Oxenhope Stoop
Jan 20
2010
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.
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
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