Alan's Ramblings - crowden tag

Labrador Tea

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 06:55:36 GMT

Yesterday I set about the second leg of the Bleaklow fence mapping. Bob and I drove to Crowden Station car park, then drove back to Torside visitor centre and left the other car there. There was a Endurance GB horse ride taking place, so the car park was absolutely chock-full with horseboxes and appropriately horsey towing vehicles. We walked back down the Longdendale trail to Reaps, then up the Pennine Way along Torside Clough to where I finished off last week. We followed the fenceline across Sykes Moor towards Torside Naze before turning north-east to head up to Wildboar Clough. The first segment of the fence was new, but as we crossed Torside Grain it reused the existing fenceline.

As you can see, the bottom of the wire is now about 18 inches above the surface of the ground, and there's a nice line of sheep tracks plus a wrapping of wool around the bottom strand that shows how the sheep have been getting through the fence. This is a bit of a problem, as the whole point of the fence is to keep the sheep out! It also graphically illustrates the severity of the erosion that the Moors for the Future project is trying to combat - this fence is probably not more than 20 years old, and when it was put up the wire would have been level with the surface of the peat. As we headed along the side of the valley below White Mare, we came across another problem that affects the fence, people with pliers:

I have no idea why anybody should feel it is necessary to cut a fence right next to a stile. I assume the people coming up this particular track know and appreciate Bleaklow as it isn't a well-know route, which makes it ironic that they are deliberately damaging something that is there to protect the very environment they have come to enjoy. There were obvious signs of sheep using the cut, plus two ewes inside the fence line - and if there are two there are doubtless more. Last week I found the fence has also been cut near Ferny Hole, in that case next to a stile with a dog gate so it can't even have been to make it possible for a dog to get through. The new fence is all topped with plain rather than barbed wire as it's intended to keep stock rather than people out, so there really isn't much excuse for cutting it as it's easy enough to climb over if there isn't a convenient stile. Around the eastern margin of the fence there are small signs at regular intervals explaining what it is there for, perhaps we need some along this stretch as well. However, deliberate damage, whilst regrettable is not the most important problem, the fence is more-or-less hopeless for keeping stock out, we counted over 20 points in less than 1km where sheep had been getting through.

As we were climbing up Wildboar we saw a Buzzard. These seem to be increasingly common, apparently we now have a few breeding pairs in the area, whereas 10 years ago there were none. About half way up Wildboar both Bob and I smelt smoke - something that always makes me nervous after last year's conflagration. We got on the radio to ask if there were any controlled burns planned, but as we couldn't see any smoke it was impossible to say where the fire was actually coming from.

According to the outline map of the fence in the office, the fenceline climbs up the SW side of Wildboar Clough for about 750m before heading back towards Rollick stones in a narrow V. Unfortunately, that's completely wrong - we followed the fence for 3km, all the way up Wildboar to Far Moss then across to Black Cough where it finished. This is the old fence that is due for removal so it needed mapping anyway, but it does leave the question of where the fenceline actually goes! Once we got to the end of the fence we started to head back down Black Clough, and on the way Bob offered to show me the Labrador Tea bush (Ledum groenlandicum) that grows to the west of Black Clough.


These plants are related to Rhododendrons, and in fact are native to North America and Canada. This particular one is about the largest I have seen.	The leaves have distinctive curled edges, and are covered in red hairs underneath. In summer they have while flowers.

There are about 6-8 of these plants scattered across the Dark Peak and nobody is quite sure how they got here, the best guess is they are garden escapees with the seed being transported by birds. Whilst we were looking for the Labrador Tea I spotted the source of the smoke we had smelled some time earlier, near Shepherds Meeting Stones some 6km downwind of where we had first detected it. A quick call to Fiona confirmed that it was a controlled burn, so we carried on over to Stable Clough and off past The Lodge. The area at the bottom of Stable Clough had always been out of access until the CROW Act came into force last month, and to get to Stable Clough it was always necessary to plough through a bog, along the line of a barbed wire fence. You are now allowed to carry on down the track towards the house, so Bob and I spent some time figuring out the best route across the now-acessible land before heading to the car at Crowden Station and thence back to base.

And now we return to our scheduled programming...

Sun, 06 Jun 2004 11:20:30 GMT

After wittering on about work and/or IT related stuff for the last few posts, I thought I'd better put something up about the Peak District, lest my enormous regular readership decided to go elsewhere, so here you are :-)

A couple of weeks ago Gary, Simon and myself went for a walk to see the Meteor wrecks on Sliddens Moss that I've previously written about - they'd seen the post and wanted to go see for themselves. After a slightly inauspicious start (Gary couldn't find the car park at Crowden) the weather gods were kind, unlike my previous walk with Gary. We walked up Crowden Little Brook to the waterfall at Meadow Clough, then up to the wrecks. We saw a common lizard on the way up, despite the name they aren't all that common on the moors. After visiting the wreck we wandered over to Crowden Castles for lunch, then down the Pennine Way to Laddow, across to Chew Reservoir before crossing over Mount Skip to Lads Leap, and thence back to the car park at Crowden.


Gary in front of various bits of one of the engines, including the turbine. I suspect these bits have been moved - people have been coming up and carting bits away for years.	It's pretty astonishing just how far the wreckage spread, and there's still a huge gouge in the moor where they hit, even though it is 50 years on. In the grough you can see part of one of the engine cowlings.	Simon with what is left of the tailplane. I believe that years ago this was far more complete, but people still come up and cut hunks off as souvenirs. Holme Moss radio mast is in the background, 740 ft high.

The view down Great Crowden Brook from Crowden Castles - despite the name an entirely natural feature. In the middle distance are Laddow Rocks, the Pennine Way passes over the top and then drops down into Crowden.

More Dark Peak pictures

Mon, 15 Sep 2003 03:52:16 GMT

I've been so busy over the last few months that I haven't managed to get out walking anything like as often as I would like. However over the last two weeks I have managed to get out on a couple of family walks, and a Ranger patrol as well. The weather has been glorious on both weekends, so I've managed to grab a few photos.


View from the top of Didsbury Intake, looking east down the Longdendale valley over Torside reservoir.	View from the top of Didsbury Intake, looking west down the Londgendale valley over (left to right) Rhodeswood, Valehouse and Bottoms reservoirs.	View from the southern edge of Mount Skip, looking towards Tintwistle Knarr

View over Crowden from Oaken Clough (by Laddow Rocks). In the background is the Bleaklow plateau, the two prominent gullies dissecting the edge of the plateau are Shining Clough to the left and Wildboar Clough to the right.	View of Laddow Rocks from the top of Oaken Clough. The rocks are over 200 ft high - note the two tiny figures on the top, who are on the Pennine way.	View up Crowden Great Brook from Black Tor. The nearest rocks are Rakes Rocks, and in the background are Laddow Rocks.

View from Lad's Leap over Torside Reservoir, with Torside Clough behind. The Pennine Way climbs up along Torside Clough onto the Bleaklow plateau in the background.	View of Didsbury Intake from the south side of Valehouse reservoir. The first two photos in this entry were taken from above the rocks you can see in the centre of the skyline.	View eastwards along Valehouse reservoir, from the dam wall. On the left is Tintwistle Knarr and Robinson's Moss.

View eastwards along Rhodeswood reservoir (the next one upstream in the chain from Valehouse). The skyline to left of centre is Highstones Rocks, below which lies a small Roman fort.	One of the residents of Deepclough, on the south side of Valehouse reservoir.

Some Dark Peak pictures

Sun, 02 Mar 2003 07:26:15 GMT

The other Rangers I work with have been nagging me to put some more pictures on this website. All of these have been taken within 6 Km of where I live. Click on the images to see a larger version.

Wain Stones, looking south towards the Kinder plateau, which is on the right-hand side of the skyline, about 6 Km away.

Looking North from Harrop Moss. The valley in the centre of the photo is Crowden Great Brook and to the left is Crowden Little Brook, about 6 Km away. The edge you can see curving left to right in the centre of the photo is Laddow Rocks, which the route of the Pennine Way follows as it climbs out of Crowden up towards Black Hill.

This winter panorama was taken from above Shittern Clough, looking southeast up the valley of Shelf Brook.

From left to right:

The stream in the foreground is Shittern Clough,a corruption of Scriesendclough, which probably means 'stream used as an open sewer' - this area of Glossop is thought to have been a centre of population in the 13th century.

The hill just behind is Lightside, which at one time housed the targets for a rifle range - the firing positions were below and to the right of where the photo was taken from. Next along and in the far distance is Shelf Benches, which was the site of some large quarries which were active into the latter part of the 19th century.

Just right of centre in the centre, running from top to bottom of the picture is Shelf Brook. The lower part (the green fields) is known as Mossy Lea. Along the valley bottom runs Doctor's Gate track, named after Dr. John Talbot, who was vicar of Glossop from 1495 to 1535, eventually climbing up to join the Pennine way at Snake Summit. This is purported to be a Roman road, but is in fact a medieval packhorse route.

The hill with the noticeable plume of smoke on it is Coldharbour Moor, on which Mesolithic and Neolithic flints have been found. To the right of that in the far distance is Glead Hill, and finally the round hill on the far right hand side of the photo is Shire Hill, on which a Bronze Age burial urn was found in 1957.

Most of the moorland around Glossop is managed for grouse shooting, which requires that thenheather is burnt on a regular 15 year cycle to provide fresh growth for the grouse to eat - hence the trails of smoke on the skyline.

Looking east along Mossy Lea, Shire Hill is just out of shot to the right. This is the green valley bottom you can see on the panorama above.

Looking south-west over Glossop from near the bottom of Shittern Clough. This was taken a couple of hours after the panorama above, and all the smoke from the heather burning had drifted down over Glossop - very atmospheric! (pun intended ;-)

James's Thorn, looking west over Glossop and to Manchester in the distance. The round hill on the left of the picture is Shire Hill (see above). The scrap metal in front of my kid's feet is all that remains of a Canadian Air Force Avro Lancaster that crashed on May 18th 1945, just days before the squadron went back to Canada. All six crew were killed. Behind and below the viewpoint there is the remains of another crash - a Skytrain. The Dark Peak is littered with aircraft wrecks, the most well-known being the USAF RB-29A 'Over Exposed' that crashed near Higher Shelf Stones, about 1 Km away from this site.

Above Ferny Hole, looking west towards Yellow Slacks and Dog Rock (the outcrop on the facing hillside in the centre of the photo). Dog Rock was used by the early sports climbers in the UK, and was the scene of some pretty heated battles over access in the 50s and 60s - the local farmer fenced the crag off in an attempt to keep the climbers out, and the local climbers used to go up in the evening, cut the fences and throw the wire, the posts and all the tools off the top of the crag. The farmer then resorted to dynamiting the crag to make it unclimbable, but in fact it ended up improving the climbing! Eventually the whole thing ended up in court.

Last summer we had a day of torrential rain which resulted in Shelf Brook bursting its banks, along with most of the other rivers that flow through Glossop. There was extensive damage, some of which is still being repaired. The picture on the left is what it used to look like, the picture on the right was taken the day after the floods. Both these pictures are taken from exactly the same place, the footbridge over Shelf Brook. The picture on the right shows that at its peak the brook had come clean over the bridge, and in fact had pushed it downstream - notice the curve? Paradoxically the bright and sunny picture was taken in the middle of winter, and the wet and miserable ones were in the middle of summer - not an unusual state of affairs for Glossop!

Here's Hares!

Sat, 18 Jan 2003 07:10:13 GMT

Went out on Ranger patrol today, up from Far Blacks, Grinah Stones, Bleaklow Stones, Near Bleaklow Stones then back down Near Blacks. The area at the top of the 3 Blacks (White Stones/Bleaklow Meadows) was swarming with mountain hares - I counted 25 in about 1 hour. One of the other Rangers in the Crowden area saw loads as well. There was snow on the ground 2 weeks ago, so they are in their pure white winter coats, so they stood out a mile. So much for them being rare!