Postbridge, Devon. 9th-11th October 2007. 15 people from all walks of life (ok, one - air traffic control. But it sounds better..!). Too much happened to recount here (and I can't remember all of it...), but thanks to Al for the idea and the bike ride leads, Andy for the marvellous free acoustic gigs and everybody else for coming along!
Andy's gig on the first night
The abandoned Medieval village of Challacombe
The pub!
Norah silhouetted atmospherically against the Devon skyline
One of the two bridges in Postbridge - this is the older one dating from the Middle Ages
"Very nice. And tell me Mr Lee, why have you and the other villagers built that giant man made of twigs on the green?"
The final, shocking statistics from Wednesday's walk
Dartmoor ponies, Runnage Farm breed these
For two days, this was home
Andy's second night performance video:
Has anybody else seen Southern Comfort?
Following Geezer up the hill
Hmmmm...
Going beyond those rocks would be very, very foolish
Into the danger zone! Short video of us on the edge of the Merrivale Range Danger Area, listening to the crackle of distant gunfire:
Hollingworth Lake and the viaduct carrying the M62 "Over The Top" - of the Pennines, that is. Smithy Bridge to Todmorden. Lancashire to Yorkshire. This was another fine weather window in the summer that never was, 28th July 2007. First there was a short train journey to Smithy Bridge, going through the Summit Tunnel (interesting link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Tunnel_fire), then a walk around Hollingworth Lake before beginning the ascent up Blackstone Edge.
Blackstone Edge viewed from Lydgate
Blackstone Edge is best known for being on the route of the Pennine Way. The opening of the route across this previously forbidden territory was much heralded at the time, but the reason for there being no historical right of way here soon became evident. Rather than the parsimony of landowners, the peaty terrain here cannot sustain a natural, "Worn" footpath, and within a decade of the Pennine Way opening this section of the route became an impassable quagmire. Now reinforced with paving slabs created from the rubble of demolished cotton mills, the damage on the adjacent old route is still clearly visible decades on.
Going up the Roman Road
Previous generations knew better - an east-west route known as The Roman Road runs up towards Blackstone Edge. This is paved, with carved sections making up a drainage culvert running down the middle. The precise antiquity of this road is in dispute - Alfred Wainwright in paricular (in his Pennine Way Companion) champions the argument that it is a Medieval packhorse road rather than Roman. Certainly further along the route becomes known as The Old Packhorse Road, before becoming "Roman" again on the descent to Ripponden on the other side of the moor.
Roman road? Wainwright said not...
At the top of the hill we left the Roman Road, turning left onto the Pennine Way. Visible in the distance from here is the White House pub, with an electricity pylon towering over it. Despite their despoiling effect on the landscape the chain of pylons disappearing over the horizon appears somewhat atmospheric, one of those imperfect juxtapositions of man with nature.
The Pennine Way from here follows a track that services the reservoirs up here. Most of them were built around 1804 to provide water for the Rochdale Canal, though the last one, Warland reservoir, was opened in 1927 by the then Rochdale Corporation to supply its by then already declining cotton industry. Water stained yellow by the peat gushes into it from the moors above.
Manchester viewed safely out of gunshot range
The view from here on this day was stunning - the city of Manchester clearly visible and beyond that Fidler's Ferry power station near Warrington. Through the haze on the horizon you could even make out the Welsh mountains in Snowdonia.
Closeup - the CIS Tower clearly visible Warland Reservoir Monument at Withens Gate - Stoodley Pike in the background
Past Warland we got our first view of our old friend Stoodley Pike. As we walked towards it, it never seemed to get any closer, stubbornly remaining the same size on the near horizon. The rains over the summer had certainly left their mark on the slabbed Pennine Way route - much of it had sunk into the peat and was submerged. Winter walking in July...
Jo exclaimed at something she'd spotted in the Higher House Moor direction - The Red Arrows! Nice of them to salute us in this way. Must've been to mark our crossing the border into Yorkshire a mile or so back.
VIDEO: The Red Arrows Over Higher House Moor
Into Calderdale
Eventually reaching Stoodley Pike we rested, surveying the scene over Calderdale. A steady descent from here to Lumbutts and Mankinoles, once the scene of rioting over the Poor Law repeal in the 1830s, hard to believe now on a peaceful, sunny day such as this.
Strange birds - must be feeding on Ticks... Lumbutts Mill Water Wheel Tower
A further descent from the levelled off Lumbutts area saw us back in Todmorden just after 5pm, five and-a-half hours after setting off from Smithy Bridge, having done 12.2 miles. Our moving average though was only 2.6 mph (compared to 3 mph on the much longer Haworth-Hebden Bridge Walk), almost entirely due to being slowed down by the unseasonally boggy route over the very top.
Arthur C Clarke once queried if there was such a thing as a strange coincidence (presumably just another oxymoron to him), but on 23rd June 2007 we experienced just that. The Summer-That-Never-Was promised a window of opportunity to go on a full day's walk without getting wet, so we convened in Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales to do a 10-mile walk from one of Neil's walking books to Mossdale Scar and back.
The Grassington Festival was in full swing when we arrived, with a brass band in the Market Square. After vain enquiries as to whether tickets to see the lovely Hayley Westenra the following week were still available (sold out months before), and stocking up on home-made pasties and sausage rolls from the shop we set out towards the village of Conistone on the first leg of our journey.
After an interesting journey across limestone scenery we arrived in Conistone. A pretty Dales village, we lingered awhile and broke out the sausage rolls. A collie came up to us, hoping to scavenge a little bit for himself - Ian duly obliged. Something about the name Mossdale was troubling me, I'd heard it before - but where, and in what context? The answer lay a few yards away in the churchyard, but in our ignorance we pressed on out of the village. ..
A friendly dog in Conistone after our sausage rolls. Soon the postman arrived and we were forgotten.
After passing through some interesting limestone gorges and a scramble up onto some high moorland we stopped for lunch. In the distance we could now see Mossdale Scar, looking somewhat less remarkable than expected. From there we were to backtrack a while before turning south towards Grassington. What was so special about this place that it would form the turning point for a walk? Jo goes the hard way.
Jo & Ian
On we went, my GPS counting down to a spot in front of a small limestone cliff - we were here alright. Neil expressed disappointment, and dug out his walk book to read about Mossdale Scar. It turned out that on 24th June 1967 - almost exactly 40 years before to the day - 10 cavers from the University Of Leeds Speliological Association (ULSA) entered the cave system to try and explore the far passages. Apparently Mossdale Caverns is a very dangerous system, often quoted as the caving equivalent of the North Wall of the Eiger. The reason for this is that besides being very difficult technically it is extremely prone to flooding, even after small amounts of rainfall. Four of the party gave up after 3 hours and returned to the surface, walking back to Conistone where the group had left their vehicles.
David Adamson, aged 26, was among those still underground. An English teacher at Foxwood School in Leeds, he appears to have been the leader of the expedition. An experienced caver, Adamson had made several notable passage discoveries with ULSA over the previous few years . His fiancee had been one of those who had given up earlier, and four hours later as night fell she returned to Mossdale Scar to check if they had surfaced yet. There had been a a severe thunderstorm in the intervening period, and to her horror she saw the waters of Mossdale Beck gushing down the sink hole of the caverns. She ran the two and a half miles across the moor back to Conistone in darkness to raise the alarm, but it was 2am the next day before the rescue could get underway. After an enormous 18-hour rescue operation involving mechanical excavators to divert the Beck and drain the 9,000 gallon lake which had formed at the entrance, 5 of the cavers were found drowned in a 2-foot high section of the Far Marathon passage. The sixth was found later further into the system. They appeared to have been on their way back out when the flood waters hit them.
Mossdale Scar
Retrieval of the bodies would have proved both difficult and dangerous, and the decision was taken to seal up with concrete the vertical entrance on the moorland above the scar that the six had used. Entry via the sink would still be possible however, and would be used by several covert explorations over the years.
In 1971, with the permission of the families of the dead (but without knowledge of the authorities), an ULSA expedition descended the caverns and moved the remains of the cavers to The Sanctuary, a higher level passage not prone to flooding and buried them there. In 1976 the sealed original entrance was opened up by a secret expedition. The landowners where Mossdale Scar stands are adamant that they will not allow any exploration, going so far as to refuse a camera crew from the BBC Yorks & Lincs regional programme Inside Out (making a feature on the 40th anniversary of the disaster) permission to film even the entrance to the caverns, saying it was too dangerous and would encourage further expeditions.
The sink hole from Mossdale Beck. Entry to the system is still possible from here(though NOT recommended)
The area outside of the cavern is, of course, not dangerous and despite the impression given by the BBC documentary (reduced to filming Mossdale Scar from the air to circumvent the restriction) it is perfectly legal to walk there, being situated on Access Land (even pre-CRoW a public right of way went within yards of the sink).
The cairn marking the spot where, hundreds of feet underneath, the bodies of the six cavers were found. (Photo by Mick Melvin)
Very few people involved with the tragedy were prepared to talk to Inside Out. In particular the families, fellow cavers on the expedition and the villagers of Conistone all refused to be interviewed for the programme. (having been involved in a traumatic event myself - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_City_disaster -this is understandable). The local vicar said in an interview that the event had left a deep scar on the village and that the local people talked about it surprisingly often. Next to the formerly sealed entrance the six used a plaque is attached to a stone, inscribed with the following epitaph:
"In everlasting memory from the families of
David Adamson, aged 26.
Geoffrey Warren Boireau, aged 24.
William Frakes, aged 19.
John Ogden, aged 20.
Michael John Ryan, aged 17.
Colin Richard Vickers, aged 23
Who rest here in Mossdale Caverns where they died 24th June 1967.
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills
From whence cometh my strength."
There is also a stone memorial in the churchyard at Conistone.
Heading back towards Grassington
Food for thought indeed for our trek back to Grassington. Back in the town the brass band had gone and there was street theatre. One of the actors gave us good reason to believe the late, great Oliver Reed might not be so late after all. How better to discuss the possibility than over a pint of Black Sheep..?
Filming where the BBC couldn't - VIDEO - 4 min 29 sec:
Not content with our 17-mile jaunt from Haworth the day before, we assembled at Jo's house in Todmorden for a nice 6-mile Sunday morning stroll up to Stoodley Pike. Dry but overcast as we put our boots on, the weather would soon break and literally soak us to the skin. It was too much to be lucky with the rain two days running. Tea and cakes at Jo's afterwards never tasted so good. Pausing for breath. As you can probably guess, the wind is coming from behind us The 110-foot high Stoodley Pike Monument was originally constructed in 1814 to mark the end of the Napoleonic Wars. A magnet for lightning, a strike in 1854 caused it to collapse and the present structure was erected in 1856, commemorate the end of the Crimean War. A conductor has ensured no further damage despite being struck countless times since.
On the Pennine Way approaching The Pike Taking advantage of the shelter afforded by the entrance
Descending towards Lumbutts On the Rochdale canal, nearly home Typically, the rain then stopped!
Andy's gig on the first night
The abandoned Medieval village of Challacombe
The pub!
Norah silhouetted atmospherically against the Devon skyline
One of the two bridges in Postbridge - this is the older one dating from the Middle Ages 
"Very nice. And tell me Mr Lee, why have you and the other villagers built that giant man made of twigs on the green?" 
The final, shocking statistics from Wednesday's walk
Dartmoor ponies, Runnage Farm breed these
For two days, this was home
Has anybody else seen Southern Comfort?
Following Geezer up the hill
Hmmmm...
Going beyond those rocks would be very, very foolish
