In case regular readers wonder what a choral society walking group talks about, it does, occasionally involve music – this time Roger’s report on the Buxton Festival.  Other topics included the importance of gut bacteria, whether viruses are counted as living things (and if not, why not?), and animal sentience.  All this on a walk that started in Adlington and ended at a bus stop in High Lane.  Of course, there was the matter of getting to Adlington first, which involved a train from Stockport preceded by a bus from Marple which was itself, in the case of Sarah and John, preceded by a moment’s panic about misjudged timings, until they realised that the timetable they were reading at the bus stop did not come into force until the following week.

John’s walk led the group across relatively flat terrain – merciful in the heat, but not affording the grand vistas that we get from the hills.  It largely seemed to be concerned with escaping the magnetic attraction of the all-too-familiar canal and Middlewood Way.

The sculpture of the G7 leaders made of waste material, originally stationed outside their meeting in Cornwall, is now on display outside the Stockport railway station.

The tree stump of Zorro.

The purpose of this notice seems to be to tell you the name of the woodpecker.  If you look closely, you’ll see it’s Brian.

Meadowsweet.

Swollen root structure.  Why?  How?

This is probably what provoked the discussion about animal sentience.

One of these must be Gordon.  (He’s a Gordon Gnome.)

The Miners Arms in Upper Poynton which the group passed (reluctantly).

More Upper Poynton industrial heritage.

This horse may think that it’s disguised as a hot air balloon, but it wasn’t fooling anyone.

Once again, photos by Sarah and notes by the absent Stuart (who spent the day across the Cheshire plain at the horticulturalists’ Glastonbury).