Tuesday 8 March 2011

Our windblown moors

Tuesday 7th March 2011.
           A typical  March day, windy with quick passing cloud, and good sunny periods, a day for the wide open spaces which we have up here in Lancashire. I'm referring to our vast stretches of moorland that we have on our doorstep.These moors are known as the Pennines the backbone of England the vast tracts of wild country which separates the west from the east, the natural watershed which determines which sea our Pennine rivers flow into.
       This windswept high moorland is not for the faint hearted  you can walk all day and never see a single person when away from the beaten track Spring comes late to these moors and at any time of the year the weather can be very unforgiving so good waterproofs and a knowlege of the area are essential.
     So today we did just that !... we set off across the moors to walk in an area that I hadn't trod for over 10 years The walk was about 9 miles, only the wind and the calls of a distant Curlew and Sky Lark and the alarm call of the Red Grouse were the only sounds we heard.


                              Along the ridge to the Hare Stones

By this Grit Stone Outcrop lies an abandoned Millstone carved out a few century's ago and never used





                                      Looking into Yorkshire

                  Wild country along the Lancashire /Yorkshire border

                   Two of the many mires and bogs to be avoided

                  Hoof Stones Height.....the highest point of the walk

Striding across the moor (today on a line of sight) back to more familiar country

      And finally through the vast tracts of peat back to the start of the walk




3 comments:

  1. A good walk to blow the cobwebs away :)

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  2. It is lovely to hear the Sky Larks singing again isn't it...wish I could hear Curlews too though:)

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  3. I've been trying to find that mill stone for a while now and having once taken a wrong turning and got lost in fairly thick cloud and then another time following a bearing from Google Earth still couldn't locate it. We walked over from Widdop Reservoir and then followed the path down, I'm guessing it should be a left turn off the path down to the outcrop? Any tips? Keep up the blog!

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