First logged Ramble of the year.
I must admit to having never heard of this Burton. Of course as a fan of football (my team is about to disappear into the ether!) I had heard of Burton Albion…I don’t think this is the same Burton. However, aside from all that, with the A.A. event getting ever closer (gulp!) it is getting more and more important that I continue to get out and about walking, but not just walking, cold-weather walking, for as sure as eggs are eggs, it will be surely cold atop Darwen Hill on the 13th of February! Hence I pledged to do this Burton walk straight away after the Rambles (soggy) walk in the Lune Valley earlier this month.The choice of the three walks were:
C – About six, relatively flat, miles
B – Eight and a half miles, a stretch of estuary and only about forty metres of ascent.
A – At least eight fields, all of which would be muddy – no, seriously we were warned that they would be muddy!
So, obviously I opted for B and what a grand walk it was! Within the first mile we were wandering through Coniferous woodland and treated to a site of two Alpacas – two very shy Alpacas who were intent on staying put at the far end of their field, which was more like a paddock to be honest. Within a few moments we were on the trail which ultimately became the Wirral Circular Trail and encompasses an easy to walk-upon section of path that used to be a railway line. this was further evidenced when we visited the disused Hadlow Road station at about halfway. This was where we stopped for lunch.
To be honest I couldn’t re-start quick enough as the temperature started to become more ‘noticeable’ after the eating had stopped and the drinks had been drunk.
Our next destination was to head in a northerly direction then veer off due west in order to transport us over towards the marshes at the estuary. I loved it here, although I do like a good beach, and we Sand-grounders are resigned to the fact that we’re losing ours, the marshes were captivating. It also has to be said that the weather, although clement enough, didn’t lend itself to spectacular views. We could see across the river Dee’s estuary towards the other side…we just couldn’t see the Dee itself! This made for some really rather lacklustre photographs. After carefully negotiating the marshes and keeping our collective feet dry – thanks to Trefor’s memory and Jean’s leadership, we then headed uphill for the last stretch back to the start and a café – where I was able to wirelessly connect to EduRoam (this is a big thing to me!). the uphill stretch would only grant us a further forty metres in altitude, but after so much flat walking…felt considerably more.
All in all a good walk with the section of marshes at the Dee estuary being far and away my favourite.
Distance 8.5- 10.4 miles
Altitude gained / lost – 348 feet.
Time taken – Around four and a half hours.
Song of the walk (even though I was chatting a lot): Ellie Goulding: This Love
