Just a Walking the Dog(s)

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I often take my dogs for a walk up on Winter Hill, it's nice and quiet and they can have a good run about on the moor (providing there's no sheep in the vicinity!). This time though I thought we'd have a slight change and take a stroll via Wilderswood and up to the cairns on Two Lads hill, though as you will see from the pictures, Two Lads is fast becoming No Lads hill. The grid references are taken from the Ordnance Survey map OS287, West Pennine Moors (courtesy of TrackLogs Digital Maps).

I parked in the little car park on the edge of Wilderswood, just past the last of the houses on Georges Lane. Grid Ref: SD651 127. Brett and Sam were anxious to get started and kept giving me 'Hurry up' looks as I put on my walking boots.

Rather than walk up Georges Lane to the point where we would start our moorland trek, I opted to begin with a short stroll through Wilderswood and come out higher up the lane.


There are many delightful paths through these wood, but I took the first one right from the gate, which gives a short semicircular stroll back to Georges Lane. As well as being a very pleasant, though brief, stroll through the woodland it pre-empted Sam's Border Collie predisposition for chasing anything that moves quickly in the hope of rounding it up.


All too soon we came to the edge of the woods and climbed the stile back onto Georges Lane, where we turned left for about 50 yards to a stile in the fence on the right to begin the climb onto Wilder's Moor. Grid Ref: SD650 127. In the picture you can just see the cairns on Two Lads, to the left on the horizon.


It soon became obvious there were no sheep anywhere around, so I let both dogs off their leads to have a good run around. This climb up to the road on Winter Hill follows a dilapidated wall to our left, at least for a liitle while.


A quick glance to the left over the wall you can see the former hunting lodge on top of Rivington Pike.


Running around on moorland is obviously thirsty work, so Brett and Sam were quick to find a nice stream from which to slake their thirst.


Just before reaching the top of the climb and its junction with the road on Winter Hill, I came upon this mysterious (at least to me) oblect that lay across the stream. Maybe it was something to do with supplying clean water to the mine workers who once toiled on and under this hill. Grid ref: SD657 130. If you know anything about this contraption let me know via the comment box below.


At the side of this contraption a path led off to the cairns on Two Lads. The path isn't on the map but is a very distinct and easy to follow.


After a short trek uphill the cairns begin to hove into view.


But what's this; it seems there are no longer two large cairns on Two Lads. Instead there is one large cairn and two smaller ones, so what's going on here?


Once I reached the top of the hill it became obvious that all was not well on Two Lads. One of the large cairns appears to have been dismantled and two smaller ones buiilt. The remaining large cairn is also undegoing major destruction as well. It appears that people are intent on tearing down what others had spent so much time and effort in building, and in the process destroying what has become a local landmark that could be seen for miles around. Grid Ref: SD655 133.


Still pondering the sad demise of the cairns, and some people's apparent desire to undo what has given pleasure to many, the dogs and I set off back to Georges Lane. The path I chose descended via Crooked Edge Hill, and in the picture can be seen Rivington Pike (top right) and Lower Rivington Reservoir. And if you look carefully on the enlarged picture you can just see on the horizon the sun shining on the sea!!.


Again, this is a well defined path as it winds downhill. Incidentally, my apologies for the poor quality of this and subsequent pictures. My excuse is I was shooting into the setting sun and had to shield the lens from the sun's rays with my hand and then do rather a lot of processing in Photoshop.


Part way downhill, near the way marker, there is a path that goes back uphill to meet the Winter Hill road a little closer to the telecommunication masts. But we carried on downhill to our rendezvous with Georges Lane.


Not far now to the bottom of the hill, with the path coming out close by Pike Cottage, that is now a boarding kennels for dogs.


I don't know if Brett and Sam fancied visiting the boarding kennels or whether they just felt like a moments relaxation before heading back to the car. Whatever the reason, they decided to have a lie down and just contemplate the world around them.


Once more on Georges Lane, our route was left to take us back to the car park. This picture shows the front of Pike Cottage.


Almost there. I can almost smell the coffee back at home, though at this point Brett and Sam were hanging back in the hope we might go around again.