My first return of the year to the West Pennines saw me start off from Rivington Bar Car Park at 10:28 (well actually half way down one of the drives as it was chocka!), and head as if I were ascending the Pike. However, one look (or listen, even) filled me with dread – screaming kids and yapping dogs, plus a handful of stinky vapers! I just didn’t want this, so I headed off to Catter Nab via the bridal path, which delivered far more in terms of peace and mindfulness. The track was as wet as I had anticipated, moreover it was more icy than I’d expected, especially in the Noon Hill run off vicinity where a severe reduction in speed was activated, my nerves take me on to autopilot as I just don’t want to fall over and break limbs!
I survived the Noon Hill icefield and the crossing of Rivington Road – which was far quieter than normal and made my way down to an increasingly illuminated Will Narr- the clouds overhead indicating a thunderstorm which had just not been forecast and which thankfully never materialised. The going underfoot was heavy and was beginning to get more icy, ice and mud are not a good mix, and at the summit of Spitlers Edge I decided to adorn my poor man’s crampons, these are the sort of thing you can buy in the cheaper hardware shops in Winter only, no spikes like you get with real crampons, , moreover little circles which help distribute one’s footprint over the entire sole of the foot as opposed to just heel or just toes. Actually these worked very well for traversing ice, frost and even most of the mud, which by Redmond’s Edge was increasing in frequency and depth. There were a couple of patches of path which were now engulfed within an ice – water – mud combination which slowed the walk right down – thankfully communication on this moor between the walking fraternity was rather effective and we each tipped each other off with regards to the blackspots. By 13:14 I had reached the cross-shaped shelter atop Great Hill, it had taken me about 30 minutes longer than the last time that I did this route, given the conditions and I’m still trying to regain some fitness after that flu, I’ll have that!
With regret, the wind shelter on Great Hill is not very good. People do swear by it, but this is just a walker’s myth, a cross shape is never going to offer one all the protection that one needs as to be honest wind ain’t straight, it travels in circular bands. I hate to say it but a better shape for a wind shelter would be, well, as corrupted by 1930-40’s Germany, a Tirthankara Suparsva – a swastika. Given that nobody in their right mind wants to fly over the lands of Blighty with a series of this symbol dotted around the landscape we’ll just have to stick with what we have, or try to create some circular wind shelters, I don’t see that happening any time soon! So it was off once more after just one Southern Fried Chicken wrap (much too sweet anyway), down to White Coppice from Great Hill, I kept the pseudo-crampon-y-things on my boots as I didn’t think we had finished with the ice / frost yet. I’d had it in mind to consume the rest of my awful wraps at the serene-inducing locale which is the ruin of Drinkwater Farm, with a heavy heart I had to walk on by as all seating options were occupied. The turn-off for White Coppice was my next milestone where the terrain got a whole lot muddier, no surprise really as I’ve done this section in August and mud has still been in the ascendancy! At two different sections, within fifteen minutes of one-another, my pseudo-crampon-y-things made independent bids for freedom, this was quite the phenomena! At the second occasion this brought about the ‘screw this for a game of soldiers’ response and I bagged the buggers away for another, future walk, they’d served their purpose well as I think they are actually intended to go over everyday footwear to be worn in more urban environs as opposed to yomping one’s way over the best of the West Pennines mud, I will order some more with the intent of the afore-mentioned real purpose and I’ll buy some proper crampons for more rural / countryside walking.
Before too long I was tentatively crab-walking down the huge drop at the bottom of Great Hill, I’ve stumbled here in dry weather; so today called for extreme care – even if I did look like Pengu on acid! The march over to Moor Road was fortunately uneventful although owing to the presence of the occasional ice patch the final few tens of metres did call for a bit of crab walking.
Next came the feisty bit – the (formerly gentle) stretch from White Coppice / Moor Road to Angelzarke Reservoir. If you watch the excellent “Fat Blokes on Tour” video
WHERNSIDE (The Yorkshire Dales) & The Ribblehead Viaduct at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gera0k-W0T0&t=1108s around about 14:42 they start their descent of Whernside, the editor has chosen to accompany this with Chris Rea’s fantastic “Road To Hell” – it couldn’t be more sardonically appropriate. I am hereby cribbing the metaphor, this section of the route sucks – quite literally in one spot as the superabundance of mud was attempting to remove one of my boots from my foot! Whilst I’d venture that the older I get. the better my problem solving skills become and everyone likes the odd brain teaser, this is dangerous and in no way enjoyable. Now, we have just had one of the wettest Decembers (on record?) that I can remember – I’d put it up against ’97 anytime in a pointless contest. But, that’s not the one and only-we can-only-blame-nature-excuse! This area has become more popular as a tourist / outdoors enthusiast destination and this is in no small way attributed to the fact that it’s much more in the public eye – factor in blogs etc, more people are coming here. It’s not just exceptional weather which is eroding the paths and causing the drains to fail, it’s the fact that there are now tens of thousands more visitors each year than ever before – and with that minor rant I’ll get back to the trip report!
So, having just about survived the first slime stretch whereby two bridges are crossed within a few hundred feet of each other, next came the sheep trod across the lower slopes of Spen Cob. I’m familiar with just how stupidly muddy this little stretch can get, I didn’t think it would be this chuffing bad! I resorted to abandoning the path (once more) and traversing the more greener sections until this too became too arduous and re-joined the sheep trod. Then it was simply a case of tree-hugging my way down the next section until the rise which leads up to the High Bullough Reservoir where mud is replaced by leaf mould (future mud). This has always been my favourite section of this route and of the Anglezarke Amble (which will be referred to again below), even the quite steep tarmac drop down towards the Anglezarke car parks was not as slippery as I had feared and I was thankful for this. The slowly setting sun sinking over the Angelzarke Reservoir was lending itself to some truly beautiful photography and “The Chute” appeared to be the mightiest and most powerful that I’ve ever seen, these were the memories I want to take with me, this is a lovely locale and I should strive to always recollect what I saw on this part of the walk. It did feel like I was flagging when ascending the route which took me to to the Yarrow reservoir but I figured that this was because I hadn’t drunk or eaten much and had been walking for over five hours by now. I feared one more section of the route may have played victim to the December drenching and alongside Dean Brook I was proven right, part of the river bank has collapsed so now one can opt to use temporary stepping stones – placed here by mother nature, or a stupidly slippery and dangerous and thin slice of mud which promised disaster – obviously I took the stepping stones (there were just the three). Up the final set of steps which after this arduous walk seemed like the Eiger, and I was back in a now muddier-than-normal paddock which conveyed me to the rather insulting kissing gate adjacent to Sheephouse Lane, then onto the road for fifty metres or so and finally up the never-ending slope and back to my awaiting car at 16:09.
In Summing…
There are no two ways about it, the West Pennines Moors needs more money spending on their upkeep if they are to continue to attract visitors to the area. We cannot simply expect the footpaths to look after themselves – that’s not how nature works, this must surely be obvious to anyone who has frequented the area. The giant slabbed causeway spanning from Will Narr in the South to Great Hill in the North needs remedial repair work, more than a few warning signs indicating how wet the land can become. Admittedly, the track from the summit of Great Hill down to White Coppice could probably swallow any size of budget, perhaps experts from the Yorkshire Dales may need to be consulted? Likewise, the area around Spen Cob has been so churned up by Walkers and Mountain Bikers that I am strongly considering withdrawing my entry from this year’s Angelzarke Amble as I derived no pleasure from wading through the ever-present quagmire, I can only speculate as to how bad the Greenhill Farm path is, it’s normally terrible all-year-round – not everyone likes getting muddy and even fewer people desire limb-breaking, walkers of old need to take this on board, especially with a view to updating their challenge routes!
A long distance footpath named “The Lancashire Way” now exists which incorporates a lot of this area. I would think that the footpath which has been fairly recently constructed which runs up toward Pendle House in Barley would have cost a few tens of thousands of pounds to get in-situ. It makes the walk better, which in turn will bring more visitors to the area which keeps the local hospitality businesses thriving and in turn feeds the local economy. How the construction was funded I don’t know, but we need to emulate this in the West Pennines. If we can go to the expense of funding signs and websites we surely must think of ways of harnessing the tourist coin and putting it to good use, I don’t imagine mine is a revolutionary opinion!
It was lovely to be back in the West Pennines after something of an extended absence – damn flu! Great Hill remains one of my favourites as it is just a little cracker of a hill. I was not prepared for just how deteriorated the paths are becoming and I anticipate this will dictate my walking venues up until summer – yes I know it gets wet at the Lake District but their pathways are better maintained. I think I encountered more people on the Edges’ flagged path than I have previously which in turn highlights how popular outdoor pursuits have become in this area, every sword has two edges!
Walk type: Rural / Countryside (through a managed forest).
Suitable for couples: Yes.
Families: Yes, I saw a number of families on route.
Dogs: Mostly yes, but you will have to pick up your pooch for some of the mud stretches at Spen Cob and next to Dean Brook – although the dog might enjoy splashing its way through the water (if it’s not in spate).
Time to complete: around five hours for a reasonably fit person. In a drought or midsummer you can factor in taking half and hour off this route easily.