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Date: 04/10/2015
From: Old Glossop
Parking: Shepley Street
Start Point: Doctor's Gate
Region: Peak District Dark Peak
Route length: 10.5 miles (16.9 km)
Time taken: 04:27
Average speed: 2.4 mph
Ascent: 551m
Descent: 572m
Summits: Higher Shelf Stones (621m), Bleaklow Head (633m)
Other points of interest: Doctor's Gate, B-29 crash site, Torside Castle
Bleaklow's reputation seems to precede it; the clue is all in the name. Read any route description and you'll see fearsome reports of bogs and wilderness and general tales of foreboding. This, however, generally acts as an encouragement to one like myself and, having recently got to grips with Kinder Scout, it was the turn of its marginally shorter neighbour.
I should probably point out at the start, we had a fine day weather-wise with clear blue skies for the majority of the day; something of a rarity around these parts. A grey murky day may have been an entirely different proposition.
Our chosen circuit started in Old Glossop, a small village on the edge of the Peak District and, as the name suggests, the original heart of the current town of Glossop. There is ample unrestricted parking along Shepley Street, adjacent to a large factory. The end of Shepley Street also marks the beginning of Doctor's Gate, the route up Shelf Brook to the summit of the Snake Pass some two and a half miles away.
At the foot of Doctor's Gate - Bleaklow is ahead on the horizon |
Coldharbour Moor |
The route is clear and easy to follow to Old Woman |
The valley of Shelf Brook |
In the depths of Shelf Brook - Higher Shelf Stones appears on the horizon |
Low Shelf Stones |
White Clough |
Climbing higher - looking across the Higher Shelf Stones |
The view down Doctor's Gate |
All is well, despite my expression and grasp on the GPS |
A beam of sunshine over the Snake Pass |
Bleaklow marker post |
The Pennine Way stretches ahead |
Looking back along Devil's Dike |
Hern Clough |
Leaving the Pennine Way |
Layers of moorland |
The first of a vast area of wreckage |
Wreckage of 'Over Exposed' |
Wreckage of 'Over Exposed' |
A small, ad-hoc memorial in the centre of the wreckage |
One of the four huge engines |
Two more engines and the memorial stone |
Engraving on the memorial stone |
The full wreckage site |
The summit of Higher Shelf Stones is a short distance from the crash site |
The view to Lower Shelf Stones |
Higher Shelf Stones' summit |
High Shelf Stones |
Hern Stones |
Back on the Pennine Way |
The stones at Wain Stones |
It is believed that the summit is in here somewhere |
A cairn can be found close by |
The large cairn at Bleaklow Head |
The Pennine Way alongside Wildboar Grain |
Wildboar Grain |
Wildboar Grain |
Wildboar Grain and The Pulpit |
Torside Castle |
Glorious open moorland |
Bricks-cum-cairn on Glossop Low |
The view across to Bleaklow Head |
A curious feature - perhaps an old shooting butt? |
Grouse butts on Glossop Low |
Trig pillar on Cock Hill |
Old quarry spoil |
The overgrown quarry road |
The view east towards Bleaklow |
Cock Hill |
Nice route. A bit bleaker today but when the cloud lifted it was a special place. Thanks for the gen.
ReplyDeleteNo problem, thanks!
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