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Bleaklow and the B29

Bleaklow and the B29


Postby GarryH » Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:52 pm

Hewitts included on this walk: Bleaklow Head

Date walked: 29/04/2009

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April 2009
Starting from the Birchen Clough lay-by on the A57 Snake Pass road SK108915 OS1 I crossed the road and
descended to the stream and turned left for a pleasant walk through coniferous woodland.
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On leaving the woods I followed the stream before having to climb a steep bank to re join the A57 for a short way
before going on to access land via Doctors Gate, the path is well used and flagstones have been laid to prevent erosion.
This path meets a crossroads with the Pennine Way and I followed this well made path to Bleaklow Head.For anyone
who might have been up here in mist then I can assure you, you missed nothing it`s well named being just that
bleak and featureless.But I did meet the first other person on the walk, he was a park ranger and was telling me about the wild life and a bit of history of the moorland and the location of a plane wreck!!
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Bleaklow Head

After a short stop I took heed of the rangers info and took a compass bearing to Hern Stones it`s not far and there
was a path to start with but this petered out and the going got decidedly tough, going through peat bog,swamp and
peat groughs.You cant walk in a straight line so you have to trust yourself with the compass.
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Hern Stones


Taking another compass bearing to the trig point of Higher Shelf Stones he said I`d get straight to the crash site
he was right.
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Wreckage

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Remembered

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Radial Engine

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Plaque

According to the ranger this was the aircraft that took the reconnassance photographs of the aftermath of the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Feeling a little subdude I made my way to the trig point through a deep peat grough.
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Looking to Little Shelf Stones

With no visible path another bearing took me to a waterfall marked on the map but the going was easier.
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Waterfall

Yet another bearing took me back to the Pennine Way and I retraced my steps to the car.A walk of around 8.5 miles
hard going in places but it was worth it.
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GarryH
 
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Re: Bleaklow and the B29

Postby 37lumleyst » Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:36 am

There’s nothing quite like Pennine peat-bog is there!

Love the pictures and the account of your trip, it looks like you picked a good day to be on the Pennines. It’s a bit ‘weird’ when you come across wreckage with a human connection, quite often in the most beautiful places too. Makes you start wondering how many people survived and how many didn’t. I wonder how accurate the Rangers tale was regarding the photographing of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki sites? Interesting all the same.
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37lumleyst
 
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Re: Bleaklow and the B29

Postby susanmyatt » Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:32 pm

Hi,did this walk with an ex RAF man Brian, last July, just checking the photos, you had a better day with the weather than us. Always watch out for peat bogs, being shortish they soon swallow me up :lol:
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Re: Bleaklow and the B29

Postby GarryH » Thu Apr 30, 2009 7:26 pm

37lumleyst wrote: I wonder how accurate the Rangers tale was regarding the photographing of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki sites? Interesting all the same.

I`ve done a bit of an internet search regarding the B29 "Overexposed" and found the only other reference to
Hiroshima and Nagasaki is that it was the same TYPE of aircraft used on those missions.I must have mis-heard him
apologies to the ranger.

susanmyatt wrote:Always watch out for peat bogs, being shortish they soon swallow me up :lol:

And me, but doesn`t it make the going hard?
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