Walk 18/2008 – Black Hill and Four Reservoirs.

Sunday 10th August 2008

Eight of us gathered for the trip up to just outside Holmfirth in the Peak District where for the last part of the journey, the sat–nav took us on a route which was clearly not the shortest. Once parked we started to put our kit on. At this stage it was fairly blowy and looking like rain. In the car park area where we had parked, Alan noticed a discarded black bra. He asked if any one had lost it, but got no takers – so unfortunately no need for the services of the official club strap adjuster!

After crossing the main road we followed the slabbed Pennine Way towards Black Hill. It is useful at this point to quote from Wainwright’s Pennine Way Companion:

“Black Hill is well named. The broad top really is black. It is not the only fell with a summit of peat but no other shows such a desolate and hopeless quagmire to the sky. This is peat naked and unashamed. Nothing fashioned it, but for once has no suggestion for clothing it. Nothing can grow in this acid waste. There is no root hold in this sea of ooze. In the flutings and ripplings of the surface of the dunes, caused by the action of the rain and wind, a certain strange beauty, a patterned sculpturing beyond the skill of man, must however be conceded. But it is a frightening place in bad weather, a dangerous place after heavy rain. It is NOT a place to visit unaccompanied, especially after prolonged heavy rainy weather, because of the risk of becoming trapped or even entombed in the seepage hollows, where the wet peat closes over and grips submerged legs like a vice."

We have had a wet summer and it it is just starting to rain.

Before reaching the summit and between showers, we settled in a sheltered pocket to get out of the wind for a coffee stop. We then went onto the exposed top and continued along the slabbed path to the trig point that marks the top. From the top we had to take the unslabbed path heading out across the bog in a northerly direction. Progress was slow with Alan, Owen and Simon genrally pulling ahead and then waiting for the girls to catch up.

On one such occasion, we turned around to see our new walker Kirsty having a bit of trouble in the bog and the other ladies trying to help. Being gentlemen, we stood and watched the fun. However after a while it became evident that the four ladies were unable to extract her. When we returned to the scene, Kirsty was immersed to somewhere around her knees. So time for action by the men. Alan grabbed her right arm, Owen grabbed her left arm and Simon grabbed her ......... I don’t know, Simon, what did you grab? Our initial tug still failed to shift her. So after resetting our footing and taking a firmer grip (gosh she must be covered in bruises) we heaved some more and eventually clawed her away from the surprisingly clingy peat. Wainwright obviously knew what he what talking about.

So a quick stop for a record photo from which you can see she is still smiling. [Ed – Simon, I hope that wasn’t to do with where you were holding her!] The three men were also quite pleased because they hadn’t pulled a bird between them for ages!

We continued across the bog in the wind and rain until we arrived back at the A635. At this point, Rosemarie was looking like a shivering drowned rat and on her way to hypothermia (it always helps to take the right clothes with you when out on the hills). We were hardly half way around the walk but fortunately Rosemarie, Jackie and Kirsty took Alan’s suggestion that should go back to the cars.

The rest of us continued on the route, which was more of the same across Featherbed Moss. They are in the process of laying slab across here and had dropped piles of slabs along the route which helped to guide us. During a break in the rain we stopped for lunch using the piles of slabs to sit on.

After lunch the weather cleared up and we left the peat bog so walking became easier. We were back on the Pennine Way again now and followed it towards the south side of Wessenden Reservoir. Along here the path takes quite a large detour to cross the watercourse called Short Grain. But when we got there there was no bridge and the depth of water was such that crossing the weir would be dangerous. After considering our options, most of us clambered with some help across the rocks just below the weir. In hindsight, we should have carried on across the Wessenden Brook before turning back towards Wessenden Reservoir, but the Pennine Way did not seem to be very well signposted here.

Along this stretch, Barbara stopped to take her rain coat off and walked off without her walking stick. By the time she realised it was too far to go back.

As we passed Wessenden Head Reservoir, nearly at the end of our walk, we spotted a Kestrel which perched on a waterworks aerial about 20m from us.

When we got back to the cars, we found the other three happily drier having gone to a fish and chip shop to get dried off. We stopped off for a quick drink at the pub just down the A635 where we recapped the events of the day. Barbara mourned the loss of her walking stick which was her favourite because it has a “state–of–the–art” knob! [Ed – hey Barbara, you haven’t seen anything!] But never mind she said as she has a spare at home.

So an eventful day and in Kirsty we have a serious contender for debut of the year. Nothing like getting immersed in a new sport!

On the serious side, our web site contains a kit check list which tells you what gear you need for hill walking in the summer. Some people were seriously short of items that are deemed essential, so I ask that you review what you bring with you. We all need to be safe and keeping dry and warm are fundamentals to safe and enjoyable walking.

Report – Alan

Pictures – Alan

Walk rating – Mind–boggingly good

We set off towards Black Hill – the clouds also look black – and that’s not the only thing that will look black by the end of the walk.

Barbara practices her surf-boarding technique – hey the water’s not that deep!

Some of the scenery.

Simon and Owen wait for the others to cross.

Owen spots a shark in the water.

Take your partners for the River Dance!

Hill views.

At the top of Black Hill.

Rosemarie is helped across a piece of boggy ground. Barbara holds her walking stick tantalizingly out of reach.

A typical piece of bog on Black Hill with an old Pennine Way marker.

A typical piece of bog on Black Hill with an old Pennine Way marker and a novice walker.

Kirsty after she has been extracted.

Kirsty and Clare do their wooden–tops impressions whilst Jackie practices her side slipping technique on the black piste - hey, don’t you need two poles for that manoeuvre?

Looking towards Swellands Reservoir and Black Moss.

Some of the paths particularly on the Pennine Way are slabbed.

The caterpillar caugth Clare’s attention?

View over Blakeley Reservoir.

How are we meant to get across here? There is no bridge across Short Grain.

We ended up clambering across these rocks.