22.10.24 Little Hill (SD 919 325)
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| Little Hill (SD 919 325) |
A number of reservoirs
dot the landscape immediately east of Burnley.
It was one of these, more specifically the Widdop Reservoir we drove
toward after we indulged ourselves in a heartening light breakfast at John’s
house in Burnley.
The previous evening
consisted of an excellent meal followed by a varied few hours of conversation,
which took in all manner of weird and wonderful subjects including death,
string theory, aliens, religion, the Israeli and Palestine conflict and its
history; for the latter it seems the Romans are to blame. Also touched upon was prominence, relative
height, their differences if any and the history of their use. It proved a wonderful few hours with lots of
laughs and insight. However, it was now
time for a walk and the next one on the agenda was Little Hill, which is
positioned amongst a great swathe of moorland close to the Lancashire –
Yorkshire border.
The parking area at the
eastern end of the Widdop Reservoir proved an ideal place to start from. By the time walking boots were donned, or in
my case wellies, the sun was breaking through the morning haze and all seemed
well in the world.
Intermittent cloud and a
breeze gave beautiful conditions that remained with us for the majority of the
walk. These conditions enabled light and
shade to be cast, which added flashes of subtle colour to the landscape.
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| Crossing the dam |
The flagged section of
the dam across the reservoir gave us access to its southern side, where the
Garple Gate track would take us high on the eastern flank of the hill. I headed off before Mark and John, knowing
that they would catch me up. We were in
no particular rush and I set a good, albeit relatively slow pace on the track,
stopping occasionally to admire a small herd of cows as they nuzzled their way in
the adjacent field and to admire the view across the reservoir.
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| MOOOOOOOOO |
Above the track a small
wood consisting of fir trees added height above the immediate surrounds, with
the darkened profiles of the rocks known as the Cludders beyond. Beside the track the grasses were radiant
with sunlight emphasising their autumnal hues with a rusted bronze ever
present. This time of year can be a shear
joy to be out on the hill, with ever changing light giving richness to many a
scene.
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| The fir trees with the Cludders beyond |
By contrast the land
stretching down to the waters edge to the north-west consisted of greens
interspersed with dulled browns, and again all emphasised by that ever changing
mood of light and shade. I stopped and
admired the view for a few minutes, conscious that my two colleagues would soon
catch me up.
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| The greens and dulled browns of autumn |
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| The Widdop Reservoir |
By the time the track left
the course of the waters edge and climbed steeply up to its high point, Mark
and John had joined me. I then followed
them for the remainder of the distance toward the undulating summit area which
consisted of a number of high points almost indistinguishable from one another.
The LIDAR ten figure
grid reference for the summit was one of three points worthy of Trimbling. The first of which was the point that we had
initially walked to, which consisted of a solid wooden post designating its
contention as summit position. The second
point was between the post position and the LIDAR position. All three were Trimbled.
During Trimbling Mark
and John headed toward a fence corner to the south. It was from here that John suggested we
descend; this alternative route would add variety to our walk. It also meant that as long as I stood away
from the equipment during data collection no one would interfere with satellite
reception.
I took two minutes of
data at each point, which is the minimum advised for an accurate result. This would at least cut waiting time for John
and Mark, who were being patient with my surveying needs, and had been the day
before with the two hills we visited during the afternoon.
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| Gathering data at one of the three positions surveyed for the summit of Little Hill |
Once the three positions
were Trimbled, I took the customary photos, packed the equipment away and
headed over and around the numerous bogs and rejoined my colleagues for our descent.
John suggested heading
down over pathless moor toward the continuation of the track as it heads
westward from where we left it at its high point. This would give us a semblance of dry ground
to walk on, however being pathless much of it was rough, which necessitated
slow going. John headed straight down to
the track, whilst I contoured; finding a convenient sheep path that took me
back to the high point of the track, with Mark following the route John had
taken.
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| John heading down toward the track with the Gorple Reservoir in the distance |
Where I now stood was
delightful, with a band of sculptured rock adding foreground to the coloured
grassland of the moor. Having taken
numerous photos I sat on the rock and waited the arrival of Mark and John. From here we headed down our inward route as
the sun disappeared behind a high cloud bank, only stopping occasionally to
admire the view.
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| A delightful spot to look and wait |
The cows of our inward journey
which were then in the adjacent field, were now on and beside the track which
meant a slow walk past them. Two were
cwtched down giving me the eye as I stood and took their photo.
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| All cwtched and giving me the eye |
It had been an excellent
trip north, with good company, food, conversation and hills, all that remained
was the seemingly ever present queue on the M6 heading southward toward home.
Survey Result:
Little
Hill
Summit Height: 468.2m (converted to OSGM15, Trimble GeoXH
6000)
Summit Grid Reference: SD 91916 32500 (Trimble GeoXH 6000)
Col Height: 390.8m (LIDAR)
Col Grid Reference: SD 91458 33732 (LIDAR)
Drop: 77.4m (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
col)
Dominance: 16.54% (Trimble GeoXH 6000 summit and LIDAR
col)
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
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