Saturday September 19 - Wildboar Clough - Bleaklow Head - Torside Clough
Typical Peak District weather. One minute you're sweating profusely up the side of something steep and strewn with big rocks. Next you're shivering at the top as whisps of low cloud blow by in a stiff chill breeze. Still, no rain at all and the recent drought-like conditions are evidenced by a drier Wildboar Clough than the last two times I've seen it. In fact, all the cloughs and streams around here today seem semi-stagnant and clogged with thick green algae.
The clough veers left at the top but we continue forward and over the rough ground between Sykes Moor and Shining Clough Moss toward Bleaklow Head. Wainwright apparently didn't think much to Bleaklow and it's certainly no chocolate box scene but I love it, in all it's desolate glory.
Retracing north to veer west alongside Wildboar Grain and the long descent back to the Longdendale Valley begins.
Toward the top of Torside Clough the views are beautiful and my favourite one of all is when Torside Castle comes into view. This is a strange place. It looks odd, rising from the surrounding moorland and no surprise that it has often been the centre of tales of odd lights at night and the like. One entertaining account of the mysterious 'Longdendale lights' can be read here
Certainly there is something spooky and atmospheric about Torside Castle, whether it really is a Bronze Age barrow or just a lump of rock and mud scooped into place by glacial activity as the debate on its origins goes. We divert to it and rest awhile on top. Jacquie captures something of the atmosphere when she says 'There's a different kind of silence here'.
That's what I love about this place. Everything feels different. Always.
