Tuesday August 5th

Bleaklow Stones and Bleaklow Head

Another walk for David on his own. It was a couple of days after Storm Floris had blown through yet I still fancied a walk on Bleaklow- taking advantage of the fact that I'd be on my own. I had hoped that the gate at the top of the road down to Woodhead Station was open but, unfortunately, it wasn't. Additionally, all the laybys nearby were full of machines for the roadworks taking place during the overnight road closures. I decided to park at the Torside car park and this had the advantage that the tedious part of the walk (along the old railway track) would be over first.

The lack of rain was very obvious- the Woodhead Reservoir was lower than I'd ever seen before.

Low water and exposed strata in the Woodhead Reservoir

I can now spot and follow a path from the top of Far Black Clough up to the Bleaklow Stones (with a bit of variability in the last section) and, as it was quite chilly and windy, I was very glad to reach my usual, favourite spot for lunch. There was already a person there, and we chatted about various walks in the Dark Peak. He had been wild camping, having come up from Yorkshire Bridge the day before, going up Win Hill, across to Lose Hill and then around to Kinder where he'd camped. He was training for the Coast to Coast.

Because I knew that I'd be heading into the wind on the way to Kinder Head, I put on my Lifa vest- a very good call. Although Bleaklow, in general, was in the shade of the clouds, the sun was shining on places north.

Bleaklow Head and sunny places north

Other than the man at the Bleaklow Stones and being passed by a runner as I was walking across Bleaklow Hill, the only other people that I met were a couple who were walking a four-day, southbound section of the Pennine Way. This was their penultimate day and they planned to wild camp on Kinder.

It was great to arrive back at the Torside car park knowing that I wouldn't need to plod my way back to Woodhead Station!

A walk of 11.8 miles with 450m ascent.



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