free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
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.
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!!
- 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.
- 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.
- Wreckage
- Remembered
- Radial Engine
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.