Dunsop Bridge - Tuesday 7th. June 2016.

The Pictures:-

To see who was on the walk and who lead the walk, click on the following thumbnails:-

To view all the pictures taken on the walk click 'Here'.

The Walk:-

Walk leader - John Titterington.

For several days we knew today was going to be very hot and humid. On the other hand conditions were likely to be dry underfoot, and there was little chance of there being a shower of rain until evening. And so it turned out.

After a slightly delayed start 14 of us, with John in the lead, headed up the River Dunsop valley at a sensible pace, bearing right up the Whitendale River, before continuing to just below Costy Clough. Here John called a welcome halt for drinks and a chance to mop away the sweat. Moving on, we then followed the line of the aqueduct, above the Whitendale River, to the lonely farm at Whitendale, where we braced ourselves for the first serious climb of the day, up the hill towards Brennand. Nearing the top we paused to mop our brows, shortly before John called a halt for lunch, just over the crest of the hill, overlooking Brennand.

Lunch over we then dropped down to Brennand Farm, on the way anxiously eyeing our next big climb of the day, up the notorious Ouster Rake. Well, when you have to do it....you do it! And so we did. Strung out over several hundred yards, with Harry way up front and a select group of three or four of us, who shall be nameless, bringing up the rear, we finally made it to the top. Even the dogs looked shattered when we got there, with Nellie stretched out hiding in the shade and Misty wallowing in a pool of sloppy peat. With the serious climbing now behind us, the remainder of the walk down into the Trough of Bowland and back to our cars was a pleasure, with lots of light hearted chat and humour all round. But were our pleasures now over? Not at all, first of all there was the delicious ice cream and last but not least, there was that blessed relief at the end of a hot walk....removing hot sweaty walking boots/shoes and changing into sandals!

Thanks John for a very enjoyable walk and for maintaining a sensible pace throughout to suit the conditions.

Stan.