Bog Trotting on Bleaklow

For the past few weeks now the weather has been pretty miserable "our way"; pouring rain and strong winds (although that's pretty much the norm for this time of year) and the hill tops have been so misty you just can't see a thing. Today though we had a brief respite from all that, and it was bliss!

Due to the crummy weather the past few weekends I had actually decided I was going to use the day to catch up on some desperately needed housework & shopping, but the blue sky was so unexpected and just too good to miss, so despite being quite late on in the day it was on with my rucksack and head for the hills! My route was to walk from my home in Hadfield to Glossop, head up Lightside and Yellow Slacks onto Bleaklow, potter about taking pictures of the Hern & the Wain stones then see how much time was left before getting back down to Glossop and home before it got dark (a total of 12 miles altogether)

The sky was pure blue and although still windy, not enough to knock you off your feet which really got to be a pain when trying to go up onto Bleaklow weekend before last (I ended up having to turn round and go another route instead). I love tramping about on the moors and I feel really put out when it gets too foggy for me to go walking across the "tops", so this break in the weather was more than welcome. Although it was a fine day for walking, the constant rain these past few weeks meant it was particulary soggy once away from the stony channels leading up from Yellow Slacks & Dowstone Clough and I don't think it would be too much of an exaggeration to say the sound of squelching totally drowns out the sound of the wind in parts (and that's saying something). Even with careful negotiation I still found avoiding calf deep stinking squelchiness impossible!!!