Doh!

Just after the valley heads northeast I crossed the Crowden Little Brook. There was plenty of water coming down, but managed to cross without any problems. I made the steep climb from the brook on to the moor above and started following the vague track northwards. I was in mist now. No problem. The sun would burn it off soon, I told myself.

The path is sketchy in places. I was concentrating on following it and thinking about some walks in Wales that I'd planned for next week. Out of the mist a wire fence loomed. Bugger! I was supposed to turn off northeastwards in order to see the Meteor aircraft wreckage, that was on my itinerary. I looked on my map and the fence wasn't marked (although I noted later that evening, that it is on the online version). My map wasn't quite up-to-date. I'd not brought with me the grid reference for the Meteor wreckage since I'd expected to be walking in glorious sunshine. Hmmm...so I wasn't exactly sure where I was, I didn't know the exact location of the aircraft wreckage, and visibility was down to about 50 or 60 metres.

On my previous visit to the wreckage I knew it was in a significant grough on the eastern side of the Sliddens Moss ridge line. Looking at my map I could see that it might be at the top of Meadows Clough. I followed the fence upwards and north-westwards until I couldn't go up any more. I assumed at this point that I was on the ridge line of Sliddens Moss. In reality it isn't much of a ridge; it is fairly flat. I figured that if I now took a south-eastwards path I'd would be likely to hit the Meadows Clough grough, although I couldn't be certain at what point. I decided to give it 10 minutes on this bearing. If I didn't find it, I'd give it up as a bad job and return back to my current point on a reverse bearing. I noticed that the bearing was keeping me eastwards of the Sliddens Moss ridge line which was what I wanted. A few minutes later I came across a small bit of wreckage and after another minute, the grough itself.

I spent several minutes exploring the surrounding area. There is certainly a lot of wreckage. Somebody had placed a small wooden cross near some of it. I took some a GPS readings at the site (SE069029, ). Although I could have used my GPS to find my current location, I prefer to use it as a backup, and normally just use map and compass for navigation.

Meteors Crash

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 on to Sliddens Moss near Black Hill. Flight Lieutenant David Hayward (aged 26) flew Meteor WA791 and Flying Officer Anthony Hauxwell (aged 25) flew Meteor VZ518.

Pennine Way

The return to Crowden didn't present any navigational difficulties since it was along the Pennine Way and slabbed in many places. The route goes alongside Laddow Rocks with the path getting surprisingly close to vertical drops in places. I once happened to watch one of those daytime TV emergency rescue programmes where a mountain biker had fallen off at some point on Laddow Rocks and needed a helicopter rescue. I've walked along the edge many times but never seen any mountain bikers. Not alive ones anyway. The precipice looked quite impressive today in the mist. the cliff looked bottomless at points.

Eventually I dropped out o the mist and actually see some scenery for a change. It did look as though the mist level was just covering the tops. I'd obviously been unlucky with the choice of walk today; I'll do a lower level one on the eastern side of the Pennines tomorrow.