High Crag And Embsay Crag

It was only 10 or 15 minutes of walking before I got to High Crag, a tick on my North And Central Pennines Explorer Venture list. It might have been grey and drizzly, but at least there was no mist around today. Over to the northeast, I could see the distinctive craggy quiff of Simon's Seat. I guess that a lot of people park at Black Hill, walk up to High Crag's trig, and then walk back down again. It would be a good way to spend half an hour of your day. My itinerary was a bit longer though and so I set off along the track eastwards, following the southern edge of Embsay Moor.

There was a high stone wall on my left and so there wasn't much chance of going astray.  My next objective, Embsay Crag was a prominent target ahead of me; a huge rocky protrusion from the moor into the valley. The OS map didn't show a track after crossing the Eastby Gate footpath, but there was definitely one there on the ground. It contoured along the hillside quite nicely apart from a brief up and down at Heugh Gill.

Embsay Crag required surprisingly little effort to climb and I was soon at its boulder strewn top. It provided a great view down on to Embsay Reservoir. That was my next target and I started descending a severely eroded track down to it. 

Embsay Reservoir

I'd neglected my Yorkshire Reservoirs Venture for quite a while now and the Embsay Reservoir gave it a welcome nudge forward. It was a small but pretty reservoir and home to a few wildfowl. There was a small boating club positioned in its southwest corner, and I wondered if the water enthusiasts ever felt limited by the small area to sail around. I doubt whether it would be the core training ground for the participants in a round-the-world yacht race. It was a nice location though, with the moors and Embsay Crag overlooking it. There were plenty of 'potterers' making their way around the reservoir and I joined the procession. 25% of the reservoir's circumference was formed by the dam and crossing it delivered me to the visitors carpark. It was reasonably big and free too, something that I noted for potential future walks in the area. After about 15 minutes of walking I'd completed my circumnavigation and I was ready to go back on to the moors again. I'd had to descend about 140 metres from Embsay Crag to the reservoir and so a climb back up on to the moor was inevitable. I checked my trekking poles, did a few squats to warm up, and then started the climb up to Crookside Crag

Crookside Crag

The route to Crookside Crag was another occasion where there was no track on the OS map, but one existed in reality. In fact, there was even a fingerpost, back at Embsay Reservoir that pointed the way. I joined the high boundary stone wall of the moor again. The owners had kindly pegged some barbed wire along it at hand height so that I was in constant fear of slipping and ripping my anorak on it. Oddly enough, once I'd reached the craggy portion of the crag, I came across stiles that allowed access to the other side of the stone wall. I guess the idea was that the drop from the crag was enough deterrent to stop people wandering further. At the first stile, I didn't know that there would then be a succession of stiles. These stiles went right up to the trig at Crookrise Crag. There was a vague track that made walking easier along the crag, on the west side of the wall. This would have been a better option since the views across to Flasby Fell were very good, and far better than looking at moorland on the eastern side of the wall. I didn't realise this feature at the time though and I just plodded along on the moor side of the wall, until popping over to the trig when I reached Crookrise Crag's top.

I continued following the stone wall northwards, past the two huge boulders that were intriguingly named Fairies Chest on the OS map. The area  was apparently known as the abode of the little people in the 19th century. The boggy track now descended towards Waterfall Gill Beck. There was plenty of water of running down the beck and for a moment or two I had some doubt whether I'd be able to cross it. I'd just met a couple with their youngster coming the other way though, and so I figured there must be a way across. I walked upstream and eventually found a narrow point to leap across. Climbing out of the gill, I then followed the track until it brought me to the bridleway that goes from west to east between the northern Barden and southern Embsay moors. This was my pathway back to the carpark.

The Long Road

There was still work to be done. Admittedly the bridleway was flat and easy walking, but it was a very long four miles back to the carpark. The bleak moorland landscape didn't change much and I drifted into autopilot. There wasn't much to distract me. I met a couple walking the other way, but they looked on autopilot too and apart from a perfunctory 'hello' we didn't interact further. I had a limited conversation with a mountain biker who scooted past me and a few minutes later his mate approached. It was quite obvious that he was the dutiful friend that didn't want to be there. Despite the flat terrain he was in first gear and due to his high cadence and slow speed, his front wheel wobbled like a slowly spinning coin. He was too out of breath for conversation, but he did manage to gasp '...I'll be glad when we get to a downhill bit.' 

I reached the top part of the moors at North Earls, and then the bridleway, now a Landrover track, started heading slowly downwards. The mountain bikers had soon disappeared. The sun actually threatened to come out and for a while the Upper Barden and Lower Barden reservoirs (already ticked) were illuminated with sunlight. It was only an intermission though and greyness eventually returned. I started meeting more walkers now, venturers from the Black Hill carpark. The bridleway across the moors had been a hard surface, but it had brought me across quite quickly back to the carpark.

Given the dreek morning conditions, it had actually turned out to be a fine walk. There had been some good views, especially off Embsay Crag and Crookrise Crag.  Even though I've now covered a lot of the Barden and Embsay moors in two walks, I still felt that there was plenty more to explore in this area.