Returning To The Moors
It's been a weird few weeks. I was made redundant about a month ago and to be honest, I was kind of relieved. As I've noted previously on here, my fitness levels have been in freefall for the last year or so, not helped by a number of medical conditions that I've been suffering from for a while now, so against that backdrop, the daily grind was becoming a real struggle.
So, with plenty of free time on my hands I've been attempting to build my fitness back up with daily walks (hence the increased number of wildlife photography encounters over the past few weeks). This was going well until the FluVID hit and knocked me out of commission for the best part of two weeks (a week with symptoms, followed by a week of feeling weak).
Anyway, this week, I feel I'm getting back into my stride, at least a little bit.
At the beginning of the week I took a walk up to Rivington Pike, taking a route I've followed many times through the terraced gardens. This was on a lovely winter afternoon. I'd imagined being out for 60-90 minutes, but in the end it took the entire afternoon, leading all the way up to sunset.
The Final Ascent
I took my time working my way up through the gardens, but when I reached the base of The Pike, there was no easy route other than the steep steps leading to the top. Getting to the top of there was way tougher than I remember it. I think I managed the steps in three stages, followed by a long period of leaning on the fence at the top. Hard to believe I used to climb mountains a handful of years ago, but here we are.
Peaceful Pike
A lone hiker sits enjoying the peace at the top of Rivington Pike. It actually wasn't as peaceful as it appears. There are people milling around just out of shot and several hidden by the structure itself. It was pretty cold and windy too. But ignoring all of that, it was nice and the light was getting really soft and golden with sunset due in about half an hour.
When I composed this shot, I intended to leave the building and hiker as silhouettes and I think this works out well. It also hides the abandoned bike that's been dumped in front of the structure deep in the shadows.
Backlit Tree
As sunset loomed, I decided to head back down into the gardens, to see if I could catch some nice sunset tones on my way back through. As I rounded the Pigeon Tower, I spotted this tree nicely catching the backlight.
Golden Pigeon Tower
This is my favourite angle looking back up at The Pigeon Tower. The setting sun was lighting everything with pleasing golden tones by this point. Usually those stone bricks are a neutral grey colour.
Reflections In The Italian Lake
There are two ornamental lakes in The Terraced Gardens. This one, apparently fashioned in an Italian style sits below the Pigeon Tower and is fed by a waterfall sourced from the moors. On my last few visits the waterfall has been dry and the lake mostly empty, so it's nice to see everything back in full flow.
Sunset at Lever's Bridge
The primary route down from the Italian Lake is these steep ornamental stone steps leading down to Lever's Bridge which crosses the main access road below.
This is an angled view taken part way down the steps. The setting sun is to my left from this angle.
Sunset Tones
Realising I was going to miss sunset due to being surrounded by trees, I rushed to this more open spot to try and catch the tail end of the colour.
I typically try and take a walk out to Round Loaf, the Bronze Age burial barrow on Anglezarke Moors on both the summer and winter solstices. With the latter looming on Sunday I've been a bit concerned that my fitness wasn't up to getting me up onto the moors, so, with Friday being such a lovely day, I decided to attempt walking to Great Hill from White Coppice, something I haven't done in months.
The walk up onto the moors is pretty steep and after struggling with The Pike earlier in the week I wasn't very confident, but I took my time and followed the a route I know along Black Brook which is a more gradual (and more interesting too) climb than tackling the main moor path and made it to the top without pushing myself too hard.
Windswept Trees
These trees are on the side of Great Hill, close to the ruins of Great Hill farm. I always find their wild look quite fascinating.
Long Distance Greeting
These trees almost appear to be waving to the distant transmitter mast far away atop Winter Hill.
Round Loaf Across The Moors
As I ascended the side of Great Hill, Round Loaf became more prominent from its position on Anglezarke Moor. It didn't look too far away and I was feeling pretty good. I wonder if I've got enough energy to reach it?
Round Loaf or Bust
Having made it to the summit of Great Hill and refuelled with a pie and a drink, I had about two hours until sunset. I didn't feel like hanging around at the top of Great Hill for that long, but I could probably make it across the moors and loop back over Hurst Hill before it went completely dark. I was feeling pretty good when I set out across a very wet and boggy Anglezarke Moor and in no time at all I was approaching my destination.
Winter Hill From The Moors
From Round Loaf there's a 1/2 mile moorland crossing to Hurst Hill, this turned out to be extremely boggy, with the added bonus that I was walking with the sun in my eyes, so it was inevitable that at some point I would misjudge one of the many rivulets that cross the path and end up sinking to my knees in a bog. Fortunately I managed to keep the camera out of the bog, so no harm done, just very wet and cold feet (the boots are still drying out as I write this).
Anyway, wet feet aside, here's a shot of Winter Hill taken from the side of Hurst Hill, that lovely yellow / red glow was really kicking in by this point.
Rivington Pike from Hurst Hill
This is a view of the Terraced Gardens (the green wooded mass on the right of the hill) with Rivington Pike itself poking out at the very top of the hill.
Lower Rivington Reservoir
Taken at the same time as the previous shot, this is looking a little to the right down the reservoir chain. I quite like the minimalistic look of this combined with the soft tones.
