Gun & The Cloud

Walk summary
A chance to pick off a couple of low level Marilyns in area 36 - Lancashire, Cheshire & the Southern Pennines as part of our Peak District trip to visit Kinder Low, the Historic County Top of Derbyshire.
Moderate winds put paid to going up Kinder Low today and early morning rain meant a later start waiting for the rain to clear as forecast.
The original plan was to start at Rushton Spencer go up The Cloud return to the van for lunch then go out in the afternoon again from Rushton Spencer to go up Gun. Basically two individual circular walks of at least 5 miles each, more like 12 in total as the return route had not been planned in detail.
With the late start we decided to go up Gun first, have lunch then drive on to Rushton Spencer and go up The Cloud along the Staffordshire Way following the original planned route.
Still cold and windy on the tops but with dry conditions and fluffy white shower clouds silhouetted against blue sky providing good light for photos combined with clear views.
We really should have more days like this

Peaks visited
Nuttalls (254E - 444E&W)
NONE
Hewitts (179E - 316E&W)
NONE
Marilyns (176E - 1550E,W&S)
Gun (69E - 138E,W&S)
The Cloud (70E - 139E,W&S)
Deweys (181E - 427EW&S)
NONE
HuMPs (444E - 2977EW&S)

Gun (125E - 213E,W&S)
The Cloud (126E - 214E,W&S)
Historic County Tops (49W - 93E,W&S)
NONE

E: England. 

E,W&S:England,Wales & Scotland

Gun

Walk Statistics

Walk Date - 11 April 2015
Walkers - Steve Smith, Gina Smith
Accommodation -  Buxton Caravan Club Site
Start Point - 358m spot height on Meerbrook Road (SJ 96766 60944)
Start Time - 12:50
Finish Point - 358m spot height on Meerbrook Road (SJ 96766 60944)
Finish Time - 13:51
Duration - 1hrs 01mins 
Average pace - 2.09mph
Distance Walked - 2.12 miles
Height Ascended - 81.31 metres
Route Description

Gun trig point

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GPX can be downloaded from
www.shareyouradventure.com

Found off road parking in sight of Gun trig point shortly after passing through Meerbrook. Was tempted to walk the .42 miles and .42 miles back just to claim the visit but still have the idea to walk a reasonable distance hence the short circular walk past White Shaw Farm. It was a worthwhile walk and did get a splendid view of Shutlingsloe but if I am to have any chance of getting anywhere near achieving the subsidiary objective of climbing 600 Marilyns and becoming a member of The Marilyn Hall of Fame (MARHOFN) I suspect my attitude to drive up summits will have to change.

The Cloud

Walk Statistics

Walk Date - 11 April 2015
Walkers - Steve Smith, Gina Smith
Accommodation -  Buxton Caravan Club Site
Start Point - Footpath near Rushton Spencer old station (SJ 93559 62477)

Start Time - 15:01
Finish Point - Footpath near Rushton Spencer old station (SJ 93559 62477)
Finish Time - 17:50
Duration - 2hrs 49mins
Average pace - 2.04mph
Distance Walked - 5.75 miles
Height Ascended - 279.14metres
Route Description

The Cloud summit area. 100m NW of trig point.

Click on photograph to view slide-show

GPX can be downloaded from
www.shareyouradventure.com

Marilyn walk number 2 of 2 today and unlike walk 1 more or less as planned, qualifying by distance (> 5 miles) as what I would call a worthy route to justify a summit walk rather than parking as close as possible and just going up the hill. As always with a walk of this distance we came across places of interest as well as possible inspiration for future visits. In this case it was the Staffordshire Way and Gritstone Trail. Yes I would like to come back and walk more of the route but I should remember what frustrates me when I am not out walking, that is not increasing the the count against one of the 3 targeted lists which I have arbitrarily chosen to complete:-

• All 444 English & Welsh Nuttalls
• All 282 Scottish Munros
• 600 of the 1556 English, Welsh and Scottish Marilyns

Amongst these there will be plenty of opportunity to walk far greater distances than this routes 5.75 miles. To complete any of these lists, whilst not every ones cup of tea, is quite an achievement and by there sheer numbers many will be more difficult to reach and require you to do things that not everyone is prepared or capable to achieve. Most importantly you do not think you have the capabilities but end up doing as part of the challenge.
Even when you have done some of the things you did not think you can achieve you can be certain that you will have to acquire skills and do things you had not even thought of. Chances are if you knew what these were you would not have set the task in the first place.
So from now on my focus is going to be completing each of the above lists.

Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you will be able to do things others can't.