Thorlby (why not to use 40-year-old maps)

Our anniversary selfie at Winterburn reservoir

Tuesday was one of those nothing days – we did loads of things but can’t really recall what any of them were.  I think it’s because it was crammed full of those mundane jobs like washing and cleaning but we do remember seeing my dad.  He didn’t know we were visiting so he was genuinely surprised and that made for an especially pleasant time 😊

Wednesday was our ninth wedding anniversary and we planned on going for a good walk.  Buddy had an appointment at the vets in Skipton first thing to get the drugs he needs for our holiday in France and Italy.  As soon as we are in the door he immediately sits expecting a treat.  He has an amazing memory for places he gets treats, especially pubs and vets.  Diesel, our last dog, had an amazing memory for discarded food, especially sandwiches.  It felt like he could remember a spot where he found a discarded sandwich and make a bee line for it if we returned several years later.

The weather was quite dismal but forecast to brighten up later so, instead of going home to make a picnic and then setting off for a walk, we decided to do a bit of VR box hunting and then have lunch at home followed by a walk during the afternoon.

We drove around the Keighley and Bingley area and were nicely rewarded with seven new boxes and one we couldn’t count.  Here are three of them: the first had pleasing, pretty gold lettering; the second couldn’t be counted as it was in a private garden and the third was one of the poorest conditioned we have come across.

Pretty, private and poor
After taking the picture of the private one we noticed the house owner coming down the path and staring at us as we pulled away – his fault for having an old post box in his garden 😉

After lunch we set off for a walk around Winterburn reservoir which is out on the fells near Malham and Grassington..  This is one of the three reservoirs that feed the summit of the Leeds & Liverpool canal.  We have had it on our ‘do list’ for a while as it is one of the reasons the canal is closed from Wigan to Gargrave.  Apparently, the water is the lowest it has been for over 40 years, hence the closure for water conservation purposes.

We drove to the open access area above a tiny settlement called Bradley and set off down an old track.  The track was one of many in the Dales that haven’t been tarmacadamed (or tarmacked?) but still has the drystone walls either side.

The first part of the walk down an unmade-up track
It was still very cloudy but at least it had stopped raining and it wasn’t long before we were looking down on the reservoir:

Winterburn reservoir with Pendle Hill in the background (the witches’ hill)
We could tell how low the water level was because the boathouse on the far shore was high and dry.

The normal water level clearly shows halfway up the boathouse wall
 The only picture I could find on the web showing a sort of equivalent view when the reservoir is full:

Courtesy of the Yorkshire Dales Walkers Association
We approached the reservoir from the north and planned on going down its western side and back up the eastern shore to complete a circular walk.  According to my OS map that was possible and would make an interesting circular walk.


Closer to the northern end and the clouds were breaking up

At one point we walked through a farmyard and got onto the track that led ultimately to the road running to Winterburn (a collection of about five houses and a VR box!).  It was only when we got to the end of the drive that we saw signs that clearly showed we had been trespassing as the path had been diverted in the 1990s – we had missed the diversion as we were following an old map, but worse was to come.

At the southern end, where the dam had been built across the valley we passed the reservoir keeper’s house which is now a private residence.  What a fantastic place to live – so remote, no neighbours and no noise 😊

Standing on the dam looking north


There were signs saying no public access across the dam, but my map said there was a public path and, as we pay for a CRT licence, we felt justified in crossing it as the reservoir was a CRT asset. The path across the dam provided access to two farms further up the hillside.  When we got to them, both entrances to the farms were clearly signed as private even though my map showed paths running through the farmyards.

We wandered around for a while trying to find a way through, but we gave up in the end and had to retrace our steps – so much for our circular walk.  We did consider walking along the dried-up bank of the reservoir but decided against it as traversing at an angle isn’t much fun when walking.

Looking up at the dam with the overspill weir on the right
  
Water hasn’t run down the overspill for several months
On the walk back, we followed the diverted path from the 90s and continued to ponder what had happened in the past to cause the landowners to cut off public access in so many places.

Back on the boat we stayed in for the evening and had a delicious steak dinner to celebrate our anniversary 😊

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