Thursday May 7th

 Black Hill via Crowden "Great" Quarry

David was out on his own today; it had to be a relatively short walk as we'd booked to see The Devil Wears Prada 2 at The Savoy.

Crowden not-so Great Quarry
Much rock now more stable as it's on the floor of the quarry

Black Hill from Crowden is relatively close to home and, at just under nine miles, perfect for the day. Rather than going up the usual way, via Laddow, I decided to go up via Crowden Great Quarry. Having climbed there once with Paul B, my opinion is that it's certainly not great as the rock is pretty friable and secure natural belay points are virtually non-existent. However, it appears that some adventurous climbing is still done there as I spotted a belay stake.

Belay stake above the quarry

After the quarry, it was a visit to the Hey Edge trig point which was lacking its characteristic peaty swamp around its base.

Hey Edge trig with Holme Moss and Black Hill

After Hey Edge, there are a couple of short but steepish ascents of Westend Moss and Tooleyshaw Moor after which it's about a kilometre of flattish walking to the Black Hill trig. Although a little dryer than usual, the final approach to the trig was characteristically boggy.

Black Hill Trig

We recently bought "A Walker on the Pennine Way", a book of typically grainy '70s black and white pictures, with this snap of the same trig in around 1973.

The same trig point in c. 1973

From Black Hill I headed south down the Pennine Way, stopping for lunch at the top of Laddow. Then it was back to Crowden and home in good time for the cinema.

A walk of 8.9 miles with 510m ascent.



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