Winter Hill Panoramas

Click on the map to see an enlargement.

On some of my more recent walks on Winter Hill I've been taking some panoramic videos, so I thought you might like to see them. They look best in full screen format, and if you wonder what the strange noises are on the sountracks it's a combination of the ever present wind on Winter Hill and my heavy breathing. As with most of my pictures, Brett and Sam take every opportunity to hog the camera.

The grid references are taken from the Ordnance Survey map OS287, West Pennine Moors (courtesy of TrackLogs Digital Maps).

Panorama No.1, grid reference SD663 145. This was taken at the beginning of the old dry stone wall that runs all the way downhill over Smithills Moor to Horrocks Moor. It runs alongside the Dean Ditch and is shown on the Ordnance Survay map as a boundary marker.


Panorama No.2, grid reference SD661 131. This video was taken near a small wood known as Holden's Plantation, and begins with a view of a footbridge across a stream that joins up with various other streams on its way downhill to eventually pass through Walker Fold Woods as Dean Brook. The view then takes in the large telecommunications mast on Winter Hill before showing a distant view of Two Lads hill.


Panorama No.3, grid reference SD657 128. Panoramic view of the moorland of Winter Hill taken from a point near the second cattle grid on the Winter Hill road. The view begins looking downhill towards Horwich, then taking in Wilderswood and Lower Rivington Reservoir before sweeping round to give a distant view of Rivington Pike, Two Lads hill and the large telecommunications mast, and finally coming back to the start.


Panorama No.4, grid reference SD662 146. This video was taken from the top of the path that runs down to Belmont village, and gives views across to Darwen Moor (though you can't see the Jubilee Tower) as well as showing Belmont Reservoir and some of the telecommunications masts on top of Winter Hill.


Panorama No.5, grid reference SD633 127. I took this video whilst standing astride a very old and fallen down dry stone wall that runs from close by the large telecommunications mast all the way down to Georges Lane, and is shown on the Ordnance Survey map as a boundary marker. This path needs to be treated with much caution during periods of wet weather, as it can be very boggy. On my first traverse of it there were a couple of sections that felt rather like walking on a trampoline.


Panorama No.6, grid reference SD646 139. This starts with a view of the footbridge over the infant River Douglas on its way downhill to Lower Rivington Reservoir. The video then swings leftwards and eventually gives a view uphill toward the large telecommunications mast, before finishing back at the footbridge.