Aigin Stone

There is a large upright stone, known as the Aigin Stone, just before you turn off the cobbled track to Blackstone Edge. It is said to be a way-marker. It is thought that it gets its name from the French aiguille, a needle, or aigle, an eagle. A sign next to the stone says it is 600 years old and warns, 'Please respect our heritage'. I noticed that a nearby sheep was keeping a close eye on me to make sure I didn't damage it.

I was up here on a winter's day once with Calse and Mo. It was early in the morning and the stone glowed pink from a rising sun. I felt inspired to string Calse and Mo along with a fictional tale about the stone. I concluded my story by saying that a consequence of anyone touching the stone would bring eternal bad luck to that person. At that point I slid on some Ice and had to grab the stone to stand upright. How spooky is that? I can't really say that I've had bad luck since touching the stone, although I've not really had any good luck either.

I indicated that the watching sheep could stand down and I started off towards Blackstone Edge.

Blackstone Christmas Dinner

Blackstone Edge is an impressive rocky outcrop with panoramic views over to Manchester. I had an alfresco Christmas dinner up here on Christmas Day 2020. It was during a Covid lockdown and so family get togethers were off the table. Presumably the Downing Street party would have been in full swing. My Christmas Dinner was enjoyable and I had a good view of the Green Withens reservoir, although it was rather a chilly day.

Today, I continued along the Pennine Way until I reached the M62. Rather than brave crossing the tarmac on foot, Pennine Wayers can make use of a footbridge to the other side of the motorway. My route kept on the north side and followed a large culvert that leads to the Green Withens reservoir.

At one point I saw half a dozen sheep and lambs crossing the culvert. There was only about 4 inches of water flowing down the culvert but one of the lambs wasn't keen on getting her feet wet. It was as if she couldn't gauge the depth of the water correctly. After a little persuasion from her mother, she managed to tip-toe across.

Green Withens

The water in the Green Withens reservoir was quite low. There is a Scout watersports building there, although it was deserted today. I walked around the reservoir to where there is an overflow into Green Withens Clough. Three workmen were deep down in the overflow repairing some of the brickwork. I turned off down a path that follows the clough downstream. It is quite an impressive clough with some rock outcrops on its side. It always comes as a bit of a surprise when it delivers you to the A672, rather than the M62. The 'A' road had remained well hidden.

This is the fourth time I've walked this route. I've always (including today), crossed the road and followed a path along Spa Clough for a few hundred metres, re-crossed the road, and then followed a path to Castle Dean Springs. It all looks good on the map, but in reality the path along Spa Clough is almost non-existent and the path over the moor to Castle Dean Springs is pure imagination by the cartographers. The next time I do this walk I intend walking directly from the road to Castle Dean Springs.

Dog Hill And Cat Stones

There are some bridges that allow easy crossing of the large culvert that contours the hill near Castle Dean Springs. I crossed the bridge nearest the bend and the climbed an obvious path that took me up to the trig point on Dog Hill. To the north I could see the pinnacle of Stoodley Pike. The trig was actually at a crossroad of paths that are not shown on the OS map.

Cat Stones are a ten minute walk from Dog Hill. As I was taking a picture of the stones, an elderly man walked up and we started chatting. He said that Cat Stones is a site of an old settlement. I asked if it was somehow related to nearby Dog Hill but he didn't know any more. My research later revealed that it's the site of three burial barrows, probably from the Neolithic or Bronze Age period. 'Cat' is possibly derived from the modern Welsh word 'Cath', that means 'battle'. So I guess they may have contained the bodies of people that had died in battle.

Return To The White House

The path meandered westwards along the contour of the hill. Eventually it picked up yet another culvert. At least they are good navigational handrails if the weather is bad. This led to a footbridge that gave access to the continuation of the Old Packhorse Road that bypassed the Aigin Stone. There's no cobbles on this part and it does get boggy in places. At the Aigin Stone (I was careful not to touch it), I branched off on to a path across Blackstone Edge Moor. This is a quick way back to the White House Inn. It goes through a disused quarry where there appears to be some sort of huge wall built with gigantic boulders.

It had been an enjoyable walk, helped by prolonged sunshine. The scale of the water civil engineering in this area is quite remarkable. The area all looks so wild when you drive over the M62. This walk reveals that appearances can be deceptive.