Captain's Log

Misty Start

I woke up early, had my breakfast early and found myself starting today’s walk before 07:00. I parked at the south end of the Wessenden Head Road. There had been some patchy mist as I drove to the start and I could see that the top of Black Hill was capped in mist. The weather forecasters had predicted all-day sunshine and so I expected it would burn off before I reached its summit later in the day. 

My walk would set off down the Wessenden Valley along the Pennine Way. I’d follow it up Blakely Clough to Black Moss Reservoir. I’d leave the National Trail there and head southwards over Featherbed Moss until I hit the A635. I'd cross the road and tramp across Wessenden Head Moor to Soldier’s Lump on the summit of Black Hill. The Pennine Way would then show me the way back to my car at the the head of the Wessenden valley. The Pennine Way stretches of this walk were very familiar to me and I’d walked them many times. The route from Black Moss Reservoir to Black Hill was less familiar. I’d walked the stretch at least twice before, but those were both over three decades ago. My vague memories were of very hard walking across trackless bog. Maybe the intervening three decades had over-egged the difficulties in my imagination. After all, I had 3 decades more walking experience now; I wasn’t a nipper anymore. 

Wessenden

One good thing about starting at Wessenden Head was that initially the footpath was all downhill. It was a gradual descent too and so it wasn’t even a strain on the knees. Another bonus was the superb view I got down the valley. It was still early and the sun had not penetrated the clouds yet, but it was still a marvellous scene. Wessenden Head Reservoir was the first reservoir on the route. I followed Wessenden Brook down to Wessenden Reservoir. In the past I’d seen deer in the gardens of Wessenden Lodge, but there were none today. Just after the lodge, the Pennine Way diverted westwards towards Blakely Clough. Normally this requires a tough, steep ascent or descent, depending on which direction you are walking the Pennine Way. For many years, well decades in fact, I always wondered why stone steps had never been built here. It was tricky work to negotiate the steep hill, especially if you were carrying a heavy backpack.  After all, it was a National Trail. Looking across today, I could see that my request had been answered. Somebody (presumably the National Trust) had built a stone staircase! It was brilliant too! Sure, there was no denying that the route was still steep, but now I wasn't worrying about losing my footing and taking a tumble.   

The extra height gained lifted me into the zone of sunshine; the sun had at last broke through the clouds. I continued along the Pennine Way up Blakely Clough to Black Moss Reservoir. I left the Pennine Way to meander its way northwards and instead followed a boggy track to the southern end of the reservoir.

Featherbed Moss

There was a visible track heading southeastwards from the reservoir. Well, that was a good start. I just hoped it would continue for a while before I had to start making my own way. After a few hundred metres I had my second surprise of the day; somebody had slabbed the path! I had to jump up and down on the first slab just to convince myself it was real. I couldn’t really understand why somebody would slab the route. I remembered that there was a carpark where Featherbed Moss meets the A635, but I wouldn’t expect many walkers to use this route. Unless you were specifically doing my route today by going from the A635 up to Black Hill you couldn’t make a feasible circular walk including this path. It seemed a bit of a mystery. Maybe the slabs would run out at some point. In fact, they didn’t run out. I had a perfectly easy stone slab  traverse over Featherbed Moss. On either side of the slabs heather, bog and water disappeared to the horizon. This boggy terrain was what I’d remembered from my previous walks. I wasn’t complaining though and I soon reached the A635. 

Black Hill

My luck didn’t hold out though. I thought that the route up to Black Hill over Wessenden Head Moor would be slabbed too. It wasn’t. This stretch was just as bad as I remembered. It was a featureless, flat stretch. There were a couple of cairns and sporadic posts to indicate some sort of route, but it was easy to miss them. I used my gps to locate the route of the official footpath up to Black Hill, but I came across nothing obvious. Occasionally I’d find what looked like a track that somebody had previously walked along, but a few moments later it would disappear. It was very boggy and wet too, although not bad enough to make me weep. A few deep, wet groughs had to be traversed. Inevitably, crossing one marshy grough, my left leg disappeared up to my knee in the gloop. I dragged it out before it claimed my boot. Water had poured into my boot and I blessed the bog with a few profanities. Two sheep were watching me from about 50 yards away and I’m sure I heard them snigger. I climbed a steeper section to the perimeter of the Black Hill plateau and found a stile to take me over a wire fence. I could see the top of the trig on Soldier’s Lump from here and expected there to be some sort of track from the stile, but there was none. I think it would be safe to say that not many people use that particular route up to the summit of Black Hill. Given that my average was now every 20 years, I guess it wasn’t really surprising to find little evidence of other people walking the path.    

I was going to have a break when I reached the trig at Soldier’s Lump, but there was a cold wind blowing across the plateau and so I decided to walk northwards along the Pennine Way until I found a sheltered spot.

Return

I didn’t find a sheltered spot since the wind was northerly, but I did settle down near the plateau's edge with a wonderful view westwards over the Holme Valley to the distant Emley Moor mast. As I munched on an apple, I could see a large group of people walking  along the Issues Road; it looked like a walking club was out. I met up with them as I descended off the plateau. Some of them were waiting on the Pennine Way for a few slow walkers in their group to catch up. They looked to be in their 60s and sounded a jolly bunch. I thought they would head off up to the summit of Black Hill, but they ended up following me along the Pennine Way. 

The Pennine Way was slabbed up to the A635. Apart from the descent and ascent at Dean Clough, the path was an easy one. I found the bloody remains of a Kestrel at the opening of the gate to the A635. It looked like somebody had left it there on purpose. I walked the 100m or so along the A635 as vehicles rattled past at high speed. After the remoteness of the walk, it was a shock to get back to speed and noise again. I diverted off on to the quieter Wessenden Head Road, back towards the carpark.     

My left leg had dried off by the time I got back to my car, which put me in a better mood when I reflected on the walk. The stone steps on the Pennine Way and the stone slabs from Black Moss Reservoir had lured me into a false sense of optimism on the walk. The stretch over Wessenden Head Moor was how I remembered the Dark Peak from 50 years ago: mean and messy. I felt a twinge of nostalgia. This could be a perfect walk if they slabbed the section over Wessenden Head Moor to Black Hill. If they did slab it, the route would be easier, but we'd lose something of the Dark Peak walking experience.