Ecton Hill

The abundance of close contour lines on my map had got me quite excited during the planning stage of today's walk. I was a little less excited at the reality of climbing up a steep hill on a hot day. A sign at the bottom of the hill had warned me not to go off piste and wander into a mine shaft. Ecton Hill had been mined for copper and lead since the sixteenth century. By 1790 the mine employed 400 people (including women and children) and produced 4,000 tons of copper a year. It is hard to imagine how the valley must have looked in those days compared to the serene setting of today. I could see a number of fenced enclosures protecting the top of the shafts. I tried to look down one of them and I couldn't see any capping. The views now opened up and those close contour lines on my map now revealed a very picturesque landscape. Once I got to the trig point I could see my next Ethel over to the south, Wetton Hill. It looked like there was going to be a lot of descent and ascent involved to get there. Wetton Hill didn't have a summit height on the OS map and the unnamed hill over to its east actually looked higher (it isn't, it is 1 metre lower). I began to doubt which was the Ethel and so decided to climb the unnamed peak as well. The peak also had three Tumuli labelled on the OS map and so was well worthy of investigation.

Wetton Hill

There was indeed a lot of descent and ascent on this section of the walk, but it didn't feel that strenuous. There were some bumps on the top of the unnamed peak that I took to be the Tumuli. I could see from the map that I wasn't that far from Wolfscote Hill to the northeast, The Ethel That Got Away.  I headed from the unnamed peak to the col linking it to Wetton Hill. At the stile over the stone wall I was met by a pungent smell. I poked my nose over the wall to see dozens of sheep sleeping in the wall's shade on the other side. They soon shifted though as I climbed over the wall. A short climb and then I was stood on the top of my second Ethel of the day, Wetton Hill. My next destination was Wetton Mill, over to the east. I did think about taking a short cut by dropping down the steep western slope of Wetton Hill, but in the end I retraced my route back to the smelly sheep and then used a footpath back down to the valley bottom. The dry valley leading to Wetton Mill was deep and pretty. I greeted a woman walking her dogs. She must have gone over Ecton Hill after meeting me since I saw her again, later on in the day, on the Manifold Way.

 Wettonmill And Soleros

I wasn't allowed to pick an ice-cream out of the fridge at the shop at Wetton Mill. You had to tell the assistant which one you wanted and she'd then take it out for you. There was a poster with a picture of the ice-creams and their prices on the wall. I took my glasses off and got within six inches of the poster so that I could read the small print. Bloody hell; £2.80 for an ice-cream! I could buy a box of six Cornettos for £2.50 at Tescos. £2.80, they were having a laugh.  I detected the assistant shuffling her feet next to me, since a queue of 3 people had formed behind me. After much pondering and chin stroking, I opted for a Mango Coconut And White Chocolate Solero.  I wrote out a cheque for £2.80 and then settled down at a patio bench outside the shop and unwrapped my lolly. I'm not a big fan of shrinkflation and I could see that it had been rigorously adopted by the ice lolly manufacturers. Soleros used to be massive when I was a kid. I reckoned I could even get the whole of this one in my mouth. I tried it to prove the point and the coldness of the lolly at the back of my throat made me gag. This disturbed my neighbours at the next patio table.  A motorcyclist turned up at the carpark, wandered over to a nearby patio table and started to smoke a cigarette.  The smoke was so acrid that I decided to move on. It is odd how in the 80s and 90s, I'd voluntary sit in pubs surrounded by smokers. Times have changed.

Revidge

I joined the Mainfold Trail again at Wetton Mill and headed off northwards along the wooded valley. The flies seemed to like the shelter and shade of the trees and they pestered me quite a bit along this section. It was a pretty valley though and the River Manifold meandered next to the trail. I crossed the river at Ecton Bridge  and re-joined the Manifold Way on the other side. It was only for about 200 metres or so before I joined a footpath that field hopped me to the village of Warslow. It was lunch time and I sat on a bench to eat my tomato sandwiches. The sun had been so hot that the bread of my sarnies had hardened like toast. I'd climbed quite a bit up to Warslow and from this elevated position, I had a good view of the whole length of Ecton Hill.

Some field hopping got me to the open access area that contained my third Ethel, Revidge. It was then only a five minute walk up to the trig point. Somebody had built a meagre stone windbreak near to the trig. There must have been a dearth of stones in the area since I couldn't see it blocking much wind.  Looking across to Ecton Hill, I could locate the position of Hulme End where I'd parked my car. It didn't look that far away, and I set off towards it.

Return

My route back to Hulme End involved some intricate field hopping. Fortunately the signage was reasonably good and I didn't have to use the map much. The path went through somebody's back garden near at one point. The garden had a golf flag set up, although the putting green could have done with a trim with a mower. I walked down the drive of Upper Brownhill Farm to the B5053 and crossed the road to pick up another footpath towards Hulme End. The track got rather sketchy on this section and it was only the gates and stiles that gave me confidence that other walkers had been here before. Near to Hollow Farm a dozen cows were mooching under a tree next to the stile I needed to cross. They started approaching and it was only because of my ability to Fosbury Flop, that I managed to get over the stile in time. Unfortunately my evasive action had only delivered me into another field with another dozen cows shading under a tree. They looked astounded at my sudden and dramatic entrance. I took advantage of their stunned hesitation and walked quickly by them before leaping across a single wire separating the cows from a farm track. I presume the wire was electrified since one of my legs brushed aside it and it tingled. The following cows backed off. Hard to believe that this single wire was protecting me from this aggressive bovine assault. At this point I'd had enough of this footpath and decided to follow the farm track to the road. It was then just a five minute walk back to the carpark.

I'd enjoyed today's walk. Despite there being a lot of field hopping, there were also a lot of open areas to compensate. The valley through which the Manifold Way runs is very picturesque. You do need to ensure that you have sufficient funds if you want an ice-cream at Wetton Mill.