Maria’s Love Chester article

Posted October 1, 2026

Our Publicity Officer, Maria, submits a monthly article to Love Chester magazine, relating to a club walk.

Moments to remember
With summer behind us, and the prospect of less clement weather ahead, it’s good to reflect on those special moments experienced on sunny hikes. Chester Rambling and Hill Walking Club enjoyed a varied programme of walks right through the summer months, mostly in pleasant weather.

One popular component of our summer calendar is the Tuesday evening short walks programme. This year we were tempted by a range of local destinations, including Eccleston, Flint, Parkgate, Neston, Tarporley, Christleton, Bickerton, Trevor Basin, Gresford, Helsby, Frodsham, and two history walks around Chester. Apart from the Parkgate walk, when a random rainstorm fell between two heatwaves, not one of these mini hikes required the donning of wet weather gear. On the contrary, sunhats and copious smearing of Factor 50 were vital!

We made use of the new Woodland Trust car park at Frodsham Hill one glorious summer’s evening, to start a ‘figure eight’ walk of around 3 miles, taking in Woodhouse Hill and Snidley Moor. The Trust have taken on 94 acres of land once occupied by Frodsham Golf Club, previously fenced off to protect hikers from straying into the path of small low-flying white balls! These missiles are now a distant memory, and embryo copses and swathes of meadowland have replaced the once pristinely mowed golf course.

At the back end of 2023, 30,000 native broadleaf trees were planted on the elevated plateau between Woodhouse and Overton Hills. This now links up other Trust sites and provides extensive habitat for a variety of birds, insects and small mammals. It’s also put a broad grin on the faces of local hikers, as the enhanced network of footpaths connects with the Sandstone Trail, and enables more varied walks to be devised. Needless to say, our Club have made excellent use of the new footpaths since their creation.

For our evening walk, we left the car park, crossing the former golf course to meet the Sandstone Trail. We headed in a westerly direction, with the Mersey on our right hand side. The footpath sits atop a steep sandstone escarpment and occasional gaps in the trees reveal some glorious views across those verdant flatlands created after the Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894. Today, the M56 thunders its way across this part of North Cheshire, on land once inundated by the River Mersey and its tributaries.

Our leader’s chosen route passed Woodhouse Hill, where an Iron Age Hill Fort exists. Don’t expect to see ditches and embankments here, as you would at other Cheshire hill forts! This one is well hidden under leafy boughs and bracken. Nearby is a footpath up to Snidley Moor. Bit of a climb, but short, leading up to an open area with benches for the weary. Tall trees meant there were no views from here, but great things were still to come! Our footpath eventually met the Sandstone Trail again and, with the sun beginning to drop, a dappled sun and shade effect was created through the trees. Soon, we came upon one of those open viewpoints with fabulous vistas across the Mersey estuary. This was the perfect opportunity to savour the moment – the sun setting across the flatlands, marking the end of another summer’s day. With carefree chatter abandoned, we simply sat and wallowed in the beauty that nature offered us that gorgeous August evening.

All too soon, it was time to move on, de-boot, and head to one of several local pubs to relax and share our experience.

Summer walks have ended, leaving us with some beautiful memories. However, with each season offering something different for us to enjoy, many more unforgettable hikes are still to come.

Our Winter programme will be issued shortly, and, yes, we really do walk all year round!