Delph and Castleshaw circuit.

Saturday 27th May 2017
This weekend was our Wedding Anniversary. Two years gone so quickly.
We booked a hotel we knew and liked and not far from home.
Anyway we went to Delph, and so i planned a circular walk just in case we fancied doing one.
It was a scorcher of a day and a walk had to be done.
Delph is a small village within the control of Oldham. It's a lovely place with a good atmosphere and lots of old mills and interesting buildings relating to the industry of wool spinning and printing.

Our circuit started at the excellent Old Bell Inn which is in the Guinness Book of records for having the most bottles of Gin, and proceeded through the carriage archway that used to be Lumb's Mill, then followed the River tame into the village centre passing numerous smaller mills and workshops on route.
At the bridge which carries the main King Street,  there is a cottage with a high water level stone which shows the water height from the floods of 1872.

Spot the height stone.

Following closely the River Tame, this valley is a delight to walk, especially on such a sunny day. Fields full of wild flowers dominated by lush green and yellow. Beyond Pingle Mill the huge old stonework of Linfitts Mill can still be seen hiding away in the undergrowth. These mills and this whole area would have been alive with activity during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many signs of industry can still be seen in the leats, sluices and filled in mill ponds. A number of old water wheels and mill stones can also be found.

Crossing the tame and climbing up to a car track, passed three old cars in need of restoration tucked away in a barn protected by a Doberman.

 The Tame valley

 Name that car? *

The unmistakeable Rolls.

We walked through a small hamlet just south of Slackcote which again was a joy to view. Renovation of the buildings done with a sympathetic eye. Across the busy and fast Denshaw Rd we crossed pretty meadows alongside a newly mowed cricket pitch and up to the now redundant church of St Thomas at Friarmere built in 1765 which has been in our view on the skyline for a while.
The Royal Oak pub next to the church was unfortunately closed, we were too early for opening time.

 Stones from Linfitts Mill

 Cricket ground with the church on the skyline.

 Lush Meadows of clover and buttercup dominating

 St Thomas Friarmere at Heights.

Royal Oak Pub at Heights built 1767, two years after the Church.

We had a meander at this point, taking a right at the pub instead of going to the left, it was quickly rectified and the mistake only cost us 5 minutes.
Just passed the pub we took a stile on the right that led us down to Grange and the minor road that gives a view to our next objective of Castleshaw reservoir and the Roman Fort to it's right.

 Looking back towards Delph.

 Looking back up the minor road from Grange. Our route is over the stile on the right.

Castleshaw Reservoir.

Following the minor road on the east side of the reservoir and turning onto Dirty Lane we entered the gate which leads to the Roman Fort (remains off). This is worth a visit alone if you like this kind of history. Built about AD.79 and abandoned about AD120. There are a couple of information boards and the footings of the walls, courtyards etc can be made out. Excavations were carried out in 1897 and in 1907/8.

The area of the fort.

Leaving this most interesting area we ascended the hillside to meet up with the A62 road near to Saddleworth Hotel at Hunters Hill. At this point the sky was increasingly becoming black. The thunder was rumbling around but no lightening. Heavy droplets of rain splattered the wide track and also our shirts. Our pace quickened but luckily the cloud was heading in the opposite direction so apart from getting slightly damp we didn't use waterproofs. The breeze increased too and it wasn't long before we could see the rain falling were we had been 10 minutes earlier.

 Along Harrop Edge.

 Here comes the rain again.

 Looking down into the Diggle Valley from Lark Hill Lane.

 W.H.Shaw Mill with the canal and railway just beyond.

Lark Hill Lane descends from harrop Edge to Diggle, it is very rough, steep in parts and is showing signs of just how much use this route gets. Care is needed. Once across the A670 it's a nice easy stroll to reach the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. We stopped at the lock in the image below for lunch, enjoying the sunshine now that the rain had moved on.

Huddersfield narrow Canal.

We followed the towpath on the south side until we reached the spot where the railway bridge crosses the A670 road. At this point we made use of the good cafe for a coffee and cake.

It was noisy, with kids screaming loudly and parents ignoring the racket. They are now obviously deaf due to being subjected to this noise every day. For us it was beyond our patience and we quickly left. The coffee and cake was however excellent.

A quick scan of the map had us crossing the canal and making our way onto the Delph Donkey Track, a now disused railway line which terminates at Delph. The track was in use from 1849 until 1963. Where the name originates is still unsure. 

The track still has numerous information boards and being level walking soon brought us back to our start point in Delph. On the way we came across the most wonderful Bracket Fungi i have ever seen.

 One of a number of information boards on the Delph Donkey railway line.

 Stunning bracket fungi.

 Who goes there!

Delph Donkey Station.

OUR ROUTE. Starting just below the name Delph on the top map. 

It took us just over 5 hours. With 2 short stops but with numerous photograph pauses. It is a lovely route and well worth doing.

* Dawn thinks it may be a Bugatti.
I first thought it may be a Bean but i now think it might be a Morris Cowley.
Any other suggestions most welcome.

Scotland and the not so brave.

We planned this Scotland trip in November last year. We had been looking forward to a four day backpack with a day in Oban and then a day somewhere else at the end of our walk before heading back home.
It didn't come to fruition.
We were leaving home last Friday, but the day before I walked the 9.5 miles into Manchester with a few miles wandering around to buy a gas canister.
During the day I had a bit of a sore spot in the roof of my mouth, I thought nothing of it and on getting home applied some numbing gel and forgot about it.
We set off for Tyndrum early Friday morning before the rush hour started and it wasn't too long before my mouth was really sore.
Leaving the car in Tyndrum we got the train to Oban where we were to start a walk up Loch Etive and spend some time having a look at Glen Noe and Glen Kinglass.
We checked into Oban hostel and looked at the TGO Challenge sign out sheet to see who had set off. There was a surprising few withdrawals too.
During the evening the pain in my mouth was getting ridiculous, like every tooth in my upper jaw had toothache. I took quite a few pain killers and anti inflammatory pills. They didn't help much.
I didn't drop off to sleep until 2.30 am and was awake at 5.30am.
I checked dentists, none open Saturday. I checked the Walk in clinic, not open Saturday. We went to a chemist and found out that the hospital has a dental dept but it didn't open until 1.00pm.
We had booked the train to Taynuilt and it left at 12.11pm.
The decision was made. We would get the train all the way back to Tyndrum and give it 24 hrs to see if there was any improvement. If not we were going home.
I was not in a good place at this time.
We pitched the tent on By the Way site and went to bed.
We had a few hours needed sleep. The mouth however was now quite swollen as well as painful.
Eventually the morning came and I decided to give it until tomorrow. After all it was Sheila's holiday.
We drove to Bridge of Orchy, parked and walked the West Highland Way to Forest Lodge and then down to Clashgour Hut in Kinglass. Then walked the return.
We bumped into 3 challengers. Denis Cullen, Lindy Griffiths and Tom from Minnesota. We also walked passed Bertie, Mick and Gayle's beautiful camper van.
Monday morning brought about the obvious decision that I had to get my mouth looked at. We packed up very quietly at 6.30 am and set off home. Sheila rang my dentist and I managed to get an emergency appointment.
Being a little succinct here, 4 dentists looked at my mouth and were stumped at what they saw. There was a lot of whispered talk, prodding, X-rays and the diagnosis was 'erm we don't know but it's not an ulcer, it's not an abscess and it's not a dodgy tooth or jaw, it's a swelling caused by something else but I think I can confidently say it's not cancer.
They took photographs and were  sending them off somewhere for analysis. And thats where we are today although the pain has decreased.
Such a shame for Sheila as holidays are precious. I feel a let down.

A milestone gratefully achieved.

 500,000 hits to the blog. Never did i expect such a fantastic response from humble beginnings.  Thanks so much everyone for your support, your comments especially and the advise i have been given over the years. Blogging is a great way to pass on and to receive points of view and i for one am always open to learn.
From the blog i have met and become friends with many people, it's been a fantastic journey.
Thanks again.👍

TGO Challenge 2017

It soon comes round again and this Friday see's the start of the 2017 crossing of Scotland. Sheila and I will be in Scotland between Oban and Tyndrum, roughly during the first week. So we wish all challengers a wonderful time and a safe crossing. We hope that we will bump into a few late starters at some point along the way.
Enjoy.
I have booked good weather so no need to worry.

This is what the Challenge is about. 

(As well as the camaraderie and not forgetting a wee dram or two.)

Borrowdale backpack and tent test.

We planned to do this overnighter last week but it didn't happen and then we planned to do a 2 night trip which also got relegated to a one night trip, to test out the new tent which we have christened Rosa.

The walk started and finished at the small but adequate car park just off the A685 Kendal to Tebay road at NY606 014. We were the only car there which was a bit of a surprise given that it was a bank holiday weekend.
A hot start along a narrow tarmac road then a gradual up hill on a good track through deciduous trees to reach the Post Office repeater station at NY586 002. It was terrific weather giving us good views across the Lake District, kendal and Morecambe Bay.
Onto the next mast on a metalled road and upwards to Greyrigg at 494 metres. Then reverse walk back to the repeater station.
Greyrigg is a perfect lookout spot with the Roman "Fort" right below. There is no sign whatsoever of any activity but the high ground above the Fort must have been occupied.

At this point we realised that there was no water anywhere and all we had was 0.5l between us.
In front was the large bulk of Whinfell Beacon, only 471 metres but it looks huge with a lot of up.
From the mast we stuck to the high ground and picked up what i guess was just a sheep trod but has now become a path, which isn't on the OS maps and terminates at wall corner. GR. NY 577 003.

We stopped for a couple of minutes then took our time getting up to the Beacon. It is steep but it's not a long slog and in no time we were atop and admiring the fantastic view.

Our next objective was Old High at 462 metres which meant clambering over 2 walls to get there. There were no stiles which was a bit strange. Then onto Castle Fell 478metres which was a bit disappointing. With a name like that and Roman activity in the area i expected more than a hump or two. Still it gave good views down Borrowdale.

Two fell runners and a dog past us as we made our way down to the large ladder stile before Mabbin Crag. Thickly covered in trees Mabbin Crag was one of my points to overnight but again there was no water apart from a few uninviting peaty pools. A small bothy had us wondering if there was a spring nearby but we found nothing.
The bothy of sorts was in a poor state with part of the roof collapsed. It would suffice in a winter storm but otherwise it is not worth stopping.
The view from the top is wonderful and today we could make out Great Gable and the Scafell Range along with many other tops. At the wall between Mabbin Crag and  Ashstead fell the map shows streams running both north east and south west. I checked both sides, finding only boggy ground and dry beds. I was a hot day and we were feeling a bit dehydrated now, we needed to find some water.

From the cairn on Ashstead Fell Sheila had this idea of going down into Combs Hollow where quite a large ravine looked promising. The map shows a number of prominent streams.
I wasn't too happy about descending the comb with a full backpack, one false step and its a long roll down. We walked along the edge looking for the route of least resistance and i spotted a quad bike track which terminated about the 370 metre contour. The plan was to slowly get down to that which we did.
Reaching the ravine and seeing more dry river beds was a disappointment. This is the Lake District, what is going on with all these dry fells. We now had no alternative, we would have to go all the way down to the valley floor and Borrow Beck where camping may be a problem.
At the land rover track we sat down and weighed up our predicament. Camping below tree line in England is illegal without permission and even camping above tree line could mean getting moved on by the land owner if he so wishes, but this doesn't usually happen.

I didn't fancy pitching by the side of the LR track as this was just asking for being moved on. I checked a few spots within the forestry but where there were openings i found just marshy ground.
We had a brew which was much needed and perused the map. There was a footpath indicated on the opposite side of the river but it was a bit higher up than ground level. There looked to be a nice flat bit of ground however which would do the job but we didn't have permission. At this point the farmer with dog sped past, too fast for us to flag him down and ask. We waited but he didn't return.

We crossed the river, well waded i should say, and climbed over the wall. The spot was perfect. What do we do? Pitch and get told to move or wait for the farmer to return?
Another brew and some food was had and a bit of a snooze, but no farmer. We had to make a decision and decided to take our chances. We couldn't much hide a red tent anyway.

Tent up and within 10 minutes, yes you guessed it the farmers quad bike could be heard. I got out of the tent and expected him to stop and give us a telling off but he just gave us a wave and carried on.
Relief. All was well with the world. A nice pitch, plenty of water, no people and a good view.

Round about 6 o'clock we heard engines and numerous 4 wheel drive vehicles crossed the river and went up Breasthigh Road which leads to Bretherdale Head.  We watched and waved, the last vehicle was a VW campervan! How he managed to get that up there was miraculous and not something i would fancy doing. Part way up the track on a bend he stopped and we both thought, that's it he's had it. But after a short delay, he carried on. All credit to his skill.

Darkness came at around 9pm and with it a gust of wind, the first wind we had felt all day. Then the wind picked up quite a bit and the tent was in a pretty exposed spot. To make matters worse i had picked up the wrong tent peg bag which resulted in us being 5 pegs short.
I made use of the walking poles to peg out the least important pegging points. It wasn't perfect but it coped.
Morning came after a very breezy but warm night. We were up at 7.30am and struggled with the strong wind to get packed up. The temperature had dropped so much from yesterday. From tee shirts to down jackets.

Up the valley we crossed the stepping stones at the ford and then back down the valley using the LR track. We hadn't been going long before the sound of the quad bikes engine met us. When he reached us i flagged him down and apologised for pitching the tent without permission. I told him of our plight of wanting to stay on the tops but the lack of water forced us down. He said there was no water about but it would have been a rough night with the high winds camping on the tops.
He then said he wasn't bothered about us camping where we were because it was his neighbours land.
So we camped illegally after all.

The Borrowdale valley is an unspoiled beautiful lush green valley with flower meadows a wide Salmon and Trout river flowing the whole length, fringed with forestry and pasture land for cows , sheep and fell ponies.
High Borrowdale farm buildings are derelict and from the looks of them they have been for a long time.
Low Borrowdale is a Grade 2 listed farm house dating from the 1680's and has recently been purchased and is currently being updated. It was purchased by Natural Retreats who didn't get planning permission to convert it and so they sold it on.

At Low Borrowdale we came to a gate with a sign PRIVATE, we had missed a turn off and as we had to go that way we risked being told off and crossed the private field. It was our mistake and we are sorry, honest.
This reminded us of a story from a while back. We have a Lake District farmer friend who farms in the Duddon Valley, he said he had never been to the top of Harter Fell which we were doing and so we invited him to join us. On the way back down we came to a gate with an old sign on it with PRIVATE written. Our friend went through the gate to which we said, "its not that way, it's not a right of way, we have to keep to the footpath". To which he pointed out to us that footpaths are only for people who don't know where they are going and seeing that he did know where he was going it was ok to cross Private land. We disagreed but he just laughed and said "Come on its quicker this way".

All too soon we were back at the car. It had been a good walk and although it hadn't rained it was a good first outing for the tent.
Apart from the tent peg issue its a good solid tent, ideal for 2 medium height people. I think it would be a struggle for 2 six foot people though but as the inner is bigger than the Terra Nova Voyager it must be above std size. As with all tents of this shape the narrow end will not take 2 full size sleeping pads. The dimension is 850mm.

Slideshow (Only 40 pics taken with iphone 6s). Thanks for reading.
Click on the first photo and then click the play button at bottom left corner.