Paul Lydon: The Roaches from Gradbach

The weather has definitely made up its mind that it is now Autumn so it was a cool day, a bit windy with some light rain later on.

We parked in the small car park near Gradbach Mill which is an imposing Youth Hostel the walked through a deciduous wood with the sound of a squawking pheasant which was chasing another nearby. After following a marked route we ended up on a narrow footpath which ended up at a dead-end in a corner of two walls. After carefully climbing under a strand of barbed wire and then stepping over another at a gap in the drystone wall, we managed to get back on track at a small gate leading onto a lane. Here we heard and then saw a raven flying past and also a buzzard being mobbed by crows, so the birds were having a busy morning.

After leaving the lane near a bend we crossed a few fields then realised we had taken a wrong turning somewhere as we ended up carefully climbing over a metal gate onto a farm track leading to a minor road. This led towards the large gritstone crags of Hen Cloud and the Roaches.

There was a track leading in a loop past Hen Cloud to a large house called Roaches Hall and from the house a signed footpath led through more woods and by a small abandoned quarry we made use of the shelter from the cold wind to eat our lunch.

After this we followed a path which rose next to the remnants of a drystone wall to the top of Hen Cloud from where there views to the far distance and across Tittesworth Reservoir. From here we followed a broad path heading in the directions of the Roaches.

We followed a path leading towards the upper tier of the Roaches reaching the stone steps which bring you up to the upper tier from the stone cottage of Rock Hall and then walked along the foot of the crag and as we did so, I spotted several rock climbs I had done years ago.

There was slanting path leading to a path which follows the top of the Roaches and we followed this and then the path along the top. There was a very cold wind blowing here and we reached a path junction with signposts and we followed the one signposted to Gradbach.

The path led through woods again, contouring along the side of the valley to begin with then dropped down towards the steam running along the valley bottom where there was a footbridge crossing the stream.

Soon we were following the muddy footpath we had been on earlier from Gradbach Mill which brought us back to the car park again.

Afterwards we stopped off at Monyash Cafe for some food then went home.