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Too good a day to stop in and watch TV, but where to go? Lorraine suggested Rivington, so off we went. The weather was cloudy but the cloud was heading north all the time and we soon had lovely autumn sunshine. If we'd gone out earlier we would have seen an inversion, the fog was still hanging around the base of the Winter Hill transmitter which made for an odd looking photo. We parked at the dam between the two sections of Rivington Reservoir and wandered up a country lane leading to Anglezarke Reservoir, many photo opportunities along the way, not least the outflow from Yarrow Reservoir, a real chance to see what the camera can do. A short road walk led us into the woods below Anglezarke Quarry. A good place for Lorraine, lots of fungi to take pictures of, good for me as I managed to get a photo of a nuthatch, possibly my favourite bird. We followed a good, occasionally duckboarded path through the woods and out onto open fields alongside the Goit, a manmade feeder stream for the reservoirs at Rivington. As we approached White Coppice we saw a lot of old quarry workings leading up into Dean Black Brook, so we went exploring. It was reminiscent of parts of Coppermines Valley in places, bits of old machinery and old watercourses popping up all over the place. We chose not to follow the brook up onto the open hillside and headed down to White Coppice, a lovely little hamlet, lots of white painted cottages in a very tranquil setting (or would be if there weren't so many flying machines buzzing around). The route follwed along a few smaller reservoirs before leading along a short section of road to Higher Dealey, then it was a pleasant stroll along an old lane up into the woods at Healey Nab. Healey Nab is a lovely place, a small hill dotted with quarries, used by mountain bikers and rock scramblers, the biggest quarry is a lovely place to stop, spoiled only by graffiti on the rock faces. No accounting for the brain power of some people. We wandered the woods up to the high point of the hill, only a tiddly 208 metres but with a cairn fit for a mountain top (Cameron McNeish would kick it down I reckon!). A soggy tiptoe across cattle pasture led us back down toward the reservoirs, lots of superb rusty red bracken here with the added bonus of a couple of deer deciding to have a casual Sunday stroll, luckily the camera was out and ready! Pretty much all downhill from here, we walked almost the length of Anglezarke Reservoir, using the reservoir wall as a path at one point as the proper path was a marsh (it was funny watching two people trying to walk that path without getting muddy - they failed!). Sadly, we were nearly at the end of the walk, just a cool, shady walk through the woods alongside Upper Rivington Reservoir before we were back at the dam. We were lucky to have got there early, it was heaving when we got back, traffic jams blocking the road! After a week of doing relatively nothing it was really nice to get out and a lovely warm and sunny day for a walk that was entirely new to me. No real highlights - it was all wonderful. Sorry that went on a bit long, couldn't help myself :) |
