Stockport 2

Walk Details:
Date: 29/4/2007
Total ascent: 44m/ 144ft
Total distance walked: 0.42 miles
Walkers: Anth, Jim
Accessibility: On right to roam land, but with steep, narrow, barely-used paths.
Car Parking: We parked at the end of the private road at SJ 986 872 and hoped no-one would mind!

Top details:
Name: Mellor Moor
Category: County top
County top number: 164 of 206
Grid reference: SJ 98673 87250
Height above sea level: 327m/ 1,073ft
Description/Notes: There are two points in Stockport Unitary Authority that are equal height contenders for the unitary top – Robin Hood’s Picking Rods (see separate report) or Mellor Moor. The high point at Mellor Moor is marked by a trig point.

The Walk:

The 21st and final county top of our most productive bagging weekend to date was lost in a maze of tiny roads. We passed a remote cattery without seeing any sign of a place to park, and ended up pulling in at the very end of a dead end road (officially a private road on the map). We hoped that no-one would mind for the fifteen minutes it would take us to bag the top, especially seeing as the road appeared to lead nowhere!

The top was within a diminutive area of open access land, and it appeared that the way to access it was from a muddy track appropriately called Black Lane, which would require us to walk right back down to the cattery. However, before we reached it we saw a faint path of to the right and took that instead. It took us around the edge of a tiny quarry (which looked like it might hold a few decent miniature scrambles or bouldering problems) and up onto a pygny patch of moorland.

We’d been thinking that everything about this top was smaller than on its compatriots. However, we suddenly turned back to find that behind us lay enormous views to the west, and a wooden cross large enough to require four hawsers to keep it upright. Ahead, though lay our objective, a concrete trig (neither too large or too small, just exactly the right size) set amidst a batch of burnt and blasted heath.

With a new personal best bagging record in our pocket, we returned the way we came and drove home. It had been a great weekend, the tops had been more varied and interesting than we’d expected, and the views and wooden cross on Mellor Moor had been a rather nice and unexpected way to end it!

Verdict:
A splendid little top with great views! It’s possibly not worth non-baggers visiting in isolation, but if you can link it into a circular walk (hopefully with better parking) it would be a nice little bonus.