HRP ... and beyond: Pennine Way day 17: Black Moss reservoir

Thursday, 26 September 2019

Miles: 14.4
Total miles: 258.9

A very difficult night last night... when I pitched the tent, it was dry and there was no wind, but that did not last. As the night went on, it got wetter and wetter, and windier and windier. My tent has many fine qualities, but it does not like wind, and the rain makes a lot of noise in a small tent.. I had to go out every hour or so and check that none of the guylines had come adrift, and put them right if they had. Not at all a restful night!
In the morning, I got myself going as soon as it was light - about 7am. It was still raining, so I had to pack up my rucksack inside the tent, then collapse the wet tent and stuff it into the outside pocket of the rucksack. I plodded on down to Wessenden reservoir. I passed a couple of streams that were looking very lively as a result of the overnight rain, and a rather impressive waterfall. The consequences of this, did not immediately strike me.

After a steady climb up to Wessenden Head, the next part of the walk consisted of a gradual climb over two or three miles up to the top of Black Hill, followed by a long descent down a valley to Crowden, beside Crowden Great Brook.
The word "ford" appears eleven times on the OS map, between Wessenden Head and Crowden and when I got to the first one, finally it dawned on me that this could get rather interesting. I got across that one ok, but the next, Dean Clough, was bigger and posed a problem. Fortunately, a local with a dog turned up as I was considering my options. He pointed out the best place to try to cross, and proceeded to jump over, and I followed him. Having got across that, I was feeling more optimistic, until I met a walker coming the other way, at the top of Black Hill. He said he had twice had to take off his boots and wade across Crowden brook.. and so it proved. Most of the ensuing fords were across tributaries into the Crowden Brook, and could be negotiated with care, but when the Ford was across the Brook itself, there was no help for it, and I had to wade. I wasn't looking forward to it, but actually it wasn't too bad. The water was quite forceful, but with the walking poles I could keep my balance ok.
I have never had to do this before, even in the Pyrenees.. but the streams were carrying three or four times the water they normally do.
All of this took time, but I still managed to reach Crowden by 3.30pm. The campsite there is small but it does have a little shop and the manager is friendly. The weather was still iffy and I was not looking forward to another night in the tent but he offered me use of a camping pod for a reasonable price and so that is what I did. The pods have light and an electric heater, and this one had a sofa bed too, but nothing else.. no other furniture, not so much as a coat hook. Still it was warm and dry, and much more roomy than a tent.
In the evening my friend Wayne Boothman appeared, with whom I did the Snowdon Horseshoe two years ago. He lives quite close by, near Ashton under Lyme. We went into Glossop and had a curry and a beer and a good chat. However we had quite an adventure getting back to Crowden.. we set off back the way we had come, but found the road had been closed overnight for road resurfacing. So we go back, and round by the main road only to find that that had been closed too! There were workers at the barrier and they explained that if we went to the barrier on the other road they would let us through... so off we go again. We did get back to Crowden eventually! Why both roads were closed at the same time is a mystery.

Off to Edale, tomorrow!