Day 3 - Crowden to Standedge

Unfortunately today the weather forecast was spot on. Heavy rain from start to finish, only punctuated by heavy sleet.

The ascent out of Crowden starts civilised enough, passing fields of new born lambs gambolling for all they're worth. If the rain stops for a few seconds in the right place then there will be photographs.
Before we knew it the Torside Reservoir by Crowden was a distant splodge and we were already a few hundred feet up. It's remarkable what a night's sleep and a full English can do.

View back towards Crowden

It's another illusion though as around the corner there's a steep climb followed by deep fast running streams to cross, followed by a further steep climb, until eventually we were up at the high point of a steep ridge facing into the valley. Spectacular views when the cloud briefly breaks, but with a perishing cold wind and driving rain coming in from the valley. A quick game of spot-the-walker (clue: top-right with a yellow hat).

View back from Laddow Rocks

More streams to cross on the way down, then a long wet trudge up to Black Hill, the highest point of the day. Thankfully this is one of the sections where slabs have been laid over the otherwise impassible bog. I can understand why people frequently gave up on the Pennine Way at this point before some of the worst bog had been tamed.

Spectacular views from Black Hill ? Maybe for someone else in the future in other weather, but today in heavy sleet and low cloud it looked like this:

"View" from Black Hill

Another very wet and boggy descent from Black Hill, eventually crossing the A635 where the guide book said that there might be a road-side hot drinks & hamburger van on some days. I would have laid money on it not being there today, but miracles happen and a mug of hot tea nearly got my fingers working again.

Much of the walking after that point passes a series of reservoirs built in the early 1800s (pre-Victorian), supplying water to the population and cotton mills of Oldham to the east of Manchester. Still in perfect working order, and full to the brim, to the point where every overflow sluice was being fed. Strange to think that less than 100 miles south of here there's a real water shortage, worse than the drought of 1976.

Eventually the Pennine Way comes out past Redbrook Reservoir by the village of Standedge, where our day ended.

"A local pub, for local people"

Well actually not quite, as the B&B is actually over a mile from the point where the trail meets the road, so another boggy trudge down the road. Just to emphasise quite how wet today has been, here's the last picture of the day, looking down over Diggle, which is the village next to Standedge.

Sunshine on Diggle

In the absence of anywhere to stop in the dry, we had walked on at full speed today, so arrived at the B&B cold and wet at 3:30pm, when no-one was around yet. I phoned the B&B and got redirected to the owner who said that it would probably be another 30 minutes or so before anyone would be back, but we were welcome to shelter in the shed. Hard to imagine that a shed would be such a welcome place to stand for half an hour.

Shed of Heaven

Sean and Saffie turned up a couple of hours later. Saffie has apparently being shivering all afternoon, which isn't good for a Labrador. He'll decide tomorrow whether she can carry on. Hope she does as she makes a very acceptable whippet substitute.

Today's mileage: 14.5 miles

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