| Two Trigs, A Wreck and A Stick |
|
Date : 2nd May 2010
|
|
Leader : Robert Eccles |
|
|
Report by : Robert Eccles |
|
Photos © : Robert Eccles |
|
|
 |
|
| Ooooh!! Where to go now?? | |
The day was cool but dry when the Hyndburn Ramblers left Plantation Street for the 45 minute drive to Glossop in the Dark Peak for a slightly different type of walk.
Stating from the well hidden but, importantly, free car park on the eastern edge of Glossop we headed to Old Glossop - a village that used to boast eight pubs but these days it's down to a more modest three.
|
 |
left:
Old Glossop Church |
 |
|
|
right: Looking back down the track to Glossop |
Much of the day's walking would be off-road with few of the paths on the OS maps so it didn't bode well when the leader had difficulty getting out of the village. Eventually (third time lucky!) the track was found and we headed NE to an old quarry. After a steady 220m climb the first trig point of the day was reached at Cock Hill (426m). The views down the valley were good but we started to get an idea of the bleak moorland that was ahead of us. Continuing NE over the open moorland of Glossop Low brought us to the disheveled shooters hut at the top of the hill. Then it was east to pick up the Pennine Way just after the Bronze Age earth-works of Torside Castle. We would have been bog trotting but thankfully the gamekeepers had bridged many of the groughs with duck boards. Obviously these were for the benefit of the shooting fraternity but we're not proud and thus took full advantage of them. Along the way we spotted a mountain hare - white and very conspicuous against the peat.
|
 |
left:
Towards Snake Pass from Cock Hill |
 |
|
|
right: Bronze Age Torside Castle |
On reaching the Pennine Way we headed south to the highest point on Bleaklow. The weather closed in and we started to appreciate just how easy it is to get lost on this moor. Even following the Pennine Way was bad in the fine hail / frozen mist but eventually we reached Bleaklow Head (633m) and were rewarded, not with a trig point, but with a pile of stones and a stick. The second highest point in Derbyshire is celebrated with a stick! Ah, well.
Now it was decision time for the leader. The visibility was bad and the planned route was again off-road over the moor towards Higher Shelf Stones. Since we had the "safety net" of the Pennine Way to the east we decided to go with the plan. Working on the compass: bearing 232 to the Wain Stones, bearing 178 to the Hern Stones (two down one to go!), bearing 210 to the trig point and bingo! We were at our next destination: the crash point (SK0903894905) of the US Air force’s "Overexposed". The bomber, that had previously dropped the test A bombs on Bikini Atoll, crashed in 1948 during a more mundane photographic recognisance mission. A lot of the wreckage is still there together with a belated memorial stone. It's a poignant / melancholy place where walkers have left poppies, crosses and messages in the peat for the thirteen that died.
|
 |
left:
The Stick at Bleaklow Head |
 |
|
|
right: 'Overexposed' crash site |
Just a little further was the trig point on Higher Shelf Stones (621m). Both the weather and our mood lifted and we were presented with good views down the Shelf Brook valley. A view made more impressive after the bleakness that defines Bleaklow. Graffiti on the rocks goes back to the 1840’s and you can see a trend from the quality of the early days to the scrawl of "Andy 2009". Again off road, we started to drop down from the Stones over Gathering Hill to Crooked Clough and eventually Doctors Gate.
Doctors Gate was the point of today's walk in the Rambler's 75th year. Access to this Roman Road has always been a battle between ramblers and land owners. The Peak and Northern Footpath Society that we found out about on an earlier walk were created to defend access and a minor skirmish here directly lead to the Kinder Scout mass trespass - but that's a later walk.
|
 |
left:
Trig Point at Higher Shelf Stones |
 |
|
|
right: Looking back up Doctor's Gate |
Dropping down the valley eventually brought us close to Old Glossop. To avoid the crime of "back-tracking" we turned nearly south and climbed to walk through Shire Hill wood. After a small detour to the Royal Oak we landed back at the cars.
All in all: an eleven mile walk in the Dark Peak with all ramblers miraculously gunk free. A risky, even dangerous, walk in poor visibility but a great off-road trek that gives a good sense of achievement.
We walked in our First National Park (1951), on our First National Trail (1965), used our Right to Roam (2000) and visited the "spark point" (1932) that helped get us all the above.
|
 |
|
| Through Shire Hill Wood | |
