Wow guys, it seems like a long time since we spoke. I’ve been taking a little nap over Winter whilst this nasty virus came back with a bang… call it hibernation if you will… there was no way I was coming out to play before now. I’m glad to say my distant cousin Boris de Bear and his bunch of beary men, have done a half decent job on getting our good old NHS plenty of vaccine to give to the humans, so all being well, we might get to have a few little adventures this year. Paws crossed!
Anyway, the humans had some holidays to use up and rather than sit at home again, Dad dragged Mum (kicking and screaming) for a walk. This would be no ordinary walk… it would use muscles that Mum didn’t know she had and after much protesting, they set off on the short 7 mile drive to the foot of the Cloud. The Cloud or Bosley Cloud is a prominent hill on the border between Cheshire and Staffordshire, a couple of miles west of the Peak District National Park boundary.
It’s one of the highest hills in the area and the short but steep walk up Bosley Cloud rewards you with some of the best views in Cheshire. Not as high as the county’s highest point Shining Tor or even the “Matterhorn of Cheshire” Shutlingsloe, but still a decent little hike. At 343 metres in height, a similar and attainable climb to Tegg’s Nose and the Saddle Of Kerridge (the home of the famous White Nancy), both also part of the Gritstone Trail. Whilst reading up about the Cloud, I found that you would need to pile 25 of them on top of one another to be the same height as Mount Everest!
Just as we were pulling into the car park, Mum said to Dad “is that it?!” with a little fear in her voice. It was, but it wasn’t that high, not even for a tiny bear like me. The start of the walk is from Timbersbrook picnic area car park, just off Weathercock Lane, which Mum found very funny. No… I’ve no idea why either! So, the walk then… from the other end of the car park, we went through a gate, along a short path and up some steps onto the lane. We walked up the lane for about 200 metres, where you come to a kissing gate.. a what!? Apparently, a kissing gate is a type of gate that allows people (and teddy bears), but not livestock, to pass through. What a strange name! Through the gate are a lot of steps and believe it or not, this is the steepest part of the climb. Dad waited for Mum at the top, this would be a common theme!
At the top of the steps we came to a wide track. Here we went right and kept to the track until we saw a path which forked to the left through a narrow wooden opening and a National Trust sign for ‘The Cloud’. You can see this on my photos below. We followed this path for about 100 metres until we came to a T-junction, where we’d take a left. A little bit further and we’d come to a stone wall with a wooden gate. You have a choice of routes here and Dad was kind to Mum and picked the easier middle route right through the woods. It’s impossible to get lost on this walk, there are plenty of signs for the Gritstone Trail to keep you heading in the right direction. The path we took takes you out of the woods, with a rocky outcrop and viewpoint in the distance ahead.
Once we got to the top we took in the views, also taking a look at the viewfinder which shows distances to other local and national landmarks, such as Liverpool Cathedral (our favourite city) 38 miles away. You can see some of the closer ones on a clear day, but today was anything but! Mum said hello to a couple of dogs out on their walkies and we set off on our way down. Heading in the same direction by which we arrived, we walked along a path bordered by logs, heading (gladly) gently downhill. We went through a stile and to the right over the fence, saw some Ostriches and little Kangaroos or possibly even Wallabies. I’m no expert on marsupials I’m afraid and this was definitely a random sight on the side of a Cheshire hill!
Next we walked down a few steps onto a concrete lane, then turning right and up a hill – “I thought it was all downhill now”, Mum pipes up! – and just before the track veers right, we went over another stile and then along a fenced path down the side of the field, where to the right we could see some Alpachas! Did we accidentally walk into a zoo! We came to another stile and then back into the woods, following a path parallel to the stone wall at the edge. This brought us to the gate through which we passed on our way up and at this point we just traced our steps backwards to the car park.
All in all, it was about 2 and a half miles of walking, taking about 90 minutes and it was so nice to get our properly from my little bear cave! Given the day was 17th March, it was also time to celebrate with my Celtic friends in Ireland. You can’t not have a pint of Guinness today and Dad made a very scrummy fish finger sandwich to soak up the dark and stormy goodness. They say “good things come to those who wait”, well we’ve all been waiting over a year now, so make it happen!
Happy St. Patrick’s day 🍀