Sunday 10 July 2011

Hailstorm Hill & Freeholds Top

Hailstorm hill with its attendant windmills

       More Marilyn bagging, this time on the moors of East Lancashire. First Hailstorm Hill, which I ascended from the hamlet of Boargrave which nestles below the Cowpe reservoir. A plethora of paths made navigation tricky until above the fields. Once on the Rossendale Way the going was easy, the old quarries have had a new lease of life as a mountain bike trail. Beyond the quarries, but only a few metres higher is the summit, such as it is, only crowned with a couple of stones amid a sea of bog. All around are the dreaded windmills. I made the walk circular by continuing along the Rossendale Way, then dropping directly down to Boargrave.
        After a spot of lunch at the car I drove the few miles further east, and after a bit of trouble located the start of the path out of Shawforth. I was lucky in seeing a sign of a new permissive path which showed a beeline to the summit of Freeholds Top. Perhaps its the queues of "Marilyn Baggers", although I doubt it! I never saw anyone! The top has a small dud of water on the highest point, bizarre. Further east I could see Stoodley Pike on the Pennine way. Up and down the same way in about 45 mins, as the weather was threatening.
Freeholds Top

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