Uphill Start

The forecast was for cloud and showers and so I thought I'd do a woodland walk today. I would also bag Wharncliffe Reservoir which is on my Yorkshire Reservoir Venture. I tied the end of my long ball of string to the access point to Wharncliffe Woods near to the Lowood Club. The path followed the River Don for a while and then branched away and disappeared up an impossibly steep slope. I climbed it anyway and picked up another path that took me to a tunnel under the railway line. If you are using a gps, then this would be a good place to mark. Another tunnel traverse delivered me to the business end of Wharncliffe Woods. My near-term objective was to go eastwards and uphill until I hit a stone wall boundary to a field. There didn't appear to be a specific path that went directly up there but I chose paths that went in that general direction. Wharncliffe Woods is a myriad of paths used by mountain bikers. It is really a case of choosing one that is going roughly in the direction you want, with the proviso that you can climb or descend without causing an hernia.

Bluebells were out and gave the woodland a delightful blue carpet. The mountain bike trail I'd chosen for my ascent got steeper and steeper, and last night's rain had made the slope very slippery. At one point I though might have to use my navigation ball of string to abseil to an easier route, but I made it up in the end. In fact my chosen path had got me very close to the stone stile to get me into my target field. It was good to get free of the woods for a while. Looking back, I had a great view down the Stocksbridge valley

Mud And Dung Wader

I have to say, the route from Wharncliffe Reservoir to Greno Woods wasn't my favourite part of the day. It involved some road walking on the Woodhead Road with the occasional car zooming past at high speed. There was also a particular boggy section where some water went into my boots. The worst bit though was a traverse of one of the fields. Some cows were grazing in the far corner of the field and they had some calves. My desired path continued in the opposite corner of the field and I thought I'd be able to sneak around the perimeter without them seeing me. Unfortunately, they clocked me almost straight away and started moving towards me. Then they started trotting. I'd got a barbed top fence on my right and so my only escape was to get to the gate out of the field. I didn't want to run and set them off stampeding and so I ended up doing a Benny Hill fast walk. I just made it. They followed me to the gate. They weren't happy. I wasn't either.

Footpath signs had long disappeared but I managed to get back to the Woodhead Road. Another short section of road walking and I was relieved to get off the Woodhead Road race track and into Greno Wood. A good track ran parallel to the road. The trig point on Greno Knoll is quite interesting in that it is completely surrounded by trees. I came across a rather spooky sign that said:

Enchanted Forest Trail
Seek the magic in this place
Guided by my woodland face
Follow the path to the end
There you'll find me waiting, friend.

It all seemed a bit Lord Of The Ringish and so I didn't take up its offer.

Wharncliffe Woods

The trail took me back to the Woodhead Road and the Greno Wood car park. The navigation fun really started now as I began my return journey through Wharncliffe Wood proper. I've put some navigational hints on the map but these can only go so far. Detailed instructions such as, 'Turn right off the good forestry track where there is a large boulder, on to a sketchy, undulating woodland footpath', could be interpreted as dozens of points in the woodland. Hence my hints are rather general. You could use a gps to make your way through, but where's the fun in that?

There is a kind of major junction of paths about halfway along the return journey. I find this a good navigational reference point. There is an electricity pylon next to the junction (see photo). If you manage to get to this point, pat yourself on the back.

After the major junction, the desired route goes uphill. I turned off a little too early on this section but I soon realised my mistake and got back on track. My secret to getting to Wharncliffe Crags is to stay higher than I think I ought to be.

Several years ago I entered one of these organised 'extreme offroad runs' in Wharncliffe woods. Navigation wasn't a problem in that there were so many people I just followed everybody else. They had some 'extreme zones' on the course. Typically this involved running through muddy, water filled ditches. The problem was that you couldn't see the bottom of the ditch and so you ended up tripping over submerged tree branches. I'm honestly surprised that nobody got impaled on a a submerged branch. That was my first and last 'extreme offroad run'.

Wharncliffe Wood's most infamous resident was the Wantley Dragon. See Wantley Dragon Wader for his back story. This area of the wood contains his cave residence (Dragon's Den). There is also the Dragon's Well, although I'm not sure if this is the same one that is central to the Wantley Dragon's story.

The landscape contained a few large boulders now and the slope in the woods was getting craggier; Wharncliffe Crags wasn't far away.

Wharncliffe Crags

It was good to get to Wharncliffe Crags and get an unrestricted view into the valleys. It is satisfying looking back down the valley, and seeing that huge expanse of forest that you've traversed. The walk along the crags was very pleasant. Even the sun came out for a while.

The last time I walked the crags, two old fellows were each driving an all terrain remote controlled model truck up the path. Each little truck had headlights on and a little person in each cab. One truck was even towing a trailer. The two chaps were deep in concentration on this mammoth task. YouTube research later that evening revealed a whole new world of hobbyist that I never knew existed. When one of these toy trucks get stuck in the mud, the idea is that you attach a tow rope from the other truck to pull it out. There's no using your hands to extract it with these adventurers. I wondered if recovery equipment was in that trailer being pulled by one of the trucks. They were taking such care and going so slow, I half expected to meet them on the way down the path today.

The path turned away from the crags and descended by a small reservoir in which a few water lilies were growing. It wasn't long before I was back through the tunnels and on to Station Road.

I'm not a huge fan of woodland walking, but Wharncliffe does have that finale of those high-level open views from the crags. On a greyish day it was an ideal walk.