Another 2-day circuit around the hills forming Cwm Lledr, this time exploring the lower cwm on the eastern side and returning via Dolwyddelan Castle.

The Ysgafell Wen ridge is superb for backpackers: great mountain views, rocky knolls, grassy pitches and bejewelled with lakes, yet little trodden and often walked in solitude, due no doubt to the difficulty of devising satisfactory circuits for the typical day walker. We have done several longer backpacks in this area but this route was a short one to take advantage of a fine sunny weekend and we saw nobody until the afternoon of the second day when a group appeared on the mine track from the Crimea Pass.

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A single day walk on the west side of Altrincham. The outward line follows the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) westwards as far as Latchford Locks on the Manchester Ship Canal. The return line follows the Bridgewater Way (BW) canal path through Lymm to Bollington Mill and the National Trust house and park of Dunham Massey.

The TPT follows a former railway bed in a dead straight line for 3.6m (5.8km) from Oldfield Brow to Oughtrington with just a slight kink before another 2m (3.2km) to the M6 and is highly unphotogenic, hence no worthwhile pictures from this section. As we’ve remarked before, this type of easy level walking, though pleasant enough, is not our usual choice but is fine for distance training and is well used by cyclists and runners too. We also saw a new (to us) phenomenon here: speed roller skating with 2m long poles to aid propulsion.

The BW section is a picturesque walk in the rural Cheshire landscape passing through Lymm, a bustling town today in warm sunshine. As expected Dunham Massey was extremely busy with day trippers enjoying the warm early Autumn conditions, a popular deer park whose various paths form sections of our shorter and more frequent half-day walks from home. The exit gate on the B5160 leads onto the path through Dunham golf course emerging at Highgate Road, a short walk from home.

Full report & photos