Gareth Jones Walks: marilyn

Monday, 23 September 2013

Black Hill

Route: Crowden Campsite Car Park - Pennine Way - Laddow Rocks - Dun Hill - Soldier's Lump - Tooleyshaw Moss - White Low - Hey Moss - Crowden Campsite Car Park

Distance: 9.5 miles

Classification: Marilyn, County Top

With: Caroline

Weather: Warm and dry

Trip report:
Black Hill, in the Peak District, is the highest point in West Yorkshire. It's a hill that I have climbed before doing the classic route from Crowden, over Laddow Rocks and back via Tooleyshaw Moss. As I was with the Mrs this time, I thought better of making her leap across the Tooleyshaw Moss bogs, so the plan was that we would come back the same way we had ascended.

An interesting fact according to Wikipedia is that up until quite recently Black Hill's summit had virtually no vegetation, and with it being so peaty, the hill had a very appropriate name. Check out the picture of the summit on Wikipedia and you'll see what I mean. These days though the grass and heather is flourishing and the black summit seems to be a thing of the past.

We parked up in the car park at the campsite in Crowden and made our way on to the Pennine Way and across pleasant fields before the hard work began. The climb of Oakenclough Brook up to Laddow Rocks is tough, but you'll be rewarded with great views once up there.

Laddow Rocks are a fantastic part of this walk, the gritstone cliffs at an altitude of around 520 metres provide great views back down towards Crowden, Bleaklow and the Crowden Great Brook valley. I'm not great with heights, and the path does get quite close to the edge, but I didn't feel uneasy at any point. There were hundreds of hangingflies (?) about again, at least I think that's what these things are, they had irritated and nearly made me abort my Diffwys walk. If anybody has any idea what these high altitude flies are please get in touch.

After leaving Laddow Rocks you descend slightly to meet Crowden Great Brook before ascending again over Dun Hill to the summit of Black Hill. It's easy walking, is paved in parts, although it does seem longer that it is in reality. I suppose that's because the ascent of Laddow Rocks has taken it out of you earlier on. The Mrs admitted she struggled on the final ascent of Black Hill, so upon reaching the summit we had a bite to eat and a hot drink before she said something I wasn't expecting.

"What's it like that other way back?" She was talking about Tooleyshaw Moss. I told her how notoriously boggy it was and how even after a week of solid sunshine earlier in the summer I had found it pretty difficult going over there. She told me she couldn't face ascending Laddow Rocks again on the way back and would rather we went back fighting the bogs over Tooleyshaw Moss!

"If you're sure..." I said. In truth it wasn't so bad this time and I think she may even have enjoyed the bog-hopping adventure. I explained that once we had made the large cairn on Tooleyshaw Moss the worst of it was over. We made it with no problems, just the usual couple of diversions and we were on our way.

There next follows a section through some peat groughs before a squelchy ascent of White Low and over West End Moss. It was wet but there was no real danger of ending up waist deep in bog, thank God!

We finished the walk by descending Hey Moss and being back in the car, both absolutely shattered, but having enjoyed what in my opinion is the best walk I personally have done in West Yorkshire.

So that's two accolades for Black Hill, the highest, and the best (in my humble opinion). The summit may not have the great views other places can offer, but the walk as a whole is a really enjoyable one. You're soon into the wilderness not long after leaving Crowden, and with great views along the way and highlights such as Laddow Rocks and Tooleyshaw Moss (!), this is easily my favorite in this county.

The start of the walk and a look back at the Torside Clough ascent for Bleaklow

A first sight of the imposing Laddow Rocks

On top of Laddow Rocks looking towards our destination

Spectacular views from Laddow Rocks back towards Crowden and Bleaklow

Crowden Great Brook - between Laddow Rocks and Black Hill

Black Hill summit - 582 metres

No great views unfortunately as the top is quite flat

Mountain Rescue seemed to be doing some kind up exercises up here

OK, here we go then... Tooleyshaw Moss

Tooleyshaw Moss

A look back up Crowden Little Brook towards Black Hill

A last look a Laddow Rocks from the other side now

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Parlick and Fair Snape Fell

Route: Startifants Lane - Parlick - Fair Snape Fell trig - Fair Snape Fell true summit - Saddle Fell - Saddle End Farm - Wolfen Hall - Startifants Lane

Distance: 6.2 miles

Classification: Marilyn

Weather: Warm, dry, welcome breeze

We started this climb from the car park on Startifants Lane. A steep climb up Parlick followed which allowed us great views of Longridge Fell and the 'other side' of Pendle Hill. Growing up in Burnley I'm used to seeing Pendle Hill from the east. It's not often I get to see Lancashire's 4th highest peak from the west.

Once on top of Parlick the views really started to open out. Unfortunately my camera which really struggles when it's hazy doesn't do justice to the views we encountered on this walk, but we could clearly see Black Hameldon, the hill I climbed a week before which struck up my interest of climbing Parlick and Fair Snape Fell. From Black Hameldon I had great views of these two hills behind Pendle that I had not recalled seeing before. Their shapes had me searching on the internet to find out what these two were, and born was the idea of climbing them the week after, particularly as we had arranged to visit my Mum in Lancashire the following weekend.

From Parlick we then made our way towards Fair Snape Fell, which presents a fantastic walk along the col offering more great views over Lancashire. It wasn't long before we reached Fair Snape Fell's southern summit with its trig point, storm shelter, and the cairn of Paddy's Pole.

We took lunch here and the binoculars came out. The binoculars allowed us to pick out Winter Hill to the south, Preston to the south-west, and Blackpool to the west. We could clearly see the Big One roller coaster on Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Blackpool Tower.

We then left to make our way to Fair Snape Fell's true summit. This year's Ordnance Survey map indicated that the quickest route here from the trig point has no clear path. It was a nice surprise to find a fairly clear path back to the fence that leads to Fair Snape Fell's true summit, and it was here that we made out Whernside and Ingleborough on the horizon to the north.

Next we made our way to Saddle Fell over peaty, barren moorland. Again we were surprised to find how clear the path was which eventually turns south for the descent back towards our car on Startifants Lane.

It was on the descent that we saw the lush, green eastern slopes of Parlick, it looked great. Up to this point on the walk Parlick had the usual light brown colour of moorland lacking heather so to see this this lush side of it was a surprise.

We ended the walk with a low level return to our car through farmland at Saddle End Farm and Wolfen Hall.

This was a really enjoyable walk. It wasn't the longest but we certainly felt like we'd had a good workout. The views were fantastic all day and a lot of the time we had the place all to ourselves. We found it strange that on such a nice day there were more hang gliding enthusiasts about than walkers, still, let's keep it a secret eh?

Thanks to Bowland Walks and My Pennines for the routes and advice on this walk. Have a look at their great sites for routes covering the Forest of Bowland, the Pennines, and walks in many other areas too.