The start to the day was a sunny one but the weather forecast was for wintery showers. I started off from the roadside parking near Rockhall between The Roaches and Hen Cloud. There are several paths which head off towards the start of the ascent of The Roaches or Hen Cloud. After walking up the rough and marshy path to the base of The Roaches I followed a track around to the right hand side to arrive at a gate on the right. Passing through the gate the path crosses a field towards the start of the ascent of Hen Cloud. The ascent is a nice easy one which soon gets you to the summit. The views from the summit are fantastic. To the north are lovely rocky heights of The Roaches while to the north east are Ramshaw Rocks, to the north west are Jodrall Bank and the Cheshire Plain, to the south west is Tittesworth Reservoir, and also looking more or less north west is Shutlingsloe. I managed to take several photos from the summit while the weather was sunny and bright.

I made my way from the summit of Hen Cloud by taking a path east and then south steeply down through woods to reach The Roaches House. I then followed the tarmaced track away from the house around the base of Hen Cloud to eventually reach the road. Turning left I walked along the road to Upper Hulme. The sun had now given way to cloud but at least it was not raining. On the outskirts of the village I came across 2 moles which were hung up on barbbed wire by the side of the road. I believe that this is a common practice by farmers but I had not seen this practice before. On passing through the small hamlet was The Potting Shed (a garden and gift centre - looked a bit dead to me) and a small waterfall near the bridge across the stream. The path I was supposed to take by the side of the stream was not obvious so I decided to follow the small road up on to the main A53 (care must be taken) which I then followed up to the base of Ramshaw Rocks. It had now become very dark and the clouds overhead looked rather menacing. The ground from the road to Ramshaw Rocks is quite boggy and wet at this time of the year. After crossing the marshy area one arrives at a small road. The route follows the road for a short distance to the left and then enters open access land. This is the start of Ramshaw Rocks. There are lots of paths meandering around the rocks along the whole length of the ridge path. You certainly could play a good game of hide and seek here. The views across to Hen Cloud and The Roaches are great as well as Tittesworth Reservoir in the distance to the south west.

At the end of the ridge the path descends down to the north. Eventually a path by a stile is reached. This is where I turned left and headed across boggy and marshy ground to near Hazel Barrow. The route could be extended at this point to head off on paths north to Gib Tor Rocks. As it was now hailing I decided to take the road to Roach End. After a while the hail stopped and the sun came out once more for a brief time. However as I neared Roach End it started to snow which eventually turned into a blizzard. The ascent of The Roaches was still in blizzard conditions which made the ascent a little tricky. There were no views and it was certainly head down as the wind and snow took hold. I soon made it to the summit Trig Point. There are a few walkers resting next to the Trig Point. I kindly asked if they could move while I took a quick photo - which they did. After I had taken the photo in bleak conditions I turned around and could not believe my eyes. There was no snow but in fact fantastic views and sunny blue sky!!! The snow cloud soon sped away and I stopped for a well earned rest and refreshments taking in the lovely scenery. I also took several photos while I was there. I then carried on along the ridge to Doxey Pool. A lovely place for a quiet picnic. After following the ridge route a small distance further I then descended down to the left of the ridge steeply down to the bottom and the end of the ridge. It was then an easy walk back from Rockhall to the car by the side of the road. It was a great day full of all kinds of weather and lovely scenery.