Hog Low Pike 383 metres and Calf Hey reservoir.

With a clear Saturday, something that is quite unusual for us, we headed off to Haslingden with the purpose of getting to Hog Low Pike Trig point. Where ever the route took us after that was just a finger in the air and go.

We parked up just north of the reservoirs (SD754228) on a Pay and Display carpark that wasn’t working and so parked for free. Bonus.
Plenty of chatty people about but mainly out to walk the dog. It was a calm clear day with just a slight nip in the air.

Just before we crossed the dam between Calf Hey and Ogden reservoirs, a sign read NO OPEN FIRES. So some very bright people decided that it would be ok to set their barbecues alight on top of a plastic picnic table. What is between the ears of some folk beggars belief. Calf Hey reservoir is the top one of three reservoirs in the Grane Valley which were built in 1860.

Just before we crossed the dam an old 20” sluice gate is passed.
Good views all round we headed up the grassy and muddy slope towards The Rossendale Way path, here we turned west and on a raising path. Quite a glutinous ascent into a mixed wooded gorge where numerous narrow sheep tracks caused much head scratching as to which was the correct route. The ferns were quite high and never having been here before meant plenty of stopping and checking the map.

 20 inch diameter sluice gate.

 Calf Hey Reservoir

Calf Hey and Ogden reservoir in the background.

Fortunately the ferns and grasses were dry and so no need for waterproof over trousers. The clough is quite a hidden gem and worth a visit to explore more another time. Reaching above the tree line we got our first view of the trig point on Hog Low Pike.
A good stone path leads almost to the top where the views are excellent.

 Hog Low Pike 

 Trig Point number S4555.

 View West with Winter Hill on skyline just left of centre and far right is Jubilee Tower at Darwin Hill.

 Coming off the top we planned to follow the county boundary to where it meets the corner of Broadhead Rd. Sheila mentioned how boggy is was and that it must be cows. I though it was nothing, just like Scotland really and never gave it another thought until we were face to face with a herd of the horned critters and worse still they were all watching us. The brown one in the photo below was particularly interested in us and so we gave it a wide berth. I didn’t see any calves and so thought we would be fine passing them. It wouldn’t have made much difference if it wasn’t fine as there was no walls to get over just open boggy moorland.

 Unusual Snow Fungus. We found 2 fairly large patches of it.

 Obviously the cows use this route, a lot i guess.

 We had lunch just before reaching Broadhead Rd. The wall being a perfect height to sit and take in the surrounding. Across the way, maybe a few hundred yards we could see this large standing stone. It wasn’t far off our route and so went to see what it was about. It was just a disused quarry. It was also noticeable along this small road that people in cars use the verges as rubbish dumps instead of going to the tip.

 Back on route we squelched our way on what looks on the map as a green lane. Quite deep in parts and care had to be taken not to go knee deep in the black stuff. Cresting the hill the path improves and the views open up down the Grane Valley. I guess we were on the old pack horse route from one valley to the other which has now become neglected. Numerous old gate posts still stand showing where enclosures were many years ago. The walls now just traces and robbed out.

 The reservoirs come back into view. Taken from near Boardman Close. 

After a little map reading we made our way down through fields without a marked path until we came to the Rossendale Way. Here we passed an abandoned farmhouse of some size. Another winter should see the gable end fall down. The marked path from here enters the woodland but it didn’t bear any resemblance to the map. Still we followed it to a deep clough with a footbridge, again not marked on the map.

 Mushrooms of the inedible type.

 Footbridge not marked on the OS 1:25.000 and very nice it is too.

Back at the track around the reservoir we decided to continue in a clockwise direction instead of re tracing our steps. I’m glad we did or we would have missed the history boards telling of how it used to be before the reservoirs were built and who lived in the properties.

 It’s great the way the footings have been preserved although i bet the occupants were a bit dis-chuffed at the time.

View down the Grane Valley. and almost back at the car park.

Our route. Only 7.5km but delightful.