Buckton Moor RFM Blue Line Walking with Peter and Kate

 

Buckton Moor 

RFM Blue Line 

Walking with Peter and Kate




This walk was a stroll, a hill, and another stroll. The weather was perfect cool, dry, still and clear. It was great to have Katie with us again. We are happy for anyone to join our walk ...just ask.


We met at Dove Stones Reservoir just before 8 o'clock. Pretty soon we were heading along Bradbury Lane chatting happily, cooing at the new born lambs and generally feeling great.

I was fascinated by this building with its rows of weaver cottage type windows on all floors. It must have been an early factory I thought. Kate thought it had a water wheel so maybe it was a really earlier factory. Who knows.


The hill (Alderman's) for next weeks walk looks imposing from here and very steep. More cooing.



This route steadily climbed and the views started to look pretty good.



Then at Greave the real hill started and promised to be quite tough. The first part was really steep and the path was disintigrating underfoot. It was more of a scramble climb than a hike. 

I love this shot of Manchester with the city floating in the clouds. Its almost as in Dark Materials.



Even the urban areas look good when you are climbing high up. The sheep were leading the way to the summit but we still had a way to go.



Higher and higher we went and mercifully near the top it started to level out. This is not the hardest climb but it is still a challenge to go up to the mountain top in one slope. 



 Alphin Pike is a great name for a peak. The views from here were really good. 
We paused for a selfie and a coffee before proceeding. 
We took a short diversion along Slack Head Brow (what a name) to show Kate the view of Dovestones as you can't see it from the trig.

The helicopter was quite low. This route down to the quarry we have done before and the rocky road was still unpleasant to walk on.

The quarry is still working but not too hard with the look of it.
The map told us that we were at Buckton Castle and we could definitely make out the moat or ditch and where the walls may have been. I suggested it may have been prehsitoric or wooden but Mr Google tells me it was stone built. It is next to the quarry so that makes a lot of sense. It has been investigated archaeologically quite recently.
Anyway we sat on the remains of the ramparts and had our sandwiches.


The views of Mossley were pretty good from up here. What a great place for a castle. I wish it was still intact. The sheep seemed to be watching us and waiting for us to move. I'm guessing they were after apples.


What goes up must come down. It was a relatively short but very steep decent with loose soil and stones underfoot. The sticks we use make this a much safer method of descending under these conditions. It definitely was a slope needing great concentration.


Pretty soon we were on Moor Edge Road which basically followed a contour around the hills back to the res. This was easy walking but we still stopped for a chat and a view across the valley. It was very pleasant.

I loved the dragon on the roof top.



In the valley below it looked like 2 kids taking goats for a walk but the photo shows its a mum and son. It looked like they were having a great time.




We continued along the contour on Oldham Way but to be fair it didn't seem particularly well sign posted. 
We reached a stile just before a farm with 2 black Highland Cattle with huge horns. Peter and I were quite happy to cross the field as they looked tranquil but Kate was a little more concerned. They ignored us completely.


We crossed the muddy field next to Fern Lee Farm and headed down towards Waterside.

This valley is just so beautiful its a privilege to be here. The sheep was really curious as to why were in her field.


Then it was down to Waterside and past this old mill. I hope it is to be re-purposed and not demolished. It looks great. Behind the mill the peak of Alphin Pike dominates the landscape and a short time ago we had been on the top of it.

This tree's beauty tugged at me, awesome.
I think the river is the River Tame. It wasn't the best riverside walk but it was ok. We tried to cross a closed bridge to continue our route but there was no way over so we had to replot the route back to the car park. It was a minor inconvenience.


It was quite a steep little hill back to Bradbury Lane. As a bonus we spotted a Treecreeper in the trees next to the lane. What a treat.



We went for a look at Dovestones from the dam and as usual the view did not dissappoint. Remember this is Oldham. The car park was much fuller than when we started. We had only seen a few people on the walk but that was expected as we did go much higher than dog walkers go.

This was a decent walk of nearly 8 miles with a total ascent of 1565 feet. I have a lot of miles in my legs and it felt relatively easy 2 strolls and a hill.
Next week's will be more challenging as we gear up for the Coast to Coast.

A lovely walk for views and the company was brilliant. I particularly enjoyed the view of Manchester floating in the sky but I suspect that wasn't Peter's favourite.

OS map
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/31420698/buckton-moorrfm-blue-line?lat=53.53253&lon=-2.00175&zoom=14.4335&overlays=os-obstacles-layer&style=TopoAuto&type=2d


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