A beautiful morning after the poor weather of the last couple of days meant we were off fairly early and looking forward to a sunny day.
Yesterday Black Hill, today White Hill! Bit of a difference!
Today, nearly everyone we met spoke to us. At the start, a Scotsman appeared from nowhere and began telling us his theories about the earth tipping over because we have taken so much out of it; we couldn’t stay to hear all his stories – but we did learn that he was a retired professional footballer and had a brother who fought in the war!
At our first meeting place (a pub on the Pennine Way and the A58 - in the middle of nowhere) there were hordes of ramblers going on an organised outing plus lots of people just arriving for a walk before lunching here. A couple of elderly men were very interested in the van; one of them had a boat, which was just like the van, he said, but had no wheels! His daughter wants a motor home, so I did my sales pitch again! The other chap wanted to help us find a campsite near Hebden Bridge as he came from Todmorden and felt he should help. We kept bumping into them and they were keen to hear about the walk.
As I prepared to retrace my steps to fetch the van we caught up with a couple who had just retired and were enjoying their travels – it was interesting to listen to their tales, especially as we had been to many of the same places.
From Bernie:
Today’s walk 14.8 miles : Cumulative 598.6 miles
OK – so, another ‘best walk of the expedition so far’! Unbelievable change in the weather: it was tee-shirt walking, even on the top of the moor, from 10.00 am. Starting out from Standedge, I was already quite high so there were few ascents – most of the walk was along high-level ridges, across open moorland or beside remote reservoirs.... there was virtually no wind & visibility was, at least in the morning, crystal clear! In yesterday’s conditions, or Sunday’s, this would have been very tough!
Tiny footbridge over the Main Drain from the chain of reservoirs
Much of the morning’s walk was over Saddleworth Moor; not a stretch, with its nightmare connotations, that I was really looking forward to – but it was bright & sunny, birds were singing & it was a joy to be there. Even crossing the M62 failed to put a dampener on this.
Almost felt in a position of power above all this mayhem!
One poignant moment of the morning came just below Little Moss. I met a bronzed man, probably 10 years or so older than myself, dressed in shorts, tee-shirt & walking boots heading up the track towards me; we exchanged greetings & he commented, ‘It’s a grand day for it.’ It was only as I walked on & recalled that he had no backpack, no map-case, no coat but was carefully carrying beneath his arm something wrapped in a blue towel that I realised he was on his way to scatter someone’s ashes – I felt quite guilty for intruding on his morning until I remembered his words & he was probably right......
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Green Withens Reservoir... looking a bit like a beach! Just one of dozens of desperately low reservoirs I’ve passed in the last 3 or 4 days
Highlight of the Day: reaching Stoodley Pike, high above Calderdale, & being able to see the hills & valleys stretching out in all directions! I’ve walked here in ice & snow, rain & thick fog – today was magic!
Stoodley Pike - This really was built to mark Napoleon’s defeat.... though it fell down & had to be rebuilt in 1854!
At the northern end of Warland Reservoir, while Les was walking with me, we met a retired couple & the gent asked, “Going to John O’ Groats?” – it gave me great pleasure to be able to say ‘Yes!’ Still waiting to meet my first fellow LeJogger, though!
Beer of the Day: the curiously named ‘Saxon Cider – Brown Sugar’. The landlady at ‘The White House’ couldn’t tell me anything about the brewery; she said she bought it from ‘a foreign gentleman’ but that she couldn’t understand a word he said! Les thought it tasted of plums: I couldn’t decide between pears & cherries! Good enough for me to have a second pint – very rare for a lunchtime.
Blackstone Edge
Song of the Day (an occasional series!): ‘What a Difference a Day Makes’ – recorded by lots of people but my favourite is Esther Phillips’ version.
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