2011-02-19 53 -1

Sat 19 Feb 2011 in 53,-1: 53.4659988, -1.7658674 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

Officially: "Cold Side, Bradfield, Sheffield S3 0, UK". Practically: on the hillside above the upper reaches of the River Derwent, above Howden reservoir.

Participants

To be seen...

Plans

Monty will hopefully head out towards Ladybower Reservoir by car and is planning to get there about 11am. Depending on where the public parking and limit to public vehicle access is these days, the walk is then onwards past one or more of Ladybower, Upper Derwent and Howden reservoirs.

The journey will be past or over Ridge Clough, Linch Clough, Lower Misden Clough... face it, a lot of Cloughs. Opposite something marked as Deer Holes on the opposite (south) side of the valley and below the top called Horse Stone, above the rocky sloping ridged names as Horse Stone Naze (to the north) there may or may not be opportunity to strike out up the slope.

Aerial photos indicate peat cutting patches, the map indicates 'marshy' ground. So it's not expected to be a proverbial walk in the park, but it should only be 250m of trek, or so, from the nearest point of the path. Horizontally, that is. If the nearest bit of path is at approx 390m, the location is perhaps at 425m.

As per prior expeditions, without GPS the navigation will involve general awareness of the landscape and a compass.

Upon gaining whatever possible degree of success might happen, it would be nice to head over the Howden Edge and eventually down to Langsett on the northern side of this moorland area, but with the car at the southern edge, that probably won't happen.

The biggest problem to be foreseen is that the weather forecast is minded to mention sleet, snow and heavy rain, for the morning. And that's just looking at my home town. On top of that, I'm needed somewhere else by late-afternoon, so there's no guarantee I'll complete this challenge before having to head back if things turn nasty. Still, they can't all be winners, and I shall endeavour take all precautions and care.

Expedition

7:30am: Awoke far too early to see it sleeting down outside. By 7:50, it's settling. Still, as it seems I can't find my map-case, will have to wait for shops to open to buy this necessity anyway, so still 2.5 hours before even considering leaving the house.

10:30am: Off out, for better or worse. Have some places to visit in-between, so arrival at head of Ladybower (probable limit of road, at weekends, IIRC) closer to noon, by which time the weather sounds like it might be clearing, only leaving the white stuff under-foot. Very much anticipated that one or other of the Mother Nature Achievements shall be relevant, but only truly deserved if I actually get to the path beyond the top reservoir.

Just so you don't think I'm still up on the moors, here's a quick summary.

@12:30pm: Finally arrived at Ladybower. Morning's tasks took longer that expected. I never did get a waterproof map-case, but as it turns out I didn't need it. Wetness (and occasional lump of snow) dropped from trees in response to mild wind and general effects of gravity, but while XKCD printouts got a bit damp-feeling (office-quality paper, nowhere near soggy enough for papier maché, though), map (not even one of those £15 special weatherproof kinds) was more than capable of shrugging off the occasional splash.

The mistake I then made was to assume that non-local vehicles were not allowed beyond that particular head of Ladybower Reservoir (i.e. base of Derwent Reservoir). In the summer, this is the case for the entire weekend, plus Bank Holidays. In the winter, this only applies for Sundays. However, I did not notice this.

Also, whenever this applies, the road up past the next two reservoirs is serviced by a bus. Only later did I put two and two together to work out that no busses meant non-local traffic was permitted. However, still affected by this misunderstanding, I parked up in the requisite visitor's parking area, paid my £2.50 for two hours of parking (as opposed to £4.00 for all day) and strode out. At this point I had already decided that I would not get as far as the Hashpoint, nor even too far up the path that would pass it, my evening schedule requiring me to be back in civilisation earlier than a normal 'leisurely' Saturday would have meant. And I had decided to use the road (western edge of the valley) rather than the path (eastern edge) on the grounds of it being easier to walk on a metalled surface.

Of course, the road winds more than the path. After one hour of walking, I had not yet reached the top of the upper reservoir, and was forced to turn back on pain of parking infringements. As such, I cannot console myself with a "Mother Nature" ribbon of any kind, but will have to look to see if there's a "Father Time"-type one, when I get more time to complete this report.

Anyway, the intention is to Retrohash this on a future Saturday (when not attempting one for that day itself, or if that one is close enough to combine), as I do believe this is going to be a quite interesting one to achieve in some form.

However, having just had to type this all for a second time (problem with login), I must abandon the page editing for now. Further editing, photos, etc, to be added later (tonight/tomorrow/Monday). Also the whole failure thing and ribbons.

Tracklog

None from me.

Photos

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  My preparations

Possibly to add: sleet, then snow, landed on neighbour's car.