Adventures in wet boots

Decided on a shortish Cullingworth trog today since it was a bright afternoon, parking in the middle of a housing estate and heading out of the village and off down Hallas Lane, a rutted road which becomes a bridleway where the houses end. I followed the lane down a set of steps to Hallas Bridge, there was plenty of water in Goit Stock Beck.  After taking a pic of the converted mill I crossed the footbridge and followed the path downstream into Goit Stock Wood.

Got a couple of shots of the falls on the way down, before traipsing through the wood towards the caravan park. All a bit bare at the moment but still pleasant in the sunshine.

I passed through the edge of the park and up a lane between cottages, before following a slightly sticky path past an old (slightly wonky) mill chimney, then across the fields towards Cow House Bridge. On reaching the Cullingworth-Harden road I followed it uphill a little way before heading up a lovely sunken bridleway towards Catstones Moor.

After a short break I turned left along the path before heading over a stile and up towards the old quarry workings on Catstones Hill. I had fun wandering among the outcrops and old workings, others had obviously been before me judging from the signatures in the rocks. Some good views over Wilsden and the skylines above the Worth and Harden valleys from up there, after lingering a bit I set off back downhill across Keighley Road and through more muddy fields towards Sugden House.

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I got a bit stuck at Sugden House trying to find the onward path to link up with a walled track across the valley, entailing a hop over some barbed wire and a bit of a detour. Now short of time, I hurried up the track and across the top of a steep wooded slope before jogging along farm tracks back into Cullingworth.

Goitstock and Catstones walk

Tags: Hikes

Well, I didn’t get any sun, but (after a year of getting around to it) I did finally climb Sharp Haw, a pointy little summit on Flasby Fell a couple of miles outside Skipton. I set off up a bridleway from a lane near Stirton, bearing right up a muddy grass stripe through the bracken and reeds up the side of the fell. There were some nice close range views of neighbouring Thorpe Fell and some fine craggy bits on the western edge of the hill, but the weather was too murky to see much further afield.

After a way I reached a side path which left the bridleway to follow the ridge to the top of Sharp Haw (357m/1143 feet). A quick breather at a convenient bench later I was cantering downhill towards the col, heading towards Rough Haw (339m/1084 feet), which was too inviting to just pass by. So I scrambled up the bank between the rocks and up to the cairn, before following the edge along and bouncing back down the fellside to find the bridleway again.

The ground was soggy in places on the descent towards Flasby, entailing a fair bit of muddy slithering before reaching a farm track heading into the village between rolling pastures. A left turn up another farm track took me to Septeria Gill, then up a winding track into Crag Wood.

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I followed the forestry road right through the plantation, rising steadily up the fell side again below the crags, the views over Airedale would have been good if the visibility was better. This stretch was rather melancholy as much of the lower slopes had been felled, giving the place a bleak aspect. After a couple of miles the track led down the side of Flasby Fell and back to the bridleway, where I retraced my steps the rest of the way back to the car. It was a fairly varied and enjoyable six or seven miles, shame about the miserable weather.

Tags: Hikes

Got out for a couple of hours this morning for a shortish (about 5 miles) winter hike as a start on the exercise routine. I set off from Marsh above Oxenhope along Lee Lane towards a still icy Leeshaw reservoir. The lane passed the dam after about half a mile, before degenerating into a land rover track/bridleway as it began to climb. I paused for a breather where the route became Stairs Lane, an old packhorse trail, before continuing the climb to the watershed.

At this height there was still a fair bit of ice on the track, requiring a bit of dancing around, and the weather was pretty grim and windy towards the top. Plenty of moody landscape to enjoy though.  

I pressed on and finally reached the top of the pass, which was buried in snowdrifts. I wasn’t sure if continuing over the moor was a good idea, but the way was pretty obvious so I decided to go for it. I found a trod suggesting a good line between the boggy bits and the snowdrifts parallel with a ruined stone wall, and roughly followed it across the top of Wadsworth Moor with a fair bit of tussock hopping and some wading through deep snow until the boundary stone above Oxenhope Stoop Hill came into view, before the mist closed in.

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I took the sloppy path down the hill towards Drop Farm, which was holding a lot of water making for a wet, muddy and slippery descent into the clough. The solitude was worth the crap weather and the sludge underfoot - I didn’t see a soul until after a steady climb I finally reached Moorside Lane at Penistone Hill, and walked back downhill to the car. A hard walk but not without its rewards.

Tags: Hikes

Went for a nine mile bog trot this morning, as a step towards walking a summer’s worth of beer off. I was going to climb Weets Hill in West Craven but on the way over pulled in at Penistone Hill car park and thought bollocks, let’s have a local ‘mission’ since it was a nice crisp, bright October day. Perfect weather for the high moors. So I lashed my gaiters on and set off up a farm track to Drop Farm before following the footpath across the south edge of Haworth Moor towards Oxenhope Stoop Hill (445m/1455ft), my first objective. The path was soggy in places which was a taste of things to come, particularly where the path dropped into a broad clough before climbing steeply to the high ground of the watershed. I paused for a breather near the top, enjoying a cracking view over Oxenhope and beyond, the bulky outline of Great Whernside clearly visible on the horizon beyond Rombalds Moor, while Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent could be spotted far to the north west. 

A bit more steady trogging and I was at the top, and after last year’s unplanned dunking I was ready for the bogs up there. I made for the boundary stone, then got the compass out and headed west across the peat and marsh grasses, easily picking out a trampled path of sorts through the bog which I followed over Dick Delf Hill (452m/1480ft), enjoying the fresh air and panoramic views into the Hebden and Worth valleys before picking up the Pennine Way and crossing Withins Height back to the Worth side of the ridge, still with fairly dry feet. I followed the flagstones a way down to Top Withens then clambered up the bank behind the ruin, following a sketchy path round the hilltop to the trig point before continuing through the heather to the Alcomden stones. At this point I still had plenty of energy and time, so I decided to press on across the moor to Crow Hill. This was bloody hard going, ploughing through knee deep heather and tussock grass. After a while the ground dipped between the stones and Crow Hill, skirting Stanbury Bog. This was not fun and half a mile of tussock hopping, squelching and splashing about ensued. I did get a soggy foot at one point when a slither into a particularly deep bog hole squirted water up past the cuff of my gaiter and down the top of my boot. 

Eventually I made it out of the mire and crossed the Wage of Crow Hill (too knackered from my flounderings to bother with the summit) to head down the trod running along the north eastern edge towards Ponden. Suddenly I was no longer alone, as I’d wandered into a noisy line of beaters. They were a friendly enough lot, and since I had to wait at the delph until the shooting had finished they gave me a land rover ride down to the lodge at the edge of Ponden Clough. Which while cheating a bit was better than being mistaken for a grouse and peppered with shot. 

Following the route the shooting estate staff suggested I took the path overlooking the clough round under Ponden Kirk, then up a steep flight of stone ’stairs’ and across the bridge before taking the onward path high above the other side of the clough enjoying some breathtaking views.

At the bottom of the slope I turned sharply back up the side of the fell and over the top, dropping down to Bronte Bridge. After a well earned breather and summat to eat I followed the path back over Haworth Moor to Penistone Hill, rounding off a cracking walk. Just a shame I couldn’t take any pictures. Have a dodgy route map instead (the dotted line was by landrover )

Tags: Hikes

Today I went to the Lancashire side of t’ tops for a frankly knackering ten mile circuit, which involved climbing Boulsworth Hill in the baking afternoon sun. I must be off my head.  

After a false start (as in I set off along the wrong side of the valley and had to double back to the car park after half a mile or so… must start checking the map before setting off half-cocked   ) I set off down a tree lined sunken lane to the abandoned farming village of Wycoller, now a popular beauty spot owned by Lancashire Council. The estate features 12th century vaccary walling, made up of standing slabs of stone, from Norman times when the area was a monastic cattle farm.

On reaching Wycoller I quickly passed the visitor centre/toilets/other people-infested things and followed a path along Wycoller Beck towards the moors, passing a primitive clapper bridge on the way. I opted to stay with the beck at a junction of paths and followed Turnhole Clough up through the woods then out into open country, whereupon the path petered out and a bit of scrambling over rocks and stream banks and through soggy rushes followed, up to the edge of the Wycoller Park where I clambered out of the clough. The beck was crossed here by a footbridge carrying the Pendle Way round above Saucer Hill Clough, and off along the foot of Boulsworth Hill, so I followed it across the moor and along the side of a stone wall towards Boulsworth Dyke.

Eventually the path arrived at the bottom of the footpath loop leading up Boulsworth Hill. I continued to the far path, and set off up the side of Bedding Hill Moor. The moor was still fairly soggy after a spell of dry weather, with loads of bog-cotton in flower turning patches of the fell side white. It was pretty steep, and the climb seemed to go on forever under the hot sun. I reached the Abbot Stone and paused for breath before continuing towards the summit, though the gradient was easing now thankfully. I know, I’m unfit.
The upper portion of the hill was peaty and riven by groughs, but the path rose steadily between gritstone outcrops before reaching the summit, Lad Law (517 metres/1699 feet). Its the highest point in the Pennines between the Dark Peak and the Dales, and the 360 degree views were well worth the climb and a few minutes to savour - with Pendle Hill and the Bowland fells on the western skyline, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent to the northwest and the other dales peaks including Great Whernside and Buckden Pike further east, Keighley Moor and the upper Worth valley, the Bronte moors to the east including the long ridge of Ovenden Moor with its windfarm, and the jumble of the Alcomden stones in the shadow of Crow Hill, and Stoodley Pike and the Dark Peak horizon to the south. I couldn’t have picked a better day for it.

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I headed across the moor top towards Crow Hill a couple of miles to the north east, passing the outcrops of the Great Saucer Stones and the Fox Stones along the way before trogging across an undulating expanse of heather, tussock grass and bare peat - while I needed to keep an eye on where my feet were going through the heather it wasn’t too wet for the most part, I didn’t sink anyway.   The most irritating part of the traverse across the tops was a plague of small black flies, which kept swarming me when I disturbed a group in passing. They didn’t seem to bite but the buggers were itchy when I got a faceful of em, which was often.   The boggy ground was crisscrossed by ‘grips’, small drainage channels, which caught me out once or twice. Eventually I approached Crow Hill (458 metres/1500 feet) and climbed its modest rise for a nice view over the Worth valley and the Alcomden stones a mile away.

After enjoying the views (and the break from the attentions of the flies) I set off down the north side of Crow Hill towards Watersheddles reservoir, through springy bilberry and young heather. This was a lovely stretch to recharge my batteries, and I soon found the beginnings of a clough to follow along side down the fell - however around a hundred and fifty feet above the valley it all went a bit pear shaped as the slope became very steep with a good drop into the clough to my left. I opted to scramble straight down through the undergrowth, before spotting what I thought was a shooting track up the clough. I gleefully dropped down into the clough by slithering down a peat bank only to find it was a path to nowhere, however the clough was relatively easy walking with a bit of crisscrossing to find suitable tussocks and rocks. A little more tussock hopping brought me to the bottom of the slope, where a stile led to a shooting estate track leading round the side of Wycoller Ark towards the Bronte Way.

The return to Wycoller was a pleasant winding down after the exertions of the rough moorland, the path winds through pleasant hill farming country down through the Vale of Wycoller before crossing the fields back to the car park. It was an exhausting way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon, but definitely an enjoyable one.

Tags: Hikes

Set out from Horton-in-Ribblesdale for a proper limestone country yomp this morning. The high point *cough* was to be Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres/2277 feet) towering over the village, but I was going the long way round.
I passed the Pen-y-ghent Cafe, crossed over and followed the Pennine Way for a while, climbing up a stony bridleway between limestone walls, heading north west towards Horton Scar.The way climbed steadily between green fields dotted with Swaledale sheep, brown cows and frisky rabbits, winding around the side of a dry valley before passing the outcrops of Horton Scar on the left. I got a bit camera happy on this walk.  
After a mile and a half or so of steady trogging I took a detour and crossed a stile off to the right at a junction of paths, sticking with the Pennine Way towards Pen-y-Ghent a little way in order to visit Hunt Pot which was hiding in a crinkle a bit further up the fell. Its bigger than it looks and I made damn sure I wasn’t going to slip down it. A nosy sheep got into the shot here.

Considering the detour to be well worth the ascent I returned to the stile and followed the path to the right signposted Foxup. After a short distance the path reached the lip of Hull Pot, which is ginormous - 300 feet from end to end, 70 across and around 70 feet straight down. I paused to watch a stoat hunting among the rocks on the other side of the chasm before following the edge of the pothole to the right, clambering over a stile and out across Horton Moor. The path climbed soggily but steadily to the corner of a wall before undulating alongside it over the moor towards the watershed where Ribblesdale meets Littondale, Pen-y-Ghent Side looming overhead to the right. This stretch was lonely and wild, feeling utterly remote. Great stuff.

After passing the headwaters of Foxup Beck and through some limestone outcrops, a fingerpost indicated a faint soggy path up the side of Foxup Moor towards Plover Hill. This was the strenuous bit - some seven hundred feet of ascent straight up the side of the fell, winding through the limestone edge with only a little scrambling needed followed by a steady pull alongside a stone wall to the summit plateau of Plover Hill, which is 680 metres high (2231 feet). An untidy little cairn suggests the top, but its flat and boggy on the top - so the high point is the ladder stile.   There were some great long distance views from the broad ridge, back west towards Ingleborough and Whernside and east into Silverdale and Littondale, the hump of Pen-y-Ghent itself beckoning at the other end of the ridge. I followed the wall along the ridge as it dropped steadily towards a saddle, the going was soft and peaty underfoot but not too bad - in November this would have been a proper bog-trot. I crossed another ladder stile at the saddle before starting the final trudge back up to Pen-y-Ghent itself.

A steady fifteen minutes trogging saw me at the top of the hill next to the trig point, sat on a bench scoffing butties. A brief pause to let em go down while I soaked up the breathtaking views later I was headed off down the steep end of Pen-y-Ghent.

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And steep it is. The ‘direct’ route passes through a couple of layers of rock, requiring some degree of easy scrambling in either direction. The path here had been reinforced/remanufactured, presumably to reduce erosion and the number of folk barming theirselves falling, progress down the flank of the hill was rapid. I paused at a gate for a look back at what I’d just clambered down and the fells across the valley.
The path followed a wall down and across the side of the fell through Brackenbottom Scar, requiring a little more scrambling, and on down to Brackenbottom Farm before a lane through a wooded glen led back to Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Best hike so far, hands down. 

Tags: Hikes