LofthouseMiddlesmoorScarHouseLittleWhernsideAngramScarHouseLofthouse
5th February 2009
A Dash of Snow
Parking: Lofthouse in front of the Memorial Hall. It's free
The Walk
Turn left out of the car park and walk down the road past the pub to the main road up/down the dale. At the dale road turn right and walk up the road, over the river, past the cricket pitch towards Middlesmoor.
As the road takes a sweeping bend left carry on straight ahead (FP) through a gate and up the right hand side of a field to a Barn.
Cross a stile and walk up the left hand side of two fields to the farm at Halfway House. Walk through the farm yard and at the top end go through a 5 bar gate and continue to ascend up the right hand side of the field.
Cross into a further field and climb up steps to the bottom left hand corner of Middlesmoor church grave yard.
The view back down the valley in strong winter sunlight looking down on the snow covered valley is a true classic.
Walk up the narrow passage on the left hand side of the grave yard (FP). In front of the church gates turn left and walk up a lane to a T junction with the main road through the village. Turn right and walk up the road, past the Crown Inn and out of the village. The road turns into In Moor Lane, a track that takes you over to Scar House Reservoir. It's a nice fast walk up and over In Moor unless of cause there's snow on the gorund. As you climb Great Whernside appears on our left, as you get to the top of the moor you see Little Whernside and Dead Man's Hill. Eventually the walled lane ends at a 5 bar gate and you are on your own.
From the gate a good track goes straight until suddenly you begin to descend and there in front of you is Scar House reservoir.
Descend on the track until you hit the tack that runs along the southern bank of the reservoir (FP).
Turn right and walk up the track to the reservoir wall and 3 finger posts; I defy anyone to find more than 3 finger posts all pointing in the same direction.
At the reservoir wall turn left and walk to the northern bank. You have a choice of 2 routes here, a path along the reservoir bank or along a track. We chose the track so we turned left and walk up and along the track on the northern side.
After 1.6km you hit some trees – marked on the map as Lodge – and shortly after this you hit a track running north/south along the eastern side of Shaw Gill from the reservoir to the coll between Little Whernside and Dead Man's Hill.
Turn right and start the ascent to the col. Initially the track is walled but after 200m, through a gate the track follows a wall on the right hand side, until after a further 500m the track leaves the wall and you are on your own on a good track that climbs for a further 500m to a fence that runs along the watershed between Little Whernside and Dead Man's Hill.
At the fence turn left (FP) and follow the fence on its left hand side to the top of Little Whernside, some 2km away. The first half of the ascent is over boggy ground, unless there's a dry period or its frozen, and the gradient is relatively gentle. Eventually you get to the steeper final ascent onto the top of the plateau of Little Whernside.
The top of Little Whernside is peat hags but in a winter wonderland it is much more a surreal landscape in low winter sunshine. Continue to climb until on the right 10m from the fence is the small summit cairn. Continue past the summit. Keep following the fence down to the coll between Little Whernside and Black Dyke Head. It was 12.45 and we realised that we were running out of time so after lunch we began to descend.
A path runs from above the coll via Angram and High Pastures to Lodge. The initial part is marked by a couple of way marker posts but we decided to drop lower down because the snow looked shallower. Descend down the side of a deepish clough which had a way marker post on its left hand side. At the bottom of the steepest part turn left (north east) and contour the valley side towards a wall along Crook Dike. Follow the dike down to the Nidd and then track down the young Nidd river to the footbridge that marks the Angram Reservoir circular walk. You need to cross the river to the southern bank as just before the bridge the river cuts into the bank shortly before the footbridge. Cross the river to the northern bank using the bridge
.
The path now climbs up away from the river and turns right, crosses a footbridge and tracks the river, which is below you on the right. A path has been made by the water board and even in these conditions it was easy to follow, helped in part by way marker posts. After 0.5km the path hits a track and l 0.75m after joining the track you get to the reservoir wall.
Turn right and cross the reservoir. On the far side turn left and walk 2km down a track to Scar House reservoir dam. From here we walked down the road to Lofthouse some 6.5km away. As you get towards Lofthouse, you see Middlesmoor above you on the right and then a couple of buildings come into sight opposite the cricket pitch – these house the fire vehicles and equipment for the area.
By the side of the first building turn left and cross the Nidd via a footbridge. At the far side turn right and walk up to a gate by some buildings. Walk down a lane and ahead is the fountain in the centre of Lofthouse. Turn right and walk down the road to the car.
Summary
A pleasant walk with easy route finding. Normally you would drop down from the coll between Little Whernside and Great Whernside using the path that goes via Angram and High Pastures to Lodge, but this walk drops down and traverses over moorland to the top of Angram Reservoir; this section can be quite hard going.
The paths and tracks are generally OK except over Little Whernside, where in wet periods it can be hard going becasue of the peat, and on the moorland section to Angram reservoir.
The views from the tops are good
Home Start Point Dales Books Related Sites Text Only Map&Summary Diary
Home Start Point Dales Books Related Sites Text Only Text& Pics Map&Summary Diary
