Walking the Dean Ditch

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Today's excursion was a five mile walk taking in some of the moorland on Winter Hill and walking most of the length of the Dean Ditch, then returning via Dean Mills Reservoir and the Coal Pit Road. Not the longest walk I've done by any means but quite a tiring, not to mention squelchy one. The grid references are taken from the map OS287, West Pennine Moors (courtesy of TrackLogs Digital Maps).

Once again the starting point for the walk was the layby on the Winter Hill road, close by the first cattle grid. In the middle left of the picture can be seen the south eastern end of Lower Rivington Reservoir, whilst top right is the familiar shape of Rivington Pike. Grid ref: SD657 127.


After clambering into my trusty walking boots (looking a bit the worse for wear these days though) and letting the dogs out of the car, I set off up the Winter Hill road.


At the second cattle girid I took the right hand path signposted Walker Fold, though my intention was to leave the path fairly soon for an unmapped one that would take me in an anticlockwise semicircle back to the Winter Hill road. Grid ref: SD657 128.


The path meanders very gently downhill as it makes its way towards Holdens Plantation (part of the woods you can see in the middle distance). The picture also gives an excellent view of Smithills Moor.


At this point I parted company with the path to Walker Fold and took the left turn along the unmapped but well defined path back towards the Winter Hill road. Grid ref: SD662 129.


Just after you turn left you can see the remains of what appear to be several buildings. Could this be the original site of Holdens Farm (the current one lies behind me a little further down towards Walker Fold).


To the right of the path, and down in the clough, is a stream that flows downhill towards the village of Barrow Bridge, on its way passing through Walker Fold Woods.


After climbing a short distance the path briefly levels out as it rounds the corner at the end of Holdens Plantation.


Here the path descends some wooden steps to a small ford (this is the stream we saw earlier) before climbing back up to continue across the moor towards the Winter Hill road.


Eventually I came to a stile just below the Winter Hill road at Hole Bottom. According to a downloadable book by Dave Lane (Winter Hill Scrapbook) this area was once well populated by a brick works, coal mines, houses and an ale house. After passing through the stile I followed the path uphill to the right. Grid ref: SD658 132.


Just before the path met the Winter Hill road, I came to a junction with another path, which I then took to the right to head off over the moor in another anticlockwise semicircle that would bring me close to the telecommunications masts at the top of the hill.


This is another unmapped but well defined path, here way marked by a concrete post.


Just before I met the Winter Hill road, where I turned right, I came to this wooden footbridge.


After a short walk uphill, and just before reaching the gate to the main mast, I turned right to follow the paved path.


A little way along the path I passed through this stile.


Just after the stile I turned left to follow the path past one of the mast's cable anchors. A bit of care is needed here if you don't want wet bog in your boots.


After crossing near to the cable anchor I kept close to the wall to avoid some more boggy bits.


Eventually I came to the junction with the path alongside the Dean Ditch, where I turned right. As you can see from the top quarter of the picture, there is a terrific view looking down on the village of Belmont. There is mention of the Dean Ditch in Dave Lane's book (Winter Hill Scrapbook).


In fact there are a number of excellent views at this point. This one looks south east towards Bolton.


And this view looks north east towards Delph Reservoir and the hills beyond.


Throughout the walk so far I had been acting as ball thrower for the dogs (as well as photographer extraordinaire). Consequently they had kept themselves pretty warm with much dashing about, and they were happy to take this opportunity to have a quick dip in some cooling water.

Afterwards we carried on along the Dean Ditch towards the top of Counting Hill (grid ref: SD671 141).


After cresting the top of Counting Hill the Dean Ditch continued downhill for some way in the direction of Horrocks Moor.


Eventually, after carefully negotiating my way around various boggy sections of path, I got a glimpse of Dean Mills Reservoir, which was to be my next calling point.


A little farther on, and in line with the eastern end of the reservoir, I came to a gap in the wall with a path leading away from the Dean Ditch. Grid ref: SD690 137 (approx).


A short walk soon brought me to the northeast corner of the Dean Mills Reservoir, where the dogs took another opportunity for a quick paddle (no doubt hoping I would throw the ball in the water so they could go for a swim as well).


I followed the path around the reservoir to the eastern corner, where it branched away through the heather towards the path coming down from Smithills Moor.


Soon I reached the junction with the Smithils Moor path, close by the wooden steps and footbridge. Grid ref: SD672 133.


On reaching the junction I turned left to head down towards the Coal Pit Road.


It was only a short walk to the gate onto the Coal Pit Road, where I turned right to go past Gilligants Farm and onward to Holdens Farm.


On reaching Holdens Farm I took the concessionary path off to the left to avoid passing through the farmyard.


The path passes just beneath the farm and heads towards the path coming from Burnt Edge.


On reaching the junction with the path from Burnt Edge I turned right and headed towards Holdens Plantation.


At this point (grid ref SD662 129) I followed the path to the left to make my way back to the Winter Hill road.


Soon the signposts at the junction with the Winter Hill road came into view.


On arriving at the gate I turned left to head downhill to my car. This had been a very pleasant and interesting walk, though surprisingly tiring, and I was glad to get back home and sink into my armchair to enjoy a welcome cup of tea. The dogs on the other hand were just as lively and raring to go as they had been at the start and would no doubt have been happy to go round again.