 |
| 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 😊
No comments:
Post a Comment