Remember the problems caused by snow back in 2009? TMBC were caught completely unprepared and many roads throughout the borough were left untreated for days. What a difference a few years makes. Tonight it seems to have snowed quite heavily in Tameside, but all roads are passable. Snow has settled on some higher ground as you can see in the picture, but because of the intense gritting over previous days it is soon turning to slush on the roads.
The same cannot be said in Whitefield where I was earlier this evening. The snow there is deep and is causing real problems. I was lucky to get off the M60 at the Middleton exit as the snow started falling. Cars and lorries were stranded as they slipped to a standstill as the gradient increased towards the M62.
While observing the cars slipping and sliding to a halt, this year, as in previous years, the undisputed winner of the 'going nowhere quickly award' was the prestigious German marque BMW. They might build wonderful cars, but apart from their 4x4's, they are totally hopeless in the snow.
It seems Asda in Hyde were also determined not to be caught out by snow this year either. They had a large tractor on standby ready for snow clearing duties. Whether or not such an impressive machine was necessary for the snow that fell tonight is open to debate.
13 comments:
I love the snow, especially when the authorities are helpless to deal with it, it reminds one that nature is the eternal ruler of all and no matter how we insult it, or pretend that we have conquered it, it still has the power to dominate us.
I welcome the snow, the great equaliser that can turn the most run-down slum into a fairytale scene, if only for a few days, and I hope it holds.
Enjoy it while it is here, the great gift from the gods, where the world-obsessed gnash teeth and the wiser souls embrace it's harsh beauty and reflect on the futility of life's worries.
Great words SS. I love the snow too. When freshly fallen it really can transform the grimmest of places into somewhere magical. And as I witnessed last night on the motorway; it is the great equalizer as it can bring chaos to our modern world in a very short space of time. It is then that perhaps people may realise that mankind is not the ultimate force on this earth, but it is nature who is the real master.
Great comment by SS. The arrogance of mankind is unbelievable. One thing we don't seem to have learned is that we will never beat nature, in all it's forms.
I can never understand why the Scandinavian countries deal with snowfall so well and in the UK we treat it as a catastrophe.
Years ago we never missed a day at school and if the buses weren't running, we walked. Snow then stayed on the ground for weeks but there wasn't the traffic around there is now.
Nowaday's it seems it's just a good excuse to have a day off work.
Is that photograph Springs Lane, Stalybridge TC?
Bill
http://www.walksintameside.co.uk
The prophetic words of Enoch Powell ring down the years from 1968 when he warned:-“Here is a decent, ordinary fellow-Englishman, who in broad daylight in my own town says to me, his Member of Parliament, that the country will not be worth living in for his children. I simply do not have the right to shrug my shoulders and think about something else. What he is saying, thousands and hundreds of thousands are saying and thinking – not throughout Great Britain, perhaps, but in the areas that are already undergoing the total transformation to which there is no parallel in a thousand years of English history.”
No Bill, it is Mottram Old Road.
Bill, way up above Mottram Old Road on the hilltop I come across this monument/marker(see the two new photos below the main article). This is the easiest way to describe where it is; imagine if you are at Walkerwood Reservoir, you walk up the road with the reservoirs on your right, you keep walking until you reach the top reservoir and you turn right, Higher Swineshaw is to your left and Lower Swineshaw to your right. You walk to the end and then take the path which leads to Tintwistle, but you then deviate to the right and follow the path marked only as ‘Public Footpath’. Following this footpath you now have the reservoirs on your right which are quite far below. You keep on walking up and up, you cross a over a wall or two and eventually you reach the monument photographed. When at the monument or soon after you bear left and start you descent eventually you end up at Mottram Old Road.
My question is; do you know what these monuments represent? I have come across a similar one on the plateau above Crowden on the opposite side of the valley to Bleaklow, and I have stumbled upon another close to Bleaklow Head. They all seem to be built to a similar design with a central section where maybe a compass or something once sat.
I forgot to add, if you click the picture beneath the tractor to enlarge, there is a nice panoramic shot of Tameside with city centre Manchester in the distant background.
TC, Monuments, Do you mean trig points? By your route description and photographs that's the one on top of Hollingworthall Moor. Just over 1300ft if memory serves, and a great panorama.
The monument you refer to is known as a trig point. Another more direct way of reaching the one pictured is to journey up Stock's Lane (leaving Mottram Road), and at the sharp right bend take the public footpath on your left. From there you can ascend the large hill which is visible all around Tameside. But be wary, it's steep and much tougher than other routes to the top. Alternatively, where Mottram Road meets Matley Lane you'll notice a small reisdential road called Gallowsclough Road, that'll take you straight on to the hill.
Just Googled trig point and now I know - thanks, and thanks for the info on the shorter route.
Bill, I would be happy to put a link to your site from this blog if you wish? If not, no worries. TC
Bill, do you still drive that silver Land Rover??
As a couple of posters have said TC, it is a trig point or to give them their proper name, triangulation point.
They were erected by the Ordnance Survey as an aid to mapping and as the name implies were used in conjunction with 2 other trig points. There is one on Alphin Pike overlooking Dovestone Reservoir, another on Featherbed Moss half a mile SE of Chew Reservoir and also one W of Rocher Vale near Park Bridge.
The one you photograghed is on Wild Bank Hill, near Hollingworthall Moor at an elevation of 399 metres/1,309 ft the highest point in Tameside.
The walk you describe is to me the best walk in Tameside with great views all around. I normally do it the other way round - Hobson Moor Road, Hollingworthall Moor, Higher Swineshaw, Harridge, Higher Hydegreen, Walkerwood Reservoir, Ashtonhill Cross, Shaw Moor and back to Hobson Moor Road.
A link would be much appreciated TC. ou are already on my links page and blogroll. If you would like a free copy of my eBooks let me have your email address and I will send them to you.
Anonymous, I do not have a silver landrover you must be thinking of someone else.
I agree, that's the best way round.
The highest trig in the borough is Alphin Pike at 469 metres on the Tameside Saddleworth border, the highest point is Hoarstone Edge at 497 metres.
Bill and the other contributors, many thanks for the feedback. My method of hill walking is very hit and miss. I find somewhere that looks interesting and if it is accessible as a public right of way I set out on a voyage of discovery and often only know the location by memory or what road or feature is close at hand but now I know that the triangulation point pictured and the highest point in Tameside is on Wild Bank Hill and I am grateful for that knowledge gained.
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