Frodsham Hill and Frodsham Marsh

Introduction

With thunderstorms forecast for Central and Eastern areas, I decided to head West for my walk today.

The walk along the edge of the sandstone ridge is one of the very best walks in Northwest England. The marsh offers a completely different experience, teeming with interesting birds and engineering.

The weather was warm, and often sunny to start with, becoming cloudy with a hint of a storm that never quite arrived…. fortunately!

This walk was just under 8 miles with a total ascent of 760ft, 230m, taking about 3 and 1/4 hours to complete. The ascent all came in the first mile or so of the walk!

The drive is around 40minutes each way, when the M56 is clear!

For dog walkers, the walk is one of the best I’ve done as there are no interruptions for livestock, just a few short road sections, but not suitable if cliff edges are a danger for your pet.

OS Explorer Map 267.

There is a car park shown on the map, but I couldn’t find it, so parked easily enough just off the roadside a few hundred yards further on.

Snidley Moor and Woodhouse Hill

I set out up the minor road to Manley where it leaves Tarvin Road, and soon took a good track to the left. This is the Sandstone Trail. A pretty pool took my eye.

I p[assed the first of several Woodland Trust signs, this one announcing Snidley Moor, and then a bigger Information Board.

Rather than sticking rigidly to my marked route, I wandered onto a path through the middle of the “moor” (it’s nothing like the Dark Peak and the Pennines!), staying below the summit and ancient Fort of Woodhouse Hill. I’ve been over the top of the hill before, and would recommend it to anyone hasn’t been here previously.

The woodland here is exceptionally beautiful, both on the newer moor section and the ancient oak which resumes where I rejoined the main path.

Spectacularly, the views northwest to the Mersey estuary suddenly emerged through the trees. Wow! The second half of my walk was clearly visible from here.

Overton Hill

From here, the path wends its way through the trees, just below the very top of the ridge.

Occasionally there are views out at the top, where Frodsham Golf Course runs alongside the path.

The sandstone is a spectacular red-orange colour in places.

The only downside is that, with the wind from the west, the humming of traffic on the M56 is ever-present.

I arrived at the Overton Hill Memorial, a tribute to Frodsham’s war dead.

And I take one last opportunity for a picture of the view before I head downhill.

Frodsham

I wended my way down the hill on zig-zag paths, turning left at the tarmac road which soon became a path, crossed a road and left down Park Road towards the village, where it had been market day, and where I’d seen much activity on the stalls along the wide main road on my way to the start of the walk.

Before reaching the main road, I came upon a building which was familiar. Some will know that I spent the last 12 years of my working life looking after the social housing stock in this area, hence the familiarity, although I only visited this building once, around 2005. There was a fuss because my staff, in their haste to get double glazing fitted to all our housing stock, had failed to understand the special requirements of this historically significant building. They were at odds with the residents who didn’t want standard white upvc frames like the other 6000 tenants were having; staff didn’t want to set a precedent by doing something special. In fact the tenants didn’t want their wooden frames replaced at all. I managed to sort a compromise, and brown upvc frames went in. I’d never have remembered the story had I not walked past the building today!

This is Park Court, and it has a blue plaque!

Frodsham Marsh

Crossing the A56, I headed to the bridge over the busy M56.

With the wind now blowing away from the motorway, silence soon descended, just the hum of a massive wind turbine above me.

This is a barren area with huge bunds surrounding various “tanks” that hold deposits presumably from the Mersey, the Ship Canal, or the chemical industries of the area. It is often very windswept, and is an ideal stopping off point for resident and migrant birds.

However, my first sighting was a caterpillar!

Some plants had been attacked by more larvae, or spiders, and had turned into ghosts.

Finally, I reached a point where a view over the bund is possible. There was a large flock of waders some distance away in the shallow water. I had my binoculars, and most appeared to be black tailed godwits. But there, in the slightly deeper water was my bird of the day – avocet! Another first for me in this most memorable year for birding. You’ll have to believe me as my phone couldn’t zoom in adequately for a good picture.

Here’s one from a library picture taken at this site.

There werte also great views back to the ridge I’d walked along earlier.

Now I was on the home straight. After crossing over the motorway, under the railway and on the A56, there was a lovely path up the side of a stream – an unexpected bonus before I returned to the car!

A super, varied afternoon out!

And Finally…..

The Dropkick Murphys are a great, fun band. This is “L-EE-BOY” from the new album Turn Up That Dial.