Friday, 30 March 2012

Hawk's Nest, Goldstitch Moss & Lud's Church

It was one of Karen's non-working Fridays, and I had taken the day off as it was the remainder of my holiday entitlement for the year so we decided on going for a walk.
With another day seeming to remain cool and overcast, we parked in the small car park at Gradbach first walked down the road next to a small stream which was orange with ochre or something similar.
It was flowing into the stream from a smaller tributary a few hundred metres along the road near Manor Farm.
We retraced our steps back along road and crossed a footbridge to follow footpath, part of the Dane Valley Way, across a few fields then onto a minor road.
We walked a very short way along the road then back following a footpath across more fields passing a small but slightly derelict cottage gradually-rising and then arrived at a cross-roads of footpaths where we followed the one heading to the left which brought us after a while to a sandy track which was a bridleway leading to Panniers Pool at Three Shires Head, where we had been last week-end.
We sheltered in the lee of the packhorse bridge from the cold wind and had a snack and then followed back along the way we came to follow a lane leading past Wicken Walls from where we again crossed several fields to arrive at a minor road by Wildstone Rock after dropping down toa small stream and footbridge and up the other side.
There was another minor road which we followed just over a kilometre to a crossroads where we kept on straight-ahead then followed a footpath to drop down to Black Broom where we had lunch in a spot sheltered from the cold wind.
Afterwards, we followed along the back of the brook to the North-West where it joined a bridleway at Roach End after going uphill for a while before a sharp bend where it proceeded to now go back downhill to lead through Forest Wood until we arrived at the chasm of Lud's Chrurch.
Our route took us through this gloomy defile in the gritstone bedrock and after we popped out the other side we continued along a path tot a hairpin bend which then led down to arrive again at Black Brook.
After crossing the brook on a footbridge, we followed a path along the brook and passed the impressive old mill building of Gradbach Youth Hostel.
The drive to the Youth Hostel gradually rose to a minor road and we followed this to soon arrive back at the car park.
The "Orange" river

Source of the "orange", possibly Ochre or some other mineral


Panniers Pool, Three Shires Head

What happens to moorland when trial bikes go where they shouldn't

An Alapaca

A Pair of Alpacas


Lud's Church

Lud's Church

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