Jack’s Tracks to Frodsham & Helsby

by Chris Pearce Distance: 6¼ Difficulty: Medium Plus

Frodsham & Helsby

Occasionally when I collate a Jack’s Tracks walk, I get a suspicion that there’s room for improvement. The Sandstone Trail in spring 2020 was a case in point; the first half of the walk was a cracker, the back half just ok, so I popped over the Mersey again recently to scratch that itch. This wellsignposted 6¼ mile walk centres around two prehistoric hilltops enclosures; Helsby Hill and Woodhouse Hill. There are lots of climbs and some sheer cliffs on this walk, so I would recommend that you leave the kids at home and make sure you wear suitable footwear. Start the walk at the car park for Frodsham’s war memorial (WA6 6BG) and take the steep road downhill. Turn left at the Belle Monte Hotel and look for a footpath on your right which plunges you into the woods. After a few short steps, the path forks so take the left fork uphill. After a few minutes walking – follow the yellow ‘S’ sign and go up the sandstone steps and you’ll arrive at the war memorial, the first of many impressive viewpoints on the walk. Carry on in the same direction past the war memorial and ease downhill for 200 yards – then take the lower path. The track continues, hugging the side of the hill in the shadow of sandstone cliffs until you ascend once more, briefly arriving at an open area at the top and then again sinking into the woods. You’ll soon arrive at a crossroad of paths by some wooden steps, turn right here following the NCW sign and you’ll arrive at multiple flights of steep steel steps, Take the steps carefully to the bottom of the sandstone valley and you arrive at a fingerpost – turn right to Carriage Drive.

Continue on the path downhill until you reach a distinctive wall; turn left here and take the steps down the steep hill. When you arrive at the foot of the hill where all the ferns are, there’s two options; turn right at this point. Follow the path through the woods, close to its perimeter with farmland for just under ¾ mile until you reach an exit marked Tarvin Road. Take this exit and walk down to the road; turn left and then first right into the single-track Chestnut Lane. At its conclusion Chestnut Lane narrows to a footpath: take the bridge across the stream and head in the same direction up the concrete steps. Follow this evernarrowing footpath until you arrive out in the open by a house called Tong Dean. Go through the gate opposite and follow the clearly defined footpath until you arrive in Helsby on Bates Lane.

Turn right and then turn left at the crossroads on the Old Chester Road. Look out for a footpath sign for ‘Helsby Hill’ on your left about 50 yards up that road.

Turn up the narrow footpath for a short steep climb to an opening with three paths and a fingerpost. Take the second path marked ‘Hill Top’ and take a gentle enough climb, passing a cliff top viewpoint on the way, until you reach the summit of Helsby Hill, which is marked by a trig point. The views from the top of this hillfort are pretty impressive, 360-degree views of the Mersey Estuary and Liverpool, the mountains of North Wales and also the Shropshire Hills to the south.

Exit the summit via the path directly opposite the path you took to arrive at the summit and follow that path downhill for approximately 150 yards. Take a left turn at a fingerpost (partly hidden on the left) towards ‘Harmers Lake’. 350 yards later, you’ll have passed the lake on the left and arrived at the single-track lane. Turn right downhill and once you’ve passed a secondary and the primary entrance to Harmers Wood on the left, there’s a signpost on the left to Tarvin Road.

Follow this path for 400 yards to Tarvin Road and then turn left for 200 yards. Look for a signpost on your right (Alvaney/Burrows Lane), which is partly hidden behind a tree and take that path. Once you’ve crossed a bridge, turn left along the field’s perimeter in the direction of Woodhouse Hill.

Once you reach Burrows Lane turn left and, at the T-junction, turn right and 350 yards later, take the left fork down a footpath/bridle path. Follow this long gentle incline for just under ¾ mile, ignoring the turn offs to Snidey Moor on the right and to Woodhouse Hill on the left. Once you reach the T-junction

For those with the OS Maps app on your desktop, mobile or tablet, this walk is named: JT-Frodsham-Helsby

M56

Hatley Lane

A56 B5393

Netherton

Sandstone Trail Beacon Hill

A56

Bates Lane

Helsby

Helsby Hill

Harmers Wood

Bates Lane The Coppice

Tarvin Road

Hawthorn Farm

North Cheshire Way Woodhouse Hill

Arboretum

Foxhill Farm

Burrows Lane Foxhill Wood

Tower Snidley Moor

Home Farm Higher Mickledale Farm

Manley Road

Elevation

100m

50m

0.0km 5.0km 10km Lowest 23m Highest 141m Total ascent 425m

with bench on the right and the fingerpost on the left, turn left and then bear right at the next fork taking the path round the edge of the woodlands. Look for the path encased by a low sandstone wall on your left and follow this path to the top of Woodhouse Hill before sharply dropping down steps to a bench and an info board ‘Ice and Sea’.

Turn right and follow the path gradually downhill, parallel to the golf course. Just past the tee for the 10th hole, take care when climbing down some steep sandstone steps. At the base, turn left, walk over the wooden bridge and you arrive at the fingerpost from earlier.

Tackle the flights of steel stairs once again and retrace your steps for 100 yards or so until you see a turn to the right which takes you through undergrowth and onto the golf course. You need to look hard to see a slight dip running diagonally across the fairway heading to the left of the masts in the distance. As you cross the fairways, you’ll see a very apparent footpath in the distance that runs firstly through undergrowth and then runs onto a dirt track heading up to Simons Lane. Turn left when you reach Simons Lane and follow the road round a right-hand bend that runs downhill past the Forest Hills hotel back to the starting point.

57 Cooking with the Kids

Top tips before you start

This is a great time to start teaching your child about food hygiene and safety. Even toddlers can quickly learn that they need to wash their hands before cooking and not to touch the hob when it’s on. Older children can learn how to use an oven glove and knife, why it’s important to clean surfaces and so on. Do always supervise kids when they’re cooking though. All the recipes should feed four people for lunch or dinner.

Pepper and tomato pasta

Ingredients

• Half an onion • Three large red or yellow salad peppers • Two cloves of garlic • One tablespoon of olive oil • One carton of passata • One tin of chopped tomatoes • A pinch of dried basil • Approx. 400g of dried wholemeal spaghetti • Cheese to sprinkle on top

Method

• Chop the onion, peppers and garlic. Warm the olive oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan.

Add the chopped vegetables and lightly sauté for a few minutes.

Add the passata, tinned tomatoes and dried basil. Pop the lid on and leave to simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes.

Cheesy egg muffins

Bored of baking fairy cakes? Help your kids’ cooking skills reach the next level with our easy recipes.

Ingredients

• 8 eggs • 100ml of milk • 1-2 slices of ham • A handful of vegetables, e.g. sliced mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, tinned sweetcorn • Approx. 120g of cheddar cheese

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Lightly grease a muffin tin with butter.

Cheat’s pizza

Ingredients

• 2 part-baked baguettes • 4-5 tablespoons of passata (or just use ketchup mixed with a dollop of tomato puree) • Toppings, e.g. shredded ham, cooked sweetcorn, pineapple chunks, pepperoni • Approx. 250g of grated mozzarella or cheddar

• Whisk the eggs and milk together. Method

• Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling water for 10 minutes (or as long as it says on the packet).

• Blend the sauce until smooth and spoon it over the cooked pasta.

Add grated cheese if required. If there’s any sauce left, freeze it for another day. • Tear the ham into small pieces. Add the vegetables and ham to each individual muffin cup. Pour in the eggs and top with grated cheese.

• Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. (Use a skewer or sharp knife to check they’re cooked.) • Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/ gas mark 6.

• Cut each baguette in half lengthways. Spread passata on the long cut sides.

• Add your toppings, followed by cheese, and pop the pizzas in the oven for 10 minutes.