Featherbed Moss RFM Blue Line
Featherbed Moss
RFM Blue Line
Walking with my brother, Peter.
30/08/24
This walk was inspired by our epic walk around the top of Kinder Scout when we saw a group of orange clad figures walking up the valley below us. I felt it would be really good to see Kinder from below.
We met at Snake Pass Summit a much beloved starting place for many walkers in the area. As usual we were both 20 minutes early at 7.40 and there were already 2 cars parked.
The early morning mist shrouding Shelf Moor over towards Bleaklow was a welccome atmospheric back drop to the start of the walk. The OS app gave us a little problem as we could not find the saved offline map of the walk. Solved by going to the saved map and using that to follow the walk. Oddly both our phones had the same issue. Maybe it was an OS issue. As Peter said, note to self, bring the paper map in the car just in case of repeat. Anyway crisis over and on with the walk.
We quickly reached the first junction leaving the Pennine Way at a place called Old Woman. For readers of these blogs it looks like the original OS surveyor had met the mischevious local farmer again.
The route was easy to follow being wide and rutted but was incredibly wet and muddy for this time of year.
The path led down to Doctor's Gate Culvert next to the A57 passing an apparently abandoned messy campsite that Peter, being the expert, identified as a rough sleepers. We had a brief discussion regarding the individuals choice of location and concluded they must have been travelling along the road and ended up there as a stopover. It was a real curiosity as well as a bit of an eyesore.
Crossing the road the OS map suggested the path was in the valley bottom but there was no way down and no sign of a path so we stuck to the safety of the road. The road is currently restricted to non-HGV traffic only and has many traffic lights where landslips have occurred or are a risk so the amount of traffic is really low. What a state of affairs as this is the most direct route from Sheffield to Manchester by road, ridiculous comes to mind.
We followed the Roman Road now the A57 down Lady Clough to the start of the trees. At this point we had to climb over a fence and descend a very steep but well walked path down to the official path into the woods. The connection between the road and the official path is not obvious and dangerous so the Park Authorities could be well advised to put this right before some one is hurt.
As we entered the woods we commented upon the magic of the dark entrance into the woods. It always thrills.
The woods were beautiful running along the stream and giving us variations of light and dark, quite stunning. However there had been some tree cutting and clearance and the floor was strewn with debris from the activity. I managed to tangle my feet in a stick and went down onto my hands and knees and rolled onto my side. I got up relatively easily, which was a suprise, and had damaged nothing except a graze on my right shin. Oh well should have taken more care.
Following the clough down we could see the results of logging on the opposite side of the valley and there was activity ongoing on this side. There was a sign forbidding entry but as we did not want to go back we ignored it and it was obvious pretty quickly that the sign only applied to where the machinery was.
We got to the bottom of our walk down the valley and crossed the foorbridge erected by Sheffield University in 1977 below Saukin Ridge. We discussed the fact that this walk starting at the top of the hill was ok for the first few miles but we were aware that we had to regain the height at some time. It is always better to start at the bottom of the hill but not on this walk.
We began the slow climb up the valley of Ashop Clough with the foothills of Kinder on our left hand side. At this point we came across a lady walking her boxer dog and stopped to chat. Turned out Mike the dog was in training so we left her to it and found a spot next to the river for a coffee break.
Not a bad place to rest awhile.We discussed our upcoming breaks and enjoyed the rest.
Through the woods opposite Rough Bank the path began to climb.
The deep gulley on Black Ashop Moor looked beautiful in the sunshine. Above the hills of the Moor the craggy outline of The Edge peeks out looking magnificent in this light. To think a couple of months ago we had traversed that high, inhospitable skyline.
A steep drop on the left with long distant views of the spectacular Kinder Scout was a heady mixture of watching your footing whilst imbibing the view.
As we ascend steadily further up the valley the landscape becomes much wetter and marshier and the large bulk of Featherbed Moss rises up on our right.
We reach the base of Mill Hill with Kinder Scout in front of us and the Peninne Way plunging from the escarpment to the saddle below. Not for us today as our route is in the opposite direction.
We take a seat in a familiar position as we have lunched at this point on a previous walk.
The hazy views over the valleys on the other side of the saddle towards Hayfield an area we have frequently walked. Quite a few groups passed a couple of hundred yards in front of us as they ascended William Clough towards the Kinder Scout plateau. Even the odd runner. It was nice eating our sandwiches watching other people scramble up that difficult ascent.
Crossing Featherbed Moss we had great views over the moor and down the Ashop Clough where we had just passed through. In the other direction towards the road and the cars we could see Shelf Moor which at the start of the walk had been shrouded in mist.
This was a 91/2 mile walk with such a variety of landscapes to cover and a bit of a climb but nothing too onerous. The constant sunshine was a blessing.
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