Bilberry Reservoir

There were quite a few birds flying around the trees at the edge of the reservoir, including Goldfinches, Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Grey Wagtails. There are signs around the reservoirs asking people not to start fires or have barbecues. The last time I was here I remember seeing somebody with a barbecue so big, he had problems wheeling it along the trail. The path  on the north side eventually reaches the end of Digley Reservoir and descends to the dam for the smaller Bilberry Reservoir. There is a great view across the reservoir and up Hey Clough to the outer edges of Black Hill. The path went across the dam and returned along Digley reservoir on the south side.

I branched off the reservoir path and used the Kirklees Way footpath to get to Holme. As you approach Holme you can see that somebody has got a small astronomical observatory in their back garden. The door was open today and I could see it was stuffed full with junk. I think its stargazing days have long since gone. I crossed the A6024 and picked up another path on the other side. Beyond the houses, it goes through a small field. A few years ago I walked through this field and found a dead sheep on the path. She looked bloated and there was an awful smell coming from her. I gave her a wide berth and was then surprised when she got to her feet and scrambled away, very much alive. She'd just been a fat, smelly sheep having a sleep. The footpath dropped down to the pretty Gill Hey Bridge and then climbed back up to some boggy moorland. I then tramped my way across an exceptionally boggy stretch to Holme Woods Lane. My boots were clogged thick with mud when I reached the lane and I was thankful I wouldn't have to return over that boggy patch again.

Yateholme

Holme Woods Lane followed the contour of the valley around to Yateholme Reservoir. I'd walked about half a mile along this lane when a large Yorkshire Water notice informed me that the road ahead was blocked to vehicles and pedestrians because they were working on Yateholme dam. Why couldn't they have put the notice further back up the lane? I tutted and clucked and started  returning back the way I'd come. I would have to bypass Yateholme Reservoir using another footpath. When I got back to the stile that gave me access to Holme Woods Lane I saw that Yorkshire Water had actually put a sign on a fence indicating that the lane was closed at Yateholme. The only problem was that the sign was facing the wrong way so that anybody going over the stile like I did earlier, wouldn't see it. I was already penning a letter in my head to the Yorkshire Water CEO. Even more so as I struggled back again through the muddy morass that I'd clomped through earlier. I picked up the path to Netherley Clough and had calmed down a bit by the time I reached the footbridge crossing the beck at its bottom. After climbing out of the other side, I picked up the continuation of the Holme Wood Lane track (now called Kiln Bent  Road).

Riding Wood And Ramsden Reservoirs

'Is it really shut off?' A mountain biker had stopped and wanted to know if there was any way around the construction work. I told him that they'd fenced the road off and that I'd seen construction traffic moving on the lane beyond. I told him about the footpath via Netherely Clough. He looked annoyed and then started having a rant about some work they were doing on the canal path at Marsden, that would shut it down for a year. I sympathised with him. He said he'd try and get through the railings and bypass the construction work. I wished him luck and he cycled off.  I didn't see him after that and so maybe he was able to get through. I walked across Riding Wood Reservoir's dam. There is a magnificent view down the reservoir to the steep sides of Ramsden Clough. Looking downstream of the dam, there was an equally good view of the end of Ramsden Reservoir. The lane continued along the side of Ramsden Reservoir. Somebody had written on a Yorkshire Water 'No Unauthorised Access' sign: 'Free Water. Fuck the rich.' Maybe the tipping point for revolution isn't that far away.

Brownhill Reservoir

The potholed stone lane turned to tarmac at Ramsden Reservoir's dam. Downstream of the dam, the Brownhill Reservoir started. The road ran alongside the reservoir and offered good views over the reservoir, to the moors beyond. I was a little sad to reach the dam of Brownhill and the end my reservoir ticking extravaganza for the day. The lane gradually descended to the valley bottom at Holmbridge. I re-crossed the A6024 and headed up a lane past the cricket ground. The area was pleasantly wooded and brought me to the downstream dam embankment for Digley Reservoir. The footpath ascended through the woods up to the top of the dam.

It had been a really pleasant assisted by the sunny weather. I'd not quite reached a six reservoir tally, although five takes a sizeable chunk off my Yorkshire Reservoir Venture. Thanks to Yorkshire Water I will have to make a return trip at some stage to tick of Yateholme Reservoir.