Mow Cop to the Cloud- stunning views as the walks resume!

I saw these two hills from the canal once - and vowed one day I'd walk on them. 
I have not been walking seriously for a while because of a back injury, plus other issues, but I've now restarted, and walking from Mow Cop to the Cloud was a great reintroduction.
Mow Cop is the end/start of the Staffordshire Way

It's a folly on a rock outcrop with fantastic views of Cheshire and Staffordshire

From the top of the ruins, towards Biddulph

Looking south, the views stretch for miles

This is the Old Man of Mow, an interestingly shaped rock at the start of the Staffs Way, 1106ft above sea level

The start of the walk is difficult to find, but meeting these alpacas made up for it.

A trig point at Cheshire's Close gave great views to the north west (not wonderful visibility today though)

Leaving the road, the Way follows a track along the top of Congleton Edge  - but you can't see anything from it!

Leaving the Edge, I went though fields...

... and through some native woodland.

The Way continued, before dropping down...

 ...to Whitemore Nature Reserve,...

...which is actually an old railway line

... with lovely views down to Biddulph Brook

Belt and braces - a wooden stile followed by a brick one

First sight of the Cloud

A group of Texels waiting for the farmer.

The path is re-routed here - not as on the map but easily followed

The path begins to climb - the white blob is Jodrell Bank

A train crossed the viaduct far below

The views from the Cloud are stunning


Over to the Peak District - the pointed one is Shutlingsloe

Looking further round

My favourite thing to find on a walk: a toposcope

A fabulous walk, especially for a clear day

Today's walk: 7 miles. The start (or end) of the Staffordshire Way. Mow Cop car park is free, but you can only stay 2 hours, unless you arrange in advance with the National Trust to get a day pass. I walked from Mow Cop and just followed the signs. The path is shared with the Gritstone Way for the whole of the way to the Cloud, so waymarking is pretty good, except at the very start. I walked back again, which was about 15 miles, probably a bit far (the guidebook said it wa 6.2 miles each way, but it was more. The views are fantastic. Wales, Merseyside, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Manchester and the Peak District. My GPS said there was a good 1100ft of climbing .

St Ives out of season

I've carried on with my walking (I'm at about 170 "boots on" miles, but the weather has been grey, so blogs wouldn't show places to their best advantage: however I thought this walk was worth showing you)

I know St Ives well from summer holidays but my stay last week gave me a new perspective. 

This short walk could be done in the summer - but the views would be very different

I started from the railway station and followed the narrow street into St Ives

I always prefer to take the seaward route - though later the waves were splashing here, soaking walkers.
The ghost walk looked fun - there are a variety of local story walks advertised.

A ghostly mist hung over the town

Continuing along by the beach, this is the other side of Smeaton's Pier - the view back to Porthminster has almost vanished. This is Bamaluz Beach apparently

 The path round to Porthgwidden Beach

From there I climbed up to St Ives Head, or the Island as it is often known.

At the top is the little Chapel of St Nicholas.

...somewhat shrouded in mist.

The view down to Porthmeor Beach

...and down to the waves crashing onto the rocks below.

No wonder the chapel was needed as a navigation mark.

Down on Porthmeor Beach, the winter storms have piled the beach halfway up the garage doors

Some hardy people braved the sands. Later there were surfers

Tate St Ives was being refurbished

As I took the Coast Path towards Zennor, the mist lifted for a moment, so I could look back at the headland and its chapel

Then it disappeared again

This view through the rocks always intrigues me. I call it the Profiles (I can see four) but that's only my name for it.

Round the next corner, St Ives begins to disappear from view.

The coast here is wild and lonely, yet so near a bustling tourist spot. 

The path is fairly clear, even in the mist

Headlands stretch out in front of me, their heads in the clouds.

On the tops, I could be in Pennine moorland

Deciding that Zennor was too far in poor visibility, I turned back. This is from a little shelter - much needed today!

Back in St Ives, I saw a sign for "The Ultimate Crab Sandwich". It definitely was!!!! I awarded it 11 out of ten (From the Beach Cafe Bar, formerly Al Fresco)

Today's walk. I walked round the edge of St Ives, keeping as close to the sea as I could. Then up to the Island, and down to Portmeor. Following the Coast path, I could have gone to Zennor ,  6 miles away,(in the summer you can catch a bus back) but I felt a round trip of nearly 12 miles would be too far, so I retraced my steps. My walk was about 5 miles in total, but you could extend or reduce it according to whim or weather

Walking 1000 miles in 2016: How I did it

Though I walk regularly anyway, I decided to "up my game" for 2016, and follow Country Walking Magazine's #Walk 1000 Miles Challenge

1000 miles in a year isn't a lot - it's just less than 3 miles per day, so quite achieveable for most people really. I made it a bit tougher, by deciding to only count "boots on" miles - ie. not just ordinary walking round the shops, and round the house.
On January 1st I walked round Wormleighton, Oxfordshire, (link: one-canal-two-deserted-villages) and met this fierce looking Texel sheep standing on the grassy humps of a deserted Medieval village

Later in the month, I met more sheep, on a cold January day on the Sheepwalks- little known hills just outside the Black Country (Link:  sheepwalks-in-late-afternoon.)

In February, we started the Monarch's Way Long distance path (over 600 miles, and I've only covered about 70 so far.)This is White Ladies Priory, where King Charles spent the night after he fled from the defeat at the Battle of Worcester. (Link:  in-footsteps-of-escaping-king)

Stately homes offer good walking in their grounds: this is Blenheim Palace at Easter. (I'd never do it again because of the Bank Holiday crowds, though they thinned out as we started our walk.)( (Link:  blenheim-palace-grounds-celebrating-300.years of Capability Brown)

In May, my husband needed to go to London: I accompanied him and walked from the Thames Barrier to Tower Bridge while he sat in a stuffy meeting. (Link:  stormy-times-and-high-tides-thames)

I discovered a fabulous walk local to me: Habberley Valley, near Kidderminster - one of my new favourites. You climb steeply upwards through some dispiriting woodlands, but at the top there is a fantastic view over the whole of the Black Country as well as parts of Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. (North Worcestershire path on the skyline) (Link:  short-but-superb-habberley-valley-near.Kidderminster)

I love urban canals, especially those round Birmingham - they are so secret. This canal goes right under the M5.(Link:  narrow-boats-pools-and-motorways.html)

June saw me in Gloucestershire: this is an Iron Age Barrow that you can climb right inside - known locally as Hetty Pegler's Tump (Link: climbing-inside-bronze-age-barrow-uley)

I spent much of the summer holiday sailing - at home and in Cornwall, so I got a bit behind on my walking, though I did manage some miles. This is Loe Pool in Cornwall - Cornwall's largest lake. (Link: gentle-walk-round-loe-bar)


Another great local walk: along the Severn Valley....

...  and back by steam train (Link: severn-stroll-bewdley-to-arley)

In October, I did my favourite walk of the year: climbing Cadair Idris. Fantastic views all the way.

Daughter Ruth accompanied me to the summit


..and photographed me starting the descent. (Link: cader-challenge-could-you-do-it)

I went out in all weathers. Pouring rain on the Malverns, but a lovely rainbow at the end of the walk. If I'd stayed in, I would have missed it. (But I would have been drier!) I didn't blog this walk - too wet!

Most of my walks were local - through fields to get a newspaper, for example,  or, as here, along the Staffs and Worcs Canal to a tearoom in Wolverley

This walk was my most popular blog post this year, and though it looks sunny, this was in late Autumn (Link:  a-tearoom-walk-kinver-to-wolverley)

Two unpublished pictures from December: we went to Barmouth to walk part of the Mawddach Trail, and this was the best view on the whole walk(!) 

 ...but back at the cottage, a late afternoon walk the following day gave us this beautiful sunset

I finished my 1000 miles, boots only walk on 31st December, in the dying light of the old year, on my local walk on Kinver Edge (South Staffs)

It's been a great year - and I have really enjoyed the challenge. 

What about you - could you do this? With a little planning, it's definitely possible - you make up your own rules. Some people counted all their steps, some just did walks of a certain length. Look at the Facebook page to see more. Or get a copy of Country Walking magazine of course. Let me know how you get on.