Captain's Log

Crowden

It had been eighteen months since I completed my last Ethel (see Musden Low, The Last Ethel). The Kapitan and the Cabin Boy had lost interest in their attempt and it was only due to my prompting that they decided that it was time to progress their Ethel list. They’d completed 47 so far and so today I planned to tick two more for them: Black Hill and White Low. This would take them over the 50% complete mark and I thought it would give them that psychological boost to get the remaining hills done. Black Hill comes in at the fifth highest Ethel, with White Low being the 19th, and so it wasn’t going to be an easy day. The BBC weather forecast had predicted sun for most of the day and so we were all looking forward to the walk.

It seemed a little less promising as we drove over the Woodhead Pass and I had to switch on my car’s fog lights. We dropped out of the mist on the western side of the pass, but the Woodehead valley looked rather dull and gloomy. It was still quite early and there were only two other cars in the Crowden carpark. Given all the free space, it was odd that I had to try three different parking spots before I was satisfied with it's final placement. I'm sure there is a medical condition causing such behaviour. As we togged up I wondered about whether I should take my sunhat. I looked up at the dull, misty topped Bleaklow on the other side of the valley and decided it probably wasn’t worth it.

Following The Mosses

Most people will follow the Pennine Way to the summit of Black Hill from Crowden. There's nothing wrong with that; it is an excellent path with some great views from Laddow Rocks. In fact, given today’s wet and misty conditions it would have probably been the best option. I wanted to show the Kapitan and the Cabin Boy the crash site of Meteors WA791 and VZ518  though, and this involved taking an alternative route  over Bareholme Moss, Roudhill Moss to Sliddens Moss. As you might expect with ‘Moss’ being in their location names, it isn’t the driest area of the Peak District. Not many people venture over these mosses and so there isn’t a definitive track. Our first challenge was getting onto the top of Bareholme Moss. It was quite heathery and steep, but more awkward than dangerous. Up to this point we’d had views back southwards towards Crowden, but before we reached the summit plateau, these were lost to the mist. It also became decidedly chilly. 

We plodded northwards over Bareholme Moss.  Visibility must have been down to about 100 metres. Today’s walk was mostly over trackless and featureless terrain and given such conditions appropriate navigation skills were required. Having said that, I couldn’t be bothered to get the map out and I mistook Wiggin Clough for Meadow Clough, where the Meteor jets crashed. After a couple of minutes of fruitless searching in Wiggin Clough, I realised my mistake and we continued on to Meadow Clough where we found the wreckage of the Meteors. 

Meteors WA791 And VZ518

On the 12th of April 1951, four Meteor aircraft flew from Linton-on-Ouse on a training exercise. Their plan was to fly to around 30,000 feet and then two aircraft would simulate an attack on the other two. They found that cloud cover reached 30,000 feet and decided to abandon the exercise and head back for base. David Hayward, leading the second pair, radioed that there was a break in the clouds and that he could see Leeds. A few minutes later all contact was lost with the pair. It is likely that David Hayward mistook the urban area he saw and that it was probably Stockport. As they descended through the clouds, the two planes crashed onto Sliddens Moss. 

There is still quite a lot of wreckage in the clough and the surrounding area. Even with today's misty conditions we found several sites of wreckage. Some of it was partially covered by snow that had drifted into the clough. Somebody had put a poppy and small wooden cross on one part of the wreckage. It was getting quite cold and so we decided to move on. Our next stop was the summit of Black Hill. 

Black Hill And White Low

It was a gradual climb up to the summit plateau of Black Hill. There are some vague tracks, but again good navigational skills may be required under bad conditions. The Pennine Way runs parallel to the route to Black Hill and so if you felt completely lost. there is always the option to head west and intersect this obvious path. We continued northwards and before we knew it Soldier’s Lump supporting Black Hill’s trig, appeared out of the mist. Two other walkers stood by the trig, the only other people we’d seen since leaving Crowden. We stopped for a coffee at the trig, during which time three other groups of walkers came by us along the Pennine Way. It seemed rather crowded after our morning of solitude. I set a bearing to take us across Tooleyshaw Moss, another rather damp area, towards our next Ethel, White Low. 

I drifted too far eastwards over Tooleyshaw Moss, but I eventually realised the mistake and corrected out direction southwards to White Low. There was a slight breeze and it felt icy now. The Cabin Boy’s bobble hat froze up. After dropping down to the col with Westend Moss we made the short diversion from the path up to the summit of White Low. There was nothing to mark the summit and I have to say that it isn’t the most exciting Ethel, especially on a day like this. I set a bearing to the tarn at Westend Moss and off we trotted towards it.  The tarn looks quite obvious on the OS map, but in reality it had disappeared. It is still boggy around the area though and so it still probably exists depending on your definition of a tarn. The track became more obvious as we started dropping down, steeply at first, and then more gradual to Hey Moss. Half a dozen other walkers caught us up at this point and rather than listen to their loud conversation, we let them pass.

Return

Despite our continual descent we were still in mist. The mist seemed to have dropped even lower than it was this morning. Eventually though we broke through the clouds and we at last had some sort of view. Looking westwards we could see the hill of Bareholme Moss, where we had ascended into the clouds this morning. It was an easy descent to the track near the Quarry and then we diverted off onto a steep path leading to Crowden. Now that we were below the cloud level we could see over to Torside Reservoir. The water level seemed surprisingly low given all the rain we’d had in the last few weeks; well actually, after all the rain that we’d had in 2024. 

The carpark was full on our return and so I was bit surprised that we'd not seen more people out walking. It had been a shame that we’d not had any views, but at least the Kapitan and Cabin Boy seemed satisfied that they were now on the homeward run of their Ethel list.  As we drove back  eastwards across the foggy Woodhead Pass, the mist cleared to reveal bright sunshine. That just goes to show that Yorkshire is a much brighter place than Lancashire.