14.04.26 Way Stone Edge (SD 999 140)
 |
| Way Stone Edge (SD 999 140) |
Having just visited Dog
Hill (SE 003 170) it was only a short drive on the A672 road under the busy M62
to our designated parking place, which was directly west of the summit of our
last hill of the day; Way Stone Edge.
This hill is classified
as a Four, and also currently as a Subhump, although LIDAR implies that its
natural col still exists and therefore under Hump protocols it should be
deleted from the ranks of Subs.
By now the weather was
definitely turning for the worse with mid afternoon rain forecast. This could be seen pushing in from the south
as slate grey cloud slowly enveloped the surrounds. This meant it was wise not to linger and as I
exited John’s car I asked what path we were heading on, he directed me toward a
gate on the opposite side of the road and I was soon on my way following a path
amongst copious amounts of reed grass.
Mark and John followed
with John soon taking the lead. The bulk
of Way Stone Edge rose in front looming over the bleached moor, with the path
quickly turning in to a vehicle track that took us down to a stream. Going was never difficult, although rather
squashy in parts. John fell close to the
stream and floundered to get purchase on the soft grass beside the thin strip
of water, I watched as he berated himself which made me smile. I resisted the temptation of taking a
photograph, which in years gone by I may well have done.
 |
| John leading the way down to the stream |
Having lost height from
the road down to the stream, the up hill now started as we followed a
relatively good vehicle track on the moor as it headed up toward a gate and
fence, beyond which the going steepened as bleached moor turned to heather and
moor grass.
 |
| Beyond the gate and fence the going steepened |
Again, the going was
never difficult, but that rain was closing in and as we crested the summit
plateau Mark used his hand-held GPS to zero in to the summit position. When we reached this point I checked the LIDAR
summit co-ordinates and we were still 250 metres from the high point. Mark soon input these figures and off we went
through the heather toward the LIDAR summit; when there I quickly took a few
photographs as the first scuds of wind blown rain hit us.
 |
| The summit of Way Stone Edge |
Thankfully I’d taken my
storm proof brolly and this was soon up sheltering me from the rain as it
swept across the hill. Our downward
route followed a boggy path beside a forlorn looking fence as it headed
south-westward before claiming height over the small prominence bump of White
Hill.
 |
| The downward route with White Hill in the background |
The rain was not
constant with only two good scuds hitting us.
As we joined a part of the Pennine Way the path improved as it crossed
the summit of White Hill, this eased passage back to the road and John’s
awaiting car. The cloud all round looked
threatening, this gave us incentive to quicken our pace down the hill and we
arrived back to the shelter of John’s car just before more rain set in.
Way Stone Edge proved a
good wild hill to end up on and all that remained was the drive back to
Burnley, followed by a welcome large mug of tea and a bite to eat before the
drive back to Mark’s and my onward journey to Welshpool.
Survey Result:
Way Stone Edge
Summit Height: 481.6m (LIDAR)
Summit Grid Reference: SD 99956 14046 (LIDAR) (summit relocation)
Col Height: 387.8m (LIDAR)
Col Height: 399.6m (LIDAR, natural col)
Col Grid Reference: SE 01975 09573 (LIDAR)
Col Grid Reference: SE 02035 09664 (LIDAR, natural col)
Drop: 93.9m (LIDAR)
Drop: 82.1m (LIDAR, using the natural col)
(proposed Subhump deletion)
Dominance: 19.49% (LIDAR)
For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet
No comments:
Post a Comment