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This was a little local wander we had on New Years Day, not far, but just enough to get into open countryside and get a feeling of space, something we've all had little of these past few weeks
Most of our local walks have been along the Canal side and the local footpaths that are marked on the map around Elland and Brighouse, on the odd occasion we take advantage of the Pennine Moors that are all around us and find a bit of solitude away from busy everyday life.
Onto the M62 at Junction 24, head west and get off at Junction 22, turn left onto the A672 and park up in a large parking area just near the transmission tower, a really long journey of about 10 minutes
Blackstone Edge is on the Pennine Way, it's one of the higher hills around us, nice and green and heathery in the summer, today it was winter monotone
We set off on the Pennine Way towards the motorway, the Transmission Tower to our left, apart from the road this was the only human structure you can see, it does feel quite wild up here
DSC04573 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
White Hill
DSC04574 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Blackstone Edge
DSC04575 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
M62 Eastbound
DSC04576 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
M62 Westbound
DSC04577 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
A lot of this part of the Pennine Way has had stone slabs laid to help with erosion so it's not difficult terrain, there are one or two boggy bits where the slabs have sunk into the peat but that was no problem today it was frozen solid.
About halfway the views further into Lancashire start to open up
DSC04579 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
And back to the tower
DSC04581 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Blackstone Edge getting closer
DSC04580 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
It takes about 40mins from the tower to get to the trig point on Blackstone Edge and from here you can see into Lancashire towards Rochdale, Bolton and Manchester, busy places only a handful of miles away, turn around and walk about 50 metres you can see bits of Huddersfield and Halifax, it's a nice viewpoint in the summer, not so good today
DSC04582 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
DSC04583 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
DSC04589 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
DSC04585 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Towards Halifax
DSC04590 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Southwest ish
DSC04592 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Tower again, far far away
DSC04594 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
Towards home
DSC04595 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
There were a few people around, not as many as we thought there would be, we spoke to a couple of guys from Littleborough who were out for the day and a couple of families with sledges taking advantage of the snow but apart from that we found our little bit of solitude in our local hills.
We had thought about going a little further but decided to leave for a better day so we started off back to the car.
Nearing the car
DSC04601 by
Martin Hawer, on Flickr
So 2021 is here, Happy New Year to all Walkhighlanders, lets hope this year is better than last
Cheers.