tintwistle
The group set off from the car park at Padfield (very near to Sean Wood’s unique Laughing Badger gallery and bistro – but that is another story), near the start of the Longdendale Trail, just as the rain stopped at 10 am. Heading north we passed over the dam of Bottoms Reservoir, puzzled over the functions of the ornate reservoir waterworks before walking past Arnfield Reservoir into Swallow’s Wood nature Reserve with its picturesque lake and woodland. We continued north on the Pennine Bridleway and on reaching the moorland we were dazzled by the bright heather flowers with their beautiful perfume. Passing over the dam of Higher Swineshaw Reservoir we followed the leader’s GPS “GO TO” indicator and reached the “noughty” spot where one of the party actually managed to get all the noughts on his GPS and we celebrated with a group photo.
After lunch in the heather, we did an anticlockwise circuit of Harridge Pike returning to Higher Swineshaw via Walkerwood, Brushes and Lower Swineshaw Reservoirs. Thence to the ford at Ogden Clough where we enjoyed another sunny picnic alongside the rushing waters filled with overnight rain. Continuing through Arnfield Farm and Tintwhistle to Bottoms Reservoir we were delighted to see that the puzzling waterworks were spouting a 40 foot fountain, spectacular with the sun shining through it. We completed the walk with a clockwise circuit of Bottoms Reservoir, crossing over the dam of Valehouse Reservoir, and arriving back at the car park at 4 pm. Here we had an unexpected treat. One of our number announced it was his 65th birthday and he would treat us all to tea and cake at the Old House near Torside.
A good walk full of interest, good weather and conviviality – and if you were counting – seven reservoirs.