After walking along the quiet minor road northwards below Shutingsloe hill for a kilometre or so we crossed the stream also flowing by the road on a wooden footbridge to enter a field next to the farmhouse of Clough House. The ground was soaking as are most places after the recent wet weather.
After going through a field gate into the farmyard, we followed the route of the public footpath through the farmyard and then across a road and onto the rough track which passed below a small cottage marked Cumberland Cottage on the map.
After passing through a gate with a view of a small waterfall, the track continued around to the right but we followed a narrow path along a small valley and stopped at the old ruin where we had stopped on previous walks to shelter from the cold wind and have a quick hot drink.
The valley continued for a short distance and we climbed a steep section to reach a grassy slope leading upwards to join a track which leads from the Cat and Fiddle pub towards the A54 road. We stopped for a moment while I put on a light fleece jacket before replacing my Montane Sabretooth jacket as the wind was much stronger now and very cold.
We followed the track towards the old quarry at Dane Bower and after crossing the road, made our way along an old vehicle track towards the quarry and a selection of ruined quarry buildings made of drystone-wall. We found a spot in the shelter of a large heather-covered mound which was well-sheltered from the wind but still in the sun during the minute or two it made an appearance after the cloud had built up as we walked.
We sat here and ate lunch then carried on through the remainder of the quarry and along a muddy track through a metal gate which had a small section which opened to allow you to step over the bottom of the main part of the gate and pass the gate while the main section remained closed.
After a few hundred metres, we arrived at another similar gate in the drystone-wall the track was following and we passed through this gate onto the boggy field it contained.
There was a vague path through the field leading down the slope of the field to soon arrive at a rocky track leading from a minor road to the picturesque spot of Panniers Pool at Three Shires Head.
We paused for a minute or two to let a group of five trail bike riders pass down the track and then turn off onto another track leading to Knotbury and then walked down to the old pack-horse bridge at Panniers Pool where we sat for a while finishing off our hot drinks.
As we were sitting there, the trail bikes reappeared following another track from the south also leading to Panniers Pool. The riders parked their motorbikes on the narrow bridge and had a wander around as we continued on our way after crossing the bridge and followed the track skirting around Cut-thorn Hill until it ended at another minor road.
We crossed the minor road and went through a small wooden gate by a farmhouse and then followed a route across a large field of scrubland with short raised wooden platforms at particularly boggy sections until we arrived again at the A54.
Crossing the road, we continued again on the other side of the road and the public right of way passed by an old stone-built barn which was in excellent condition and divided into two sections. Out of curiosity we had a quick look to see if there were any birds nests in the roofspace and indeed we spotted a few swallows' nests. The smaller section had traces of old plaster on on wall with graffiti including the date “1924”.
The path continued onwards towards Shuttingsloe in the distance and dropped downslope passing more wet ground to reach an old wooden gate through which was a very short rocky and wet section of track leading to the small road leading from the A54 back to our starting point in a quarter of a mile.
No comments:
Post a Comment