Snow Chance! - Snake Pass part 1

Our plan today was to head up Snake Pass to the Pennine Way and along up to Bleaklow. Driving along snake pass the weather was treacherous, snow was smashing into the windscreen, the wind was blowing the side of the car, and visibility was terrible.

We opted not to stop near the Pennine Way, as the last thing we wanted to be doing on a freezing Sunday would be digging the car out of a foot of snow. We continued down the road until we found a better place to park.

The car park we found was opposite Snake Woodland, so we zipped up our jackets, put on our gloves and headed into the wood.

The wood provided us with some fantastic scenes, trees lightly powdered with snow, the rushing river splashing over the shiny rocks, and the brown and yellow of the trees and mud. We went a mile and a half into the wood before emerging at the other side to join the road we had driven down an hour ago.

Crossing the road, we decided to take a little rest, brush the snow and rain off our clothes, wrap up and tuck in for the walk ahead. This is when my glove flew off a wall and down a very snowy riverbank. Obviously, I was to retrieve it, but it was no easy task. I must have slipped over 4 or 5 times, with Jen stood at the top of the bank, wincing and pleading for me to come back. With the soaking glove in hand, I climbed, on my knees, back up to the road, ready to press on.

Unfortunately, the wind and snow made the walk into the Moors almost impossible, so we decided to walk along the road, back to the car, to warm up, have our lunch and drive back to the Pennine Way.

We stopped at the footpath, and covered our faces with scarves, and attempted our walk for a final time. The elements defeated us, and we surrendered. The wind made it almost impossible to breath, the snow was slippy and it was absolutely freezing!

We fully intend to come back soon to attempt the walk again. However today's adventure turned out to be a driving adventure as we explored the Snake Pass, Castleton and Winnats Pass from the warmth of our car. On foot we managed 3.50 miles, with no real change in altitude. It still counts towards our 1000 miles in 2019. 987 to go!

Thankfully, we got some lovely pictures of Snake Woodland.

Lumb Falls and Hardcastle Crags

Another Sunday, another adventure. Instead of using our usual crumbled page from Country Walking magazine, we opted to use technology. We downloaded the wonderful ViewRanger app, loaded up with all the Ordnance Survey maps you could wish for, and with trails fully mapped out for you, added by users and experts. The app also maps out the route you take, and gives you statistics about your journey.

Lastly, the app has challenges which you can take part in. Jen and I have opted in, and have challenged ourselves to walk 1000 miles in 2019, starting now!

The remains of The Church of St Thomas in Heptonstall

We find ourselves in a beautiful little village, Heptonstall. Walking around this hilly, idyllic, beauty, we notice a few 'For Sale’ signs on some houses… we can dream, can't we?

Heptonstall is home to the ruins of the church of Thomas a'Becket, which we spent a good chunk of the early morning looking at. The Church, built in the 1200’s was ruined by storms in 1847, and it must have been some storm! The Church is completely open to the public, and, along with it's fascinating graveyard, is well worth a visit.

Our hike began on the east side of the village and instead of climbing up, as is usually the case at the beginning of a walk, we found ourselves making our way down a loose path and over a road into Lee Wood. Following paths we crossed a bridge over Hebden Beck, the easiest river crossing of the day, more on that later.

We followed the river as best as we could, emerging from the woods and heading through fields along roads and passing some lovely houses. Bearing north and staying with the river we entered another forest came to a fork, left or right? We opted to go left, which took us deeper into the forest over a small wooden bridge and back on the west side of the river. Minutes later, and seeing no clear path, we consulted the map on the app. We should have gone right! We didn't turn back, we continued on, forging our own path. Our feet were to get wet for the first time as we crossed the river, once again, jumping from rock to rock, trying to avoid the deceptively deep water. We failed, we got wet, it was slippy and windy (and fun).

A hundred metres on, we came to a bridge, a nice easy way to cross the river, and had we have gone the right way, the only crossing we would have needed. But where is the fun in that?

The Hard Way

The Easy Way

We re-joined the trail marked on the map and followed the much easier route out of the woods and into the fields. An easy walk north finally brought us to Lumb Falls. A famous little set of waterfalls cut into some beautiful rocks. The inspiration for poetry and, on warmer days than today, a great spot to do some wild swimming.

Lumb Falls

We left the falls the way we came in, and headed west when we emerged. We found ourselves ascending to some derelict farm houses, which we just had to tiptoe in and explore. It made for some wonderful views, the green hills set against the brown ruins of the buildings, we spent a while here. The weather urged us to keep moving, though, it was getting a bit cold.

A walk through a couple more open fields, on easy to follow paths brought us into Hardcastle Crags, a national trust owned forest with so much to see and do. A great place to bring kids, a dog, or come alone and take it all in. There are paths and stairs and hills to climb, forest clearings with logs to play on, waterfalls to enjoy, streams and rivers and stepping stones to get your feet wet. If you intend to get your feet wet, however, wait until summer. A crossing of a waterfall left me with very wet feet and a very very angry wife!! I didn't have the heart to tell her we would have to cross the river one last time before we got to the finish point!

We misread a sign to Heptonstall, and went up a very muddy, very steep hill into some deep forest, before emerging to find a dry path that we could have taken all along, but where is the fun in that? Have I already said that? The difficult path is always the most fun, we are certainly starting to love a challenge.

Thanks to our new found technology, I can give you some stats on our trail. We walked 9.12 miles in 5 hours and 50 minutes. Our total ascent was 2,774ft, with a total descent of 2730ft, and our highest elevation was 1210ft. Even though we didn't follow the route very well, the app certainly came in handy to keep us on track and get us the best views of a beautiful little part of West Yorkshire.

991 miles to go!

See you soon