Bleaklow 15th January 2012

Short winter walk with Richard F

We met up at the Snake pass summit. Temperature about -5. I got quite cold getting ready as I had driven there in t shirt and sandals...maybe next time I get kitted up before getting in the car !!

We set off on the Pennine Way path and gradually after 20 minutes or so I could feel the end of my fingers. there was only a gentle breeze but it was bloody  freezing.

 We crossed Hern Clough, and then took a left turn off the path with the aim of getting to Higher Shelf Stones and the Superfortress wreck. I had put the grid reference into my Garmin Etrex but like a muppet had my device set to geo caching WGS84 datum rather than OS grid. After a while it was fairly obvious that we were below Higher Shelf Stones and my device was way off !!.   There was a whole load of fell runners coming down towards us ...we found out later they were running from Crowden to Edale - 20 miles across the most amazing terrain..effectively the first leg of the Pennine Way in reverse.

We were only a few hundred yards off, and on our way up to the ridge saw a mountain hare - fantastic to see this type of wildlife ..I have only seen one of these before on Kinder.

The B-29 crash site is amazing and sobering  - there is a memorial there and large pieces of wreckage over several hundred yards. This has been there for over 60 years. I don't feel that this was a 'disaster' tourist exercise - I was in awe at the scale of the disaster - a huge plane (the largest around in 1948) and the scale and height of Bleaklow, and the fact that 13 young men lost thier lives - due to go home to America shortly after this flight.

Short walk to the trig point where there was a whole load of folk and a tent !...  check off point for the fell runners plus a group of walkers on a break.

From here there is a fantastic view over Glossop, Manchester and Kinder Scout. Cup of tea and a rest.

Drop down and across to the Pennine Way path dodging the increasing number of fell runners.

As Richard said 'A different walk' ....very enjoyable , and now I have my GPS with the correct settings I'll be more confident about walking on Bleaklow which is such a contrast to Kinder Scout.


Around 5 miles Dark Peak OS1