Trigs 103 - Jeppe Knave's Grave plus three.

Wedsnesday - 3rd November 2021 

Jeppe Knave       SD 761 379 - 215m

Black Hill           SD 781 366 - 252m

Bank House        SD 816 377 - 281m

Hollin Top          SD 834 411 -  324m

Not a good start, but worse was to come. Three miles from home in the car I realised I had left my wallet including credit cards behind. That didn't matter because I had plenty of fuel, and sandwich and coffee, and would have no need to buy anything. However it is a blow to one's pride when one messes up like that, but I managed to take control and accept this as one of life's inevitable stumbles that afflict us all from time to time.

The footpath to approach the trig close to Jeppe Knave was opposite a convenient car park on the steep road leading down into Sabden. A squelchy march and then a tough ascent on pathless tussocky hillside had me at the trig. I took three photos which I was looking forward to seeing enlarged back at home. One was first sight of the trig with half of its bright white sticking above the horizon of the hill. From the trig I got a super zoom shot of the famous multi arch railway viaduct far down in Whalley where I had walked doing catch-up on with BC on our Wainwright's Way walk . I then got a dramatic zoom to Clitheroe's cement works with its constant plume of white smoke climbing high above the brutish scar of the works below.

A strange to me word usage comes to mind if I say it "seemed rude" not to visit  Jeppe Knave's grave marked on the map a few hundred yards to the south west and there appeared to be a decent path so off I trogged.

The grave was a hole in the ground about twelve feet across on a grassy mound with a jumble of stone and boulders in the hole - Internet provides:

"According to the legend, Jeppe Curteys (Geoffrey Curtis), a highwayman was hanged for his crimes of robbery in 1327, and was subsequently buried here at this solitary spot (in a pre-Christian grave) on Wiswell Moor. "

From The Journal of Antiques where much more information is given including, fortunately for me, a photo.

I then trekked across completely pathless deep tussocky moorland climbing slightly over a shoulder then descending to pick up the lane from which I had approached the trig earlier, but quarter of a mile further west. It  was here I discovered I had lost my camera (Panasonic TZ 80, replacement cost around £300.)

I tried as accurately as possible to retrace my route back to Jeppe Knave's where I had taken photos, a distance of about one third of a mile. My camera, by logic, must have been somewhere on that stretch. Back at the grave I went backwards and forwards three times on slightly different zig-zag courses between the grave and the hill's shoulder but to no avail.

I had been keeping the camera in a vertical zip, chest pocket in my Paramo jacket. I realised I must have stuffed it back in there, but missing the pocket so the camera would eventually work its way down and drop out of the bottom of my Paramo.

This time I was not able to overcome my self-censure and annoyance and the rest of the day was ruined.

I went through the motions of visiting the other three trigs and took photos "for the record" with my iPhone. Those three were visited by driving in between and none of them were more than a mile there and back and I have no motivation for describing them in more detail other than showing on the maps below.

Various circumstances are preventing me from multi day trips which I long for. Campaigns such as this 77 trig point capture are a dilution of proper multi day walking, but I have had some grand circular walks, but driving in between and jumping out to bag a trig only a short distance from the car is yet another dilution. I am not happy.

Black Hill

Bank House

Hollin Top. Strange red and blue facets

Blue, my route. Red camera search. Straight red bottom right = Straight line sea to sea with BC with pink the actual grid line we were walking

It's the company that matters.

 Sunday 31st. October 2021

Years ago when I lived in Preston my friend and neighbour Dan found me one Sunday morning.

"I'm off to Pendle Hill to see the dotterels. They're only there for a couple of days. On their way back from Africa to Scotland. They stop off at Pendle to feed on special vegetation. Do you want to come.?"

I wasn't all that sure what Dan was on about but and I was caught up in his excitement, and I'd been on other whacky adventures with Dan over the years. By now my English springer spaniel Barney had sensed there was something afoot and, softy that I am, I couldn't deny him an outing, but I was saying to myself,

"These rare, and I guess, shy birds only appear unpredictably for a brief period and we will be clomping up there with a crazy springer, like using a Challenger tank to go to the pub, no chance."

 However I didn't want to disappoint Dan so off we went.

As we emerged onto the summit plateau we saw in the distance a line of folk. As we drew closer, with Barney on lead, we could see tripods and binoculars deployed. We arrived to see twitchers in their olive drab garb watching half a dozen dotterel within a few feet quietly pecking away at their favoured vegetation and about as shy as Mick Jagger at Glastonbury.

Something similar happened today. BC gave me a call to say, "I'm off with Mike to try snd see the salmon leaping up the River Lune at Halton, do you want to come?

I never refuse an outing with friend BC if at all possible and I had no hesitation in agreeing to meet them. But, I had similar thoughts that  accompanied the dotterel event. "We have had torrential rain and the river will be in full spate. Salmon numbers have declined so much that there is less likelihood of spotting them these days, and we won't be employing professional naturalist's knowledge of salmon behaviour relating to time of day, water flow, prevailing weather and the like." I feel a bit ashamed of this negative reaction, but what mattered most was having  a get together with good friends, and that is what we did making for a thoroughly enjoyable outing ending up with a good lunch at the Ship Inn at Caton.

Of course this story contrasts with the unlikely outcome of the  dotterel day - we saw no salmon.

CLICK TO SEE VIDEO

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BC's detailed account which includes other interesting happenings can be read on his blog:

CLICK HERE

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Katie update and Salts Mill

Wednesday 27th October 2021

Granddaughter Katie is 10!

We had a trip to Salts Mill - a famous "destination" which includes exhibition of many David Hockney paintings. My third visit. Nostalgia for me.  Hockney was a contemporary of mine at Bradford Grammar School albeit a year ahead of me. Later he was a familiar sight pushing an old baby's pram round Bradford full of paintings and easels. It was rumoured that on receiving his "O" Level maths paper he scrawled across it "I can't do maths but I can draw" and so he did.

Our reason for the visit is that Katie is showing some talent for art. Even at her age she has had discussions about further education in that direction with her teachers.

We lunched in Salts Diner. The paper napkins had a logo of a dog printed, our waitress had no knowledge of the derivation. Our ever present mobile phones were asked to search. 'Tis Stanley, David H's pet dachshund doodled by him on a napkin during a visit to Salts.

Katie is constantly inventive and finds endless ways of entertaining herself. Stanley was seized upon, in what one may think macabre fashion, but not so,  with tenderness Katie knifed into Stanley's middle and informed us he was having an operation. The story continued with various stages of stitching up, recuperation, convalescence and tender care. I think all this emanated from a recent wound sustained by Aunty Kate's Springer Spaniel with a similar backstory which Katie has been involved with.

The Stanley saga continued even on the car journey home when Stanley was passed to Mum for careful care when Katie anticipated nodding off.

I was once again massively impressed with the Hockney paintings and in particularly those painted fairly recently using the iPad. I have created my own modest efforts using Photoshop Elements on my iMac.

What a super day out with Katie and Mum. Katie was a pleasure to be with the whole day and I think absorbed some of  the significance and importance of the art.

Katie views a chair constructed from a sort of anti-perspective Hockney painting

Bar a few crusts and one small portion finished off by me Katie scoffed the lot.

Stanley

Katie operating

Katie and David

Watching an illuminated show of some of the iPad paintings. Stunning.

Just part of the exhibition of iPad paintings depicting the coming of Spring.

For BC - this one reminded me of the ex-WW2 ammunition dumps we found north of Dolphinholme:
http://conradwalks.blogspot.com/2021/04/east-from-galgate.html

Tribute to Murray

Murray Walker has given me inspiration. No, not as an F1 commentator, although that may well be so. When Murray died much was published and his image for me was enhanced further. Murray did his bit during WW2 volunteering in 1942 at the age of 18 for officer training to become a tank commander with the Royal Scots Greys. Murray landed in France the day after D Day and took his Sherman  tank  through the final push into Germany. He was later promoted to admin jobs and left the army in 1947 as a captain. 

I have made several plastic kit models since I  posted in August but my skills seemed to deteriorate after that and I would not want to show those efforts in detail. but I am reasonably satisfied with my latest effort, inspired by Murray and his Sherman Easy Eight tank. These came from USA when the Americans entered the war and supplied us under the Lend Lease scheme and they were the mainstay tank for the Allied forces from then onwards.

WORTH CLICKING PHOTOS TO ENLARGE (I THINK)

Invasion of Arnside

Murray with a Sherman at Bovington Tank Museum courtesy of Wikipedia

From the On Line Tank Museum  - CLICK TO VIEW

The M4 Sherman (named after the famous American Civil War general William T. Sherman) is one of the few really iconic fighting vehicles of the Allies during World War Two, and one of the most famous tanks in history. But while this historic status was gained partly thanks to its intrinsic qualities, but also due to the sheer numbers in which they were provided, only surpassed by the Soviet Union’s T-34, with a staggering 50,000 total delivered. It remains by far the most widely used tank on the Allied side during the war. It was derived into countless derivatives and had a very long postwar career which lasted well into the Cold War. It has been largely compared to the T-34, and had the occasion to confront some during the Korean War.

OS footpaths

I mistakenly identified the "path" on my last walk as a path but it turns out to be a parish boundary. No wonder I had a hard time over that rough moorland.

Thanks to Bowland Climber for putting me right. I was aware of the similarity but perhaps had a bout of wishful thinking.

From OS 1:25 legend:

Trigs OS Sheet 103 - Waddington Fell plus 3

 Tuesday 12th October 2021

Dockber               SD 789 467   152m

Mason House        SD 692 436   139m

Spire                     SD 579 466   476m

Waddington Fell   SD 714 474   395 (396)m 

These four trigs seemed to emphasise and bring into focus the huge width of the Ribble Valley along with the great expanses of wild moorland to the north-west and south-east of Clitheroe. This is not so apparent when you drive through the more urbanised road routes in the valley.

The first two trigs lay only a few minutes walk from the car. The final two I had intended as a linear there and back but that plan changed.

For Dockber I parked in an unpleasant lay-by, apparently part of the old road with access at both ends but sheltered by trees from the busy A59. I reckoned it was just the sort of place you might find a body. The trig was only about two hundred yards from the road but access barred by a substantial hedge. A few perilous hundred yards down the verge as cars whizzed past in excess of 80mph road lead to  a public footpath. As I approached, watched with much curiosity by a large herd of sheep, I thought I should be able to see the trig. It was only when I was within ten yards with GPS telling me I was all but on the spot I saw the trig lying unhappily on its side. I wonder why? As I walked back I could see the expanse of the Ribble valley below.

Mason House was reached through a gate on the minor road near Bashall Eaves. I'm not sure if the little field was private but it seemed to be tended as spot to sit on a remembrance bench and muse. The trig was within two feet on the other side of a barbed wire fence but I was able to make human contact. The backdrop  was provided by one of BC's oft mentioned hills.

A short drive took me to Spire and my intended linear there and back to Waddington Fell. Spire trig was visible at thirty yards from the car. A few hundred yards further on a curious house named Spire on the map nestles in trees. It has an unusual sort of triple chimney construction. I have done an Internet search but found nothing.

The map shows a path all the way to Waddington Fell but not designated as a public footpath. The going was horrendous. Reeds, tussock grass, bogs, and at one point I took about twenty minutes to get through fifty yards of chest high dead bracken downhill.  To start with I was following a walled field boundary but then off into wild moorland with only the occasional faint trace of a trod. The going was heavy. A barbed wire fence was straddled after twisting the barbs back under the plain wire. A wall, part tumbled down was surmounted with difficulty and ingenuity by using my extended walking pole to push the barbed wire away from the wall so I could get down in between. I then realised I had left my other pole behind. I spent another five minutes enticing it at arms length with the wire stretching pole until I could hook its loop and recover. I think if I'd had  to get back over that wall I would still be there. This was was one of those days when distance was irrelevant, the overriding factor being the hard going. I watched Sully the other night (landing of the air liner on the Hudson River) and was constantly reminded of the warning issued by the flight simulator saying "terrain,terrain!"

When I arrived at Waddington Fell trig I knew there was no way I was going back the same way.

I had identified a return route to the south involving road walking and footpaths but it was nearly six miles more. I looked good and hard at the map and realised I could return by a shorter route on more amenable tracks and roads to the north, but even that involved a further half hour downhill trek over more pathless moorland before getting onto the easier part. 

The final walk out by the road ended with a dispiriting steep ascent to get back to my starting point. I was well tired. According to Memory Map I had covered only 7.74 miles in 6.4 hours with only a stop of about ten minutes for sandwich and coffee. 'Twas an average speed of 1.16 mph, but with ascent of 1358feet. As I said it's the going that matters, not the distance.

Dockber. I think he'd been on a bender the night before.

Looking down the Ribble valley with extensive moorland hills skirting beyond

On the way to Mason House. For my fellow blogger* and nature photographer extraordinaire "eat your heart out."

Manson House trig situated on the edge of this pleasantly cultivated arbour.

For Bowland Climber - see the arrow. The End is nigh!

Spire trig from the car, and the reverse below

This and Waddington Fell had these Red Rose emblems adorning. Who? Why?

Attempts to remove the mounting bracket. They are more secure in that cast concrete than one would think. Ordnance Survey did it right

The strangely chimneyed Spire House, and below

My route soon left this track and skirted round the left end of the trees with much hard going

That is not a path to the right, just a water course

Walking pole extended and deployed to increase gap between wall and wire

Waddington Fell

Miles of wild moorland in every direction

Ten out of ten for this versus the convoluted and intricate metal constructions that abound and don't work

The final stretch - hard to bear after a tough day

*Beating the Bounds - have a look:   Click to see his blog. 

Trigs 103 x 4 (Wilpshire)

 Doe Hill                               44m       SD 676 381

Parsonage Reservoir S          236m     SD 704 310

Parsonage Reservoir N         236m     SD 701 325

Eden Holme                          83m       SD 661 340

Weather windows have to be seized.

Way back one would not have set off looking at the lashing rain early this morning but our modern forecasts are pretty accurate and clearance was promised followed only by occasional showers. It was still almost dark when I set off at 7:00am to drive south in driving rain. I generally don't much like going south from Arnside but this project to visit all 76  trigs on OS Sheet103 is proving to be interesting and worth the trauma of driving in industrial Lancashire to find the many areas still providing open country and acceptable walking. A shell waterproof had been replaced by my heavier and warmer Paramo jacket awoken from hibernation. 

The very minor road accessing Doe Hill serendipitously provided a large enough gateway for parking within fifty metres of the lane leading to Doe Hill. The rain stopped at exactly the time I switched off the motor.

I met a dog walker with a friendly Labrador who jumped all over me in friendliness and we exchanged a few words . The path leading off the lane was not signed and also hidden by shrubbery. Without the knowledge from its showing on the map it would be easy to miss.

There was an eerie early morning feeling at the trig with the sun trying to break through the lingering  billowing rain clouds, and the hint of the earlier darkness still prevailing.

After my half mile there and back I was able to drive the five miles to start the remaining three trigs on their 10 mile circular walk starting from the car park at Tiggi's restaurant on the A59. The River Ribble causes difficult logistics for travelling north to south in this area but thankfully Ribchester Bridge, one of the few crossing places, was well positioned for me today.

So far this project has provided pleasant walking terrain, interesting features and incidents, and on a couple of occasions good company. Today's walk was more mundane and incident free and although I had an enjoyable day it would go to bottom place if I was giving all on this project a rating.

Parsonage Reservoir South provided the best view of the day. Not far from Tiggis, at Harwood Fold, my way was barred by two farm gates, one padlocked and within a few yards the second comprehensively tied up with, guess what, hairy farmer's string. I had to climb them both.

After leaving the trig my way was again blocked by cows with calves and their minder bull and they were showing some signs of irritation. I dodged over a gate and then had trouble in gateless fields trying to get back on path. I headed for a walled corner.  It looked like a dicey climb but then I spotted a short ladder on the other side which I was able to entice with my walking pole and pull back over. Even then it was with some difficulty I managed to overcome and get back to my route.

I had already had more than an acceptable amount of road walking and now I had a busy section with no walkway to get me back down to Parsonage Reservoir and the ascent to the second trig on this circuit. The trig was inexplicably bounded by a twenty foot square barbed wire fence with a proud notice attached informing me of its renovation by Wilpshire Parish Council. I wonder how much that cost and how many more deserving causes it ranked above in the spending of what I am sure would be limited resources. I doffed the rucksack and squirmed underneath the barbed wire to have the satisfaction of touching.

Now downhill and at the entrance to Wilpshire golf course a bench was well placed and sheltered (again provided by the wealthy Wilpshire Parish Council) where I lunched in great comfort  musing at the Council's success in usurping the use of my portable chair.

More convoluted route finding followed including some crop fields ploughed out to the edges leaving no alternative but gloopy plodding - that is the kind of walking that I just don't enjoy. I at last arrived at the anticlimax of Eden Holme, very low in the league table of all trigs I have visited. I was at the corner of yet another ploughed out crop field, the trig hidden and disheveled in a hedge with no views. My visit only lasted long enough to take the photo. A few more fields and tracks had me back to Tiggis and my car. At just short of ten miles and a bit more than a thousand feet of ascent I was pretty tired - that is about as much as I want to do these days.

"Morning has broken..."

Should be no problem to a retired climber but not so easy these days

Looks like this will soon be a tunnel