Walk Description

With a mixed weather forecast ahead of us, Steve and I decided to leave the hills alone and headed south west into the Cheshire plain.  We made our way to Delamere forest.  We parked in the large Whitefields car park.  It certainly was large and the stony surface made it look white.  We took a quick look at the information board.  Sadly there was not much information to be gained from there today.  The leaflets and maps had all been faded by the sun.  We decided to walk along the side of Blakemere Moss to the Visitors Centre.


Blakesmere Moss is a strange place.  It is part of the ancient Cheshire hunting forest.  It was drained and laid out as a coniferous forest.  Unfortunately the trees didn’t thrive and the Forestry Commission have chopped down the trees and let the Moss flood again.  The Moss is now a breeding ground for the black headed gull.   The stumps of many of the old trees can be seen poking up out of the water; many have a black headed gull perched on them.  It’s an eerie site.  The trees surrounding Blakemere Moss are home to Go Ape.  As we walked through the forest we could hear the zing of the wires as the Go Ape-rs zoomed on high wires from tree to tree.  Although they seemed to be enjoying themselves, I am not sure if I could do that.

We followed the Sandstone Trail around the Moss stopping to explore any interesting features on the way.  We quickly reached the road through Delamere Forest to Hatchmere and left the Sandstone Trail to explore the Walkers Wotzits.  We didn’t find out what the Wotzits were, unless they were the collection of flooded areas that we walked past. It was just a short stroll from here back the car.

We then drove to Gestys Waste near Kelsall Hill, here we parked the car and headed for Primrosehill Wood.   Again we followed the very well signposted Sandstone Trail through woods past Kings Gate to the Urchin's Kitchen.  The name doesn’t refer to the modern usage of Urchin, but in this case to the fairies that were thought to live there.   Urchin's Kitchen is a gorge that was formed by glacial melt waters when the glaciers retreated.  After exploring the short gorge we retraced our steps back to the car.
As it was still early afternoon and we stopped off at the River Weaver for a drink and then explored the area near Acton Bridge.  Then it was then finally time to drive home.  Although not one of our most strenuous walks, the scenery was new and there had been plenty of interesting things to see.