Adventures in wet boots

I managed to squeeze a six mile hike in on Wednesday morning - the weather forecast was for a mild day with sunny intervals, unfortunately it turned out to be overcast with hill fog above 1000 feet.  Regardless, I parked at Midgehole near Hebden Bridge with a view to exploring two of Calderdale’s more striking valleys. I set off down a track through the woods towards the deep wooded ravine through which Hebden Water rushes, which is known as Hardcastle Crags for some reason, though the outcrops it takes its name from are nothing extraordinary. The place itself is very pleasant however - miles of twisting paths along the beck through unspoilt woodland (images 1,2). I’ll have to have another visit in the spring, but it was still gorgeous on a dismal November day.

After a mile and a half or so I passed Gibson Mill (image 3), a 19th century cotton mill which is now a National Trust run visitor centre. I crossed a stone bridge and continued up the valley past a mill pond, after nipping back to the toilets at the mill to retrieve my forgotten pole. 

The ravine became narrower here and the valley’s eponymous ‘crags’ were visible above the north bank, after negotiating a couple of very slippery wooden footbridges I passed through a gate and climbed a steep path heading along the side of Rowshaw Clough, a narrow gorge carrying a smaller beck. At the top of the slope the path was fenced off with a warning sign that the bridge over the clough was out and to follow the diversion to Walshaw. I crossed the stile and followed the field path uphill past a broken wall towards Lord Savile’s old shooting lodge, passing through a gate and into the hamlet of Walshaw.

At this point it started to get a bit misty as I had climbed out of the valley. After checking my map I set off through a gate along a bridleway signposted for Crimsworth Dean. There are two general sorts of bridleway I’ve found - rutted and stony, or churned up and squidgy. This turned out to be the latter as it followed a dry stone wall uphill along the side of a series of tussocky, soggy fields. I toiled through the mud as the mist became thicker, until after much sludgy trogging the path levelled out at a little over 1200 feet. No views were likely though, so I passed through a gate on to Wadsworth Moor, following the now much firmer bridleway along the side of Shackleton Knoll towards Crimsworth Dean. The moor was good and atmospheric after the dank fields, I startled a red grouse into noisy flight, sending it cackling into the fog (image 4). I passed through a gate to follow the cobbled track downhill between broken walls past a series of ruined farm buildings. I passed Nook (image 5), a large ruined farmhouse at the bottom of the lane, where the path split north towards Oxenhope, or south back towards Hebden Bridge.

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At this point I checked my map looking for the footpath down into Crimsworth Dean, which wasn’t much help, so I tried the north fork first. After a couple of hundred yards paddling through churned up slop I figured it must be the other way, and turned around to find the way blocked by a herd of curious cows which had silently followed me from the junction. To my surprise the dopey buggers all stepped aside to let me pass, so I didn’t get my feet trodden on. I soon spotted the correct path, which turned out to be a charmingly dilapidated walled track with a small beck gurgling down the side of it. I followed the steep lane down into the valley past more crumbling ruins, then followed the footpath at the bottom round to Lumb Bridge. In front of me now was a lovely wooded gorge, with a couple of waterfalls emptying into a pool below an ancient packhorse bridge.  The picture doesn’t do it justice (image 6).

Rather than cross the bridge and head up towards the moor I headed down along the narrow path along the top of the bank, across steep boulder strewn fields among bracken and the occasional sheep. At this point the weather spirits decided to add insult to injury by pelting me with a fine windblown rain. It didn’t dampen my spirits though since the place was so nice anyway. Getting lashed with freezing drizzle is definitely more fun in a deserted beauty spot than queuing for a bus. 
About a mile downstream, I crossed a couple of stiles and entered another wood, and followed a muddy meandering path up through the trees with the beck racing over weirs at the bottom of the slope. On reaching a wall stile at the far side of the wood I found the rain had stopped, and cheerfully ambled across the field boundary to climb a fence on to the back lane, which led back down to Midgehole.

All in all it was pretty enjoyable, and I’ll have to repeat it in better weather. Assuming we ever get any. 

Tags: Hikes

Today was actually sunny and calm, so I decided it was a day for a walk with some proper views - a seven mile circuit of Ovenden Moor starting from Ogden Water, taking in Nab Hill, Fly Flats reservoir and the wind farm. 

I set off from the car park at Ogden Water, a nature reserve and reservoir on the Calderdale side of the watershed. Since we’d had heavy rain the previous day and night, the rough water company track I set out along beside the woods was doing a fair impression of a muddy stream, after a little way I crossed a stile into a pleasant mixed woodland and followed a broad footpath down through the trees towards the water (image 1).
The path split at the bottom and I took a muddy footpath heading west towards the clough, which was blocked to the bank by a wire fence, necessitating a detour up the rocks where there was a gap. I scrambled back down the bank and followed the slippery trail along the beck, reaching another wire fence at the edge of the woods, which had been cut, explaining the convenient gap on the hillside.  The wire cutter had left a pissed off note in a plastic bag tied to the fencepost berating the ‘do-gooding nanny’ who had blocked off the path, saying that it was a right of way and he was quite able to decide for himself if a route was dangerous or not. Applauding his initiative, I passed through the gap and continued into Ogden Clough (no relation to the one below Pendle), a stunning, deeply cut valley with the beck racing over the rocks at the bottom (image 2). The path was a bit sketchy in places and it was necessary to cross the beck using handy rocks as stepping stones a couple of times, but dangerous? Pansies.

The path climbed to a small dam with a foot bridge across the beck, and steeply stepped stone paths leading south and north west out of the clough. The upper part of the clough was edged with gritstone outcrops (image 3). I climbed the steps to the north side heading on to Thornton Moor.

The path led away from the clough edge and across the moor, towards Nab Scar. The wind farm came into view to the south, across the clough (image 4). The way here was deeply rutted and braided as it climbed the slope, and had a stream running down it between the rocks and tussocks. As the track reached the top of the moor a view opened up over Thornton Moor reservoir with Denholme in the middle ground, Airedale and Rombalds Moor in the distance (images 5-7).

I turned off the track and crossed a stile, heading on to the escarpment edge of Nab Hill. This track was boggy as a nursery school carpet in places, but the views were incredible, Nab Hill was the highest point of the walk at around 1500 feet. This was an area of 19th century quarries, producing a bizarre landscape of hollows and mounds around the old workings (images 8-10).

I headed across the boggy plateau towards the ridge at the far side. Figuring I’d earned a break, I sat on the grass next to a stone wind shelter and soaked up the panoramic views which reached as far as the Dales’ 3 peaks (images 11 and 12), while I fired down a couple of steak and ale pasties. 

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Suitably refreshed, I plugged on across the old quarry workings before following a sludgy path down to the back road which heads over the moor from Oxenhope towards Halifax, past the wind farm. There was a great view over Fly Flats reservoir from the path, with the spike of distant Stoodley Pike near Todmorden in sight on the horizon. The pic was really dark for some bizarre reason (image 13), but I think it’s pretty cool in a WTF kind of way, so I’m posting it anyway.

I trogged up the lane, the peculiar humps of Nab Hill to my left with wind turbines occasionally peeping from between the mounds (image 14), and Fly Flats reservoir to the right, High Brown Knoll rising darkly in the background across the water. About a mile along the lane the wind farm came into full view (image 15):

I continued downhill before crossing a stile and heading off down a long cobbled track (again acting as a stream bed) across Ovenden Moor back towards Ogden Water. There was a great view down the valley towards Halifax, the line of the Peak District tops on the horizon with the huge TV transmission mast at Holme Moss twenty miles away. Eventually, I arrived back at Ogden Water (image 16), and took the wooded lakeside path back round to the soggy track I started out from, and back to the car.

Tags: Hikes

Today I set off in the pouring rain for a trudge over Farnhill Moor. Sounds fun, I know. 

I’d intended to set out from St.Andrew’s, a mediaeval church in Kildwick but I couldn’t get parked so I had to park up the hill instead. Waterproofed up I set off up the lane to Crag Top being rained on, and passed through a gate up a muddy path on to the moor. After a wooded section the path became rocky and climbed on to the hill top, by which time the rain had eased off a fair bit.  A view of Airedale and the hills beyond opened up at the top. (Image 1)

I continued up across the edge of the moor overlooking a steep crag, heading for the Jubilee Tower. The going here after heavy rain was decidedly squelchy, but the path was helpfully reinforced with rocks in places. Unusually Farnhill Moor has plenty of trees dotted among the rocks, heather and bracken. The views from the tower were pretty impressive, however the tower was not particularly, resembling a white painted termite mound with a black cross stuck in the top (image 2). woo.

From here I splashed across the moor to a large cairn before turning to follow a dry stone wall to the top of Black Hill, where a strategically placed step in the wall allowed a view to the other side. The sun was coming out to the north here, so I took a pic of the view over Skipton and the southern Yorkshire Dales (image 3). Niiice. 

In front of me was a long pile of gritstone boulders, which is actually a Neolithic burial mound. Apparently there is a large long barrow to the right, but to see it would have required balancing on top of the dry stone wall in an attempt to view it. So I didn’t bother. You can see the mound right on the top edge of the dark area (image 4).
As I trudged back over the moor towards Jubilee Tower the sun came out (image 5).

I followed the path down the side of the crag and down through a lovely birch wood full of autumn colours to a quiet back lane. I followed the lane uphill past a farm before climbing a stile and walking down a couple of fields in the sunshine. There were some more pleasant views of South Craven and beyond from the farm, the fields in the valley bottom were flooded. (images 6,7)

Here’s the pics…

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I climbed a wall stile to reach a small swing bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, passing a memorial to some Polish airmen killed in WWII (image 8). The canal at this point passes through the same sort of picture postcard scenery I described in the Riddlesden-Silsden walk (image 9).

I followed the sludgy towpath through copses and fields as the canal meandered back to Kildwick. Along the way I passed Farnhill Manor, a 14th century fortified manor house. Check out the battlements (image 10). 

And as a reminder this is gritstone country, the woods above the canal had plenty of rocky outcrops (image 11).

I arrived back at Kildwick and paused to check out St. Andrew’s, which was quaint but I couldn’t be arsed taking a picture, considering I already had shitloads. I followed the steep path along the beck back up to Crag Top and walked back down to the car. 

Tags: Hikes

It was foggy on the tops yesterday so I opted for a six and a half mile walk in the foothills, setting off from Cullingworth. I followed the road out of the village towards Harden down the hill and over the bridge, turning off at a stone stile a little way up the other side to follow a muddy path across the top of a steep field, overlooking Cow House Beck. I crossed a couple of fields following the beck, before reaching an unusual old chimney. From here was a good view towards Goit Stock Wood, and down the valley towards Airedale. Baildon Hill is visible on the horizon (image 1), and there’s the chimney in image 2.

The path led through a kissing gate and down past a caravan park into Goit Stock Wood, which is picturesque even on a maungy November day. A large group of walkers passed in the opposite direction but they were the only folk I saw for most of the walk. 

Some pics:

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The beck follows an ‘edge’, so its valley forms a gorge in places. Here’s part of the outcrop in the background in image 4.

This is Goit Stock Waterfall in image 5. Nice eh? I made this my new desktop. 

The path left the woods at Hallas Bridge, passing behind a converted mill and sharply uphill on to the steep side of the Hewenden valley. The way here was on clay soil and slippery as a wet dog, if not for my pole I’d have slithered downslope into the gorse bushes more than once.  The huge Hewenden viaduct loomed into view across the valley. Here’s a peek in image 6.

At the end of the escarpment the track improved and led down to the beck and crossed over the Wilsden-Cullingworth road. I passed through a kissing gate on the other side and followed the beck past a weir and towards the viaduct. The ground here was very boggy with runnels of water heading down to the beck, and ankle deep mud puddles sucking at my boots. After taking a snap of the viaduct above (image 7) I picked my way across a boggy field, crossed a walled track and headed up the bank under the viaduct on to drier ground.

I continued uphill then followed a grassy path across the fields, overlooking Hewenden reservoir (image 8). I passed within a couple of feet of some of the biggest cows I’ve ever seen without a ring in their nose, ready to leg it until I spotted the udders. Man those were big fecking cows, but thankfully placid. I know, I’m a soft townie. 

I passed through a gate and down a long farm track, passing under an old railway bridge before reaching Whalley Lane, and crossing over to follow another field boundary path towards some cottages. I crossed over Denholme Beck by a quaint stone footbridge, then climbed a steep field to cross the dismantled railway, before following the trail up to Foster Park Road, and the main Keighley-Halifax road.

At this point I was high enough for the hill fog to start to kick in. I crossed over and set off up Edge Bottom towards Denholme Edge, a moorland escarpment overlooking the village from around 1100 feet, with views right down the valley on a clear day. Today was soup though. Here’s Denholme Edge in image 9. Its up there somewhere, I assure you. 

I followed the track to the top of the Edge, passing through a gate before dropping down through the bracken towards Booth House Farm. The gate at the end of the lane was locked shut, so I followed by nose along the fence and found a way over. A grassy farm track led down towards a squidgy wooded bit, where I opened another field gate and set off down the lane, between marshy fields dotted with grubby sheep. After a bit of trudging I followed a field path back to the main road, which I followed for a bit before passing over a stile and heading downhill along Milking Hole Beck, in another steeply cut valley. (image 10)

From here the path led along the top of a steep wooded slope, full of autumn colours with a nice view of the beck running through the valley bottom, before crossing a bracken covered slope and entering another farm. I followed a field path along a stone wall overlooking Hewenden reservoir from the other side, before passing through a farmyard and heading back through Cullingworth to the car.

Tags: Hikes

So today I took a trip to Lancashire to climb Pendle Hill - at 1831 feet (558m) its flat top is the highest point in the Pennines between the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales, with panoramic views of the Forest of Bowland, Boulsworth Hill and Keighley Moor, the Dark Peak and the Three Peaks from the summit. But not today unfortunately. Though I did get to give my new trekking pole a workout. 

I set off from the village of Barley along a water company track towards Lower Ogden reservoir, rising steeply. Some puffing later I reached the side of the reservoir and followed the path along the side of a wood before dropping down to the base of Upper Ogden reservoir, through a gate and a scramble up a steep rocky path to the side of the dam. I paused here for a breather and to take in the landscape - I was entering Ogden Clough, a deep valley carved by the beck with steep scree-laden fells to the south, and the mass of Barley Moor rising to the north towards the plateau of Pendle Hill. I passed across a couple of pastures dotted with sheep before leaving the clough to follow the Pendle Way (marked by a little witch on the occasional signposts) up the moor - At this point the sun came out briefly, raising my hopes that there would be a view from the summit. The ascent on to the high moor was fairly steep, and alternated between sticky black dirt and uneven stony ground, marked by frequent cairns. At around 1550 feet cloud started to blow past and the visibility started to drop - this point in the walk, trekking across the high moor between rocks, black muck and running water was pretty bleak and atmospheric in the fog - Hallowe’en would have been a better day for it, but three days late was close enough. I trogged up the hillside towards a large cairn at the top of the fell, after which the slope lessened as I reached the plateau. The wind blew cloud past me as I spotted the trig point at the summit in the distance, which was satisfying to reach but since I was standing in a cloud there was to be no view today.

At the far end of the ridge I followed the steep path down across the scarp side of the hill to the valley below, which had some nice views of the surrounding countryside once I dropped below the cloud. The descent was a bit of a gallop and I used a parallel track at places to attempt to slow myself down. At the bottom of the track I looked back up at the hill towering above, its upper reaches still wearing a cloud. The path then descended across the valley side through sheep pastures (with some fat cocoa coloured ones for variety) and along a wooded beck back to Barley.

It was a good workout through some nice countryside - I can see why the area is now part of the Forest of Bowland AONB - but I’m going to have to climb Pendle again another day if I’m going to get that view. 

Tags: Hikes