LofthouseMiddlesmoorScarHouseLittleWhernsideAngramScarHouseLofthouse
5th February 2009
A Dash of Snow
Who went: DS but only after considerable thought. The weather had been bad earlier in the week.
Weather: Clear bright blue skies and snow lots 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. This was the start of a day of hard work through mainly virgin snow of varying depths from a couple of inches to thigh high.
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 the 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. In normal cases it's a nice fast walk up and over In Moor, but today the conditions changed all that. The snow got deeper the higher you climbed. Fortunately, until we got to the top of the moor the farmers had driven up in 4x4's – the only use these vehicles should be put to – making the going easier. Then we have to thank a few sheep for beating a track and after they had escaped the lane we were left to ourselves and we began to understand what we had in front of us today. A hard slog with fantastic views. 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. And all around there is a fantastic panorama of snow and ice covered moors resplendent in all their beauty. You have to see it to believe it. As we climbed you realise the dangers snow can bring. It hides, rocks, cattle grids (I put my foot down one), bogs, frozen water; I could go on but those that have walked in such a wonderland know the problems. Eventually the walled lane ends at a 5 bar gate and you are on your own.
We hit virgin snow, no humans or animals had been on the next section down to Scar House reservoir. We could see the line of the track – just – and suddenly you begin to descend and there in front of you is Scar House reservoir.
As the descent steepens the line of the track is not as easy to follow as you might think. Eventually 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. Here we had a welcome drink and wondered what we were letting ourselves in for. Already we realised that we were slower than normal, yet we had been mainly walking on compacted tracks. What would it be like on virgin snow?
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 as vehicles had been along it and compacted the snow so we turned left and walk 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. Today, the going matched the walls. Up the walled section a vehicle had been and we had the benefit of compact snow. But once we left the wall the last 500m was hard work as we were on virgin snow; it was hard work, but worse was to come.
At the fence turn left (FP) and follow the fence on its left hand side to the top of Little Whernside, some 2km away and virgin snow all the way. As we went up and over Little Whernside we were buzzed by F111's and RAF training aircraft. The first half of the ascent is over boggy ground (from previous experience) but as it was frozen we could take a straight line and the gradient is relatively gentle. But as we climbed some drifting had occurred and we sank up to and above our knees. Tufts of grass stuck above the snow but putting a foot on one of these could result in anything from sinking up to your knee to a solid foothold; all too unpredictable. Near the bottom of the final ascent I suggested that DS went in front as I had led all the way. What a difference going second made, much easier but the earlier toil had taken its toil and I struggled up the steeper section onto the top of the plateau of Little Whernside.
The top of Little Whernside is peat hags. In the winter wonderland it was a surreal landscape in the low winter sunshine. The wire fence had 25mm of ice on it making it look like a white large white grid, the groughs had smooth faced snow drifts in them and the top of the heather peat tops looked like an upside down stucco ceiling. Continue to climb until on the right 10m from the fence is the small summit cairn. At this point I had a bout of cramp in the hamstring of my left leg and then my right leg. A period of stretching relieved the problem so I could continue to and 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 – but we were wrong because we were looking at grass tufts on boggy – now frozen – moor land. We descended 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 we turned left (north east) and contoured the valley side towards a wall along Crook Dike. The going was hard with the footing being unpredictable sometimes sinking up to your knees and sometimes up to your waste. DS struggled so I went ahead. It was clear we couldn't carry on with this route so when we got to Crook Dike we followed it down to the Nidd and then followed the young Nidd river down 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. Sounds easy but it was hard work, particularly just before the bridge, where we had to track across what clearly was very boggy ground, and although now frozen, there was a lot of deep snow. We ended up at the southern end of the bridge and crossed the river.
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. After0.5km the path hits a track and fortunately shepherds use it to drop off feed for their flock. As we walked towards the track an owl (little owl) swooped across the landscape. Owls are beautiful birds as they seem to float easily through the air and in this case way up onto the Angram Pasture. At the end of a track was a shepherd, his dog and a 4x4. He'd dropped pellets around the area and the sheep were feeding while he wandered up the fell to find more sheep; they came running towards him knowing what was in store. It looked like a long lost reunion. In these conditions you see the relationship between man and animals in the raw.
As we approached the sheep they didn't budge – unusual as they normal run away; they must have been very hungry and their survival instinct had overrun there few of man. However, after pushing way through the flock they began to follow us. This has happened on more than one occasion before. As we walked away, the sun was behind us and casting long shadows in the snow in front of us. Our shadows were followed by numerous bouncing heads – the sheep. The two of us continued to walk down the track following the line of the 4x4 wheels. The going now got easier and our pace picked up. The sheep were soon left behind – even they must have realised we were not the meal ticket they thought we were. Perhaps they only see shepherds in this kind of weather – and that means food. Still 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. Normally this would be bad news and every effort would be made to avoid the slog but it was the only way we could get back to the car in the light. The good news was that the road was covered in compacted snow and ice, although lower down some tarmac did show through, so it was more like walking down a track than a road. In addition the sun was setting and it was highlighting the tops of the surrounding moors, while the bottom of the valley was in shadow, and cold. It was still and any noise in the valley could be heard for miles, dogs barking, tractors starting, machinery whining. Dusk is a wonderfully atmospheric time of the day. 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 wonderful extremely physical walk. The conditions made the walk hard but showed the moors off to their perfect best. You can easily under estimate how difficult and demanding the conditions are. You get seduced by the beauty of the virgin snow, the brilliance of a clear sky and with the sun low the views it creates. But beware you can quickly get out of your depth.
We saw a couple of shepherds close to their vehicles and a lone walker in front of on the top part of the road to back to Lofthouse.. But for the remainder of the 9 hours we were out we saw no one and were left alone to battle the elements and take in the wondrous moors.
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