Blowing the cobwebs away on Blackstone Edge

[martin.h]

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.

[RML12]

The Pennines are lovely just now in the snow and best of all, the mud is frozen!

[trailmasher]

A great reminder of my time in that neck of the woods m.h with the M6 running through some of the wildest and remote moorland around. I once found an old brown clay fired 'bottle' on the moors not far from where the motorway now stands and oft times wonder who dropped it in such a remote place. Good report and thanks for posting

[martin.h]

The Pennines are lovely just now in the snow and best of all, the mud is frozen!

Thank you RML12
Yes, we're fortunate we have the Pennines so close for a bit of escapism and, with the present situation, we're planning to explore a bit more. We've lived around here all our lives and we're now wondering why we haven't done this sooner

A great reminder of my time in that neck of the woods m.h with the M6 running through some of the wildest and remote moorland around. I once found an old brown clay fired 'bottle' on the moors not far from where the motorway now stands and oft times wonder who dropped it in such a remote place. Good report and thanks for posting

Hi TM

I can remember the M62 being built, I was only about 10yrs old at the time but I remember vividly the Euclids, Bulldozers, Dumper trucks etc used with the project, I was even allowed to sit with the driver of a D9 Caterpiller Bulldozer while he was working, that wouldn't be allowed today
It was probably too recent for one of the surveyors to drop a clay fired bottle around the planned route, but you never know
Roll on freedom from lockdown

Cheers.