#45 Watergrove to Calderbrook

10.87 Miles
363 Metres Ascent

I had planned a few routes for the next 3 days and it’s only typical that I had to change these plans at the last minute!   Family ‘bookings’ meant I could initially stay out until 1, but this changed to 12.30 by the night before.  In the end I was out of the house by 8am, on a cold dank morning.  The stream running down the middle of the road from the rake was an early indicator of the moisture content of the hills above!

 

The changed plan meant I was going to walk for approx. an hour and a half, then turn around, retrace my steps before a little loop to add a few more miles in.  Not a pretty solution by any means but it was easy to plan and also meant I had a good idea of my times.

Crossing Watergrove along the dam was surprisingly harder going than the moorland paths beforehand.  The ground was firm yet muddy.  The top 1cm was just saturated and lead to a slippery ice skating type walk!  Not sure I scored many 6.0’s.

The bridleway led up into a very quiet area on the South Pennines.  I rarely see anybody around here despite the good going and closeness to civilisation.  After about 1hr 40 I had reached the tops overlooking Summit in the next valley.  One day I will actually make it!

Arriving back at Watergrove I headed up Ramsden Road to head back by a slightly longer route.  It was here that the heavens opened and I received a phone call to say the 12.30 deadline was now 11.30.  This was an impossible target and led to a bit of rushing on my behalf, not a great idea on muddy tracks.  I also neglected to put on waterproof trousers, so get very wet.  Not a problem while I was moving, but could have been stupid if I had stopped for any reason (accidents do happen in the mud!).