We met in Tollgate Road, which is about half a mile passed Rudyard Station.

It had rained a lot in the night and we had to pick our way through the muddy fields

The rain had just stopped and it was quite hard going up the steep hill

Clouds still covered the sky as we crossed the fields at the top

From this vantage point we had a view of Rudyard Lake

and out over Leek

and a view towards the Roaches.

We headed down into the valley

at times the ground was very slippy, as Alan can testify!

At the bottom we followed the path between two streams

Where the water rushed along from the recent rain

A solitary duck patrolled the stream

and the ponds were fuller than normal

It was easy going along the path

A highland cow inspected us as we passed by

We circled back by Rudyard Lake, it was here we took our break

on the dam

With care we crossed the stream

We all managed to cross without incident

before heading up to Horton Church

and its accompanying vicarage

Finally we headed down towards our cars, arriving just before the rain restarted

and added to these additional pools. We were fortunate in completing our walk without getting wet!