thousandmilesblog | (Nordic) Walk Post 049

Date of Walk: 05/08/10
Walk organized by: Oldham PCT
Start time: 10:00
Start location: Tandle Hill Country Park, Oldham
Walk length: 8.059 miles including walking to and from meeting point
Weather conditions: Cloudy, humid, showers

Rochdale Canal near Chadderton Hall Park

Details:
For a change, a nice day out to Tandle Hill. It was a change in terms of Nordic walks anyway, and we walked in a different direction than the previous Sunday. From the main car park we walked through the trees across the park to the memorial, and went up the hill to enjoy the views across to Oldham and Manchester. We then stayed on the west side of the park and headed south towards a farm where there were lots of very small ponies and some nice chairs made out of horse shoes welded together. That works a lot better than it sounds. From there we turned westwards and crossed under the motorway, then walked along Boarshaw Lane, across the railway line to join the Rochdale Canal. We walked south along the canal for a short way, spotting the remains of a duck that were quite widely spread, then joined a footpath that took us into Chadderton Hall Park. We stopped for lunch at the very nice cafe in the park, then walked through Chadderton Fold, up the hill through Healds Green (full of expensive-looking houses) and Chadderton Heights and past Cinder Hill Farm. We rejoined the path we'd taken earlier back the other way, saying hello to the very small ponies and their owner, back into the park and back through to the car park.

It was a really good walk in spite of the showers, which were especially frequent and heavy in the morning. Also, there was food, which included cake. Cake is good. The poles were more of a hindrance on the very first bit, where there were lots of tree roots across the path, but mostly ok.