David and Jacinta's Walks- 2025

Black Hill- David Solo I was on my own today and with relatively limited time for a long walk so I was off to Crowden for The Black Hill Stomp. I arrived just after 10:00 and the car park proper was nearly full! As a matter of habit, I took a picture from around Oaken Clough looking south back to Crowden and, in the distance, Bleaklow and Kinder. The Crowden Valley with Crowden Great Brook No sign of Bleaklow or Kinder I kept going over Laddow Rocks (no need for a break!) and I was very pleased to see that the footbridge at North Grain (SE 06459 03705) had been repaired ( see blog entry for September 22nd ). North Grain bridge repaired I had a quick lunch at Soldier's Lump and then on over Tooleyshaw Moss, White Low and Westend Moss. There had been some evidence of a vehicle of some kind driving over Tooleyshaw Moss and, looking down from Westend Moss I could see a tractor which seemed to have been mowing the moors. Tractor and mown areas As ever, I visited the trig point/pillar on...

Crowden and Black Hill- David Solo After last week's Dolomites trip, I was itching to get back out on the hill and, as ever, Black Hill from Crowden seemed a good choice- not too far away, not too long and not too strenuous. It was a nice-enough day and the heather was changing from purple to brown. Looking back to Crowden from Laddow There's a constant change of moorland furniture- normally, it's gates that are replaced, then don't latch properly and eventually collapse and are possibly replaced again. However, the bridge at North Grain (SE 06459 03705) is, in my mind, relatively recent and made crossing the stream much easier- it was sometimes pretty deep and fast-flowing. The bridge is now in a very poor state. Collapsed bridge at North Grain I reached Black Hill at around 12:30, stopping for lunch. For a change, relatively few people were passing by. Black Hill trig at Soldier's Lump The plod across the Tooleyshaw Moss plateau was, unsurprisingly, pretty soggy u...

The Black Hill Stomp- David Solo Jacinta was otherwise engaged but had suggested that I went out for a walk- it was a lovely day that turned out to be a glorious one. I arrived at Crowden a little before noon and set off for the classic circular route to Black Hill via Laddow Rocks. Looking back to Crowden, Bleaklow and Kinder from Laddow At the north end of Laddow, there is a view down to "The Castles". On the OS 1:500000 maps, these are marked as "Visible Earthworks", whereas there is no equivalent symbol in the 1:25000 maps. Strange! The Castles IRL, 50000:1 and 25000:1 The path up towards Black Hill has lots of sections of slabbed path but quite a few areas were awash with reddish water with big puddles at the side; at a couple of points, I saw lots of ripples. When I looked closely, I could see that there was quite a population of toads making the most of the recent rains. Sub-aqua toad I'd only met a four people on my walk. One said that he'd been to B...