Our walk started from the Daisy Nook car park near Medlock Hall, google tells me it is the John Howarth Countryside Centre car park. It was forecast to be a bit of a grim day, blustery with many rain showers that could be heavy and thundery so Beefy came up with this low level walk.
Info about Daisy Nook below
https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200393/parks_countryside_and_canals/684/daisy_nook_country_parkHeron perched on a tree trunk
In Daisy Nook Country Park
It was a lovely trail through the trees in Boodle Wood
The River Medlock is at a low level
We left the park when we reached the A627 and turned right up the road for 5 minutes then we turned left up a track that lead to near Holden Clough then ended up on an old disused railway line.
On the disused railway line
Common Toadflax
Google is handy, we had no idea what these flowers were but they were beautiful. The name doesn't suit the flower if you ask me!
We followed the railway line until we reached Alt Hill Road where we turned right because we were going to go up Hartshead Pike. It started raining again, the rain so far had been light and on and off but this was much heavier. I didn't feel very well, we'd walked for an hour and I had zero energy and my head was swimming. After struggling on the climb up the road I asked if we could miss Hartshead Pike out so we back tracked down the road then turned right to Park Bridge and the heritage centre, details below.
www.tameside.gov.uk/parkbridgeIn the grounds of the Park Bridge Heritage Centre
Chimney in the Park Bridge Heritage Centre
We'd stopped for lunch on a flat area beyond the trees seen in this shot and thankfully it stopped raining and the sun came out.
I felt slightly better after the rest and food but Squeaky started limping. She'd hurt her rear right paw. I cleaned her paw with a wipe but couldn't see anything obvious that was hurting her paw. Beefy carried her for a while but Squeaky wanted to walk so she limped along for a while but then it seemed to improve. We followed the River Medlock back to the Daisy Nook Country Park.
Water lilies
The Bardsley Canal, a disused canal these days
We spotted some moorhens and they were visiting a nest on the canal bank. They had 2 chicks.
One of them was a tennis ball on legs!
One of the parents
The shot is slighlty blurred becasue they were shifting a bit on the canal.
The tennis ball has a head!
Beefy mentioned we would see a lot of birds with chicks and I had said it might be too late for chicks. Shows how much I know
It was fabulous, we saw a lot of birds with chicks!
Zooming in to a Coot nest with chick seen left with the red head
There seems to be a 3rd adult bird here helping to build or maintain the nest.
Zoomed out view of the nest
The nest is just above the centre in the shot. I think this area is called Sammy's basin
Another zoom in shows 2 chicks
Mother mallard and twins
We saw another coot nest which was a bit closer to the path
Coot and babby coot
Same coot with a few more babbies in view
The chick in the previous shot is now under it's mam or dad's wing.
We didn't go as far as Crime Lake we turned back toward the car park. We diverted off the path to see a swan's nest. We'd seen them from the other side of the pond but were too far away.
2 swans with 5 cygnets
We sheltered under some trees for about 10 mins as the heavens opened again. The walk was 6.8 miles long 240m in ascent. The route was John Howarth Countryside centre car park (Daisy Nook) - Boodle Wood - A627 - Holden Clough - Park Bridge Heritage Centre - path alongside the River Medlock - Bardsley Canal - Sammies Basin - car park. It was still early and the weather had brightened for the time being so we drove up to the parking area near Hartshead Pike.
Hartshead Pike
It was short walk up to the tower and it was blowing a hoolie so we didn't hang around very long. There were a few people sitting around the tower so this was the only shot I could take of the tower.
Info about it in the link below
www.ashton-under-lyne.com/history/hartshead.htmView toward Manchester from Hartshead Pike
Looking back from the track back to the car
I could see hills in the distance but I don't know what they are called. This walk was about 0.5 miles with about 50m of ascent. Back at the car we had second lunch and we talked about the following weekend when we are "allowed" to wild camp again. Shame the weather looks wet and windy
For those who like to look at a map of the walk here are 2 pics of the Daisy Nook walk
Route map 1
Route Map 2