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1st June 2013 - Top of Leach & Scout Moor

Walk Details

Distance walked: 12.5 miles

Total ascent: 1842 ft

OS map used: OL21 - South Pennines

Time taken: 7 hrs

Route description: Ashworth Moor Reservoir-Knowl Hill-Naden Middle Reservoir-Rooley Moor Road-Top of Leach-Rossendale Way-Cowpe Lowe-Rossendale Way-Whittle Hill-Cheesden Edge-Ashworth Moor Reservoir

After a long work related drive home yesterday the last thing I wanted to do this morning was drive somewhere far away for a walk. This walk on the moors on the eastern side of Rossendale took just 10 minutes for me to drive to where I started from.

From the layby at Ashworth Moor Reservoir I crossed the road to take the path to the top of Knowl Hill. I then descended into Naden Clough to cross the dam of Naden Middle Reservoir and reach the track of Rooley Moor Road. I then followed the track up Rooley Moor to the high point of the walk, Top of Leach. The next stretch of the walk saw me using the Rossendale Way along the edge of the moors through the disused Cragg Quarry to the hill of Cowpe Lowe. After a visit to the summit I was back on the Rossendale Way to the next summit of Whittle Hill. My route back took me past the turbines on Scout Moor to Ashworth Moor and the layby.

Route map
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© Crown copyright. All rights reserved. License number PU 100034184.

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Looking back to Ashworth Moor Reservoir as I head up onto Knowl Moor
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The only deliberate picture I'll taking of one of these today
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On the summit of Knowl Hill. Winter Hill and Holcombe Moor behind the turbines.
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Peak District hills in the distance
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Scout Moor
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Naden Higher Reservoir as I descend into Naden Clough
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Naden Middle Reservoir
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and again from its dam
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Greenbooth Reservoir
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A retrospective view of Naden Clough as I head for Rooley Moor
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Joining the cobbled track of Rooley Moor Road which I'll follow all the way to Top of Leach
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The reservoirs of Naden Clough below. That's Knowl Hill on the right.
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Onwards and upwards
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The summit of Top of Leach. A trig point, a wind shelter and a commemorative post.
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Haslingden, where I live, on this side and on the others, Rawtenstall, Whitworth and Ramsbottom. The post is five-sided and the fifth describes that the post was put up to commemorate the creation of the Borough of Rossendale in April 1974. I can't remember when it says it was erected though. It does look pretty new. Top of Leach is the highest point in Rossendale.
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The view from Top of Leach. Looking down the Rossendale valley towards Cribden Hill with the faint outline of the hills of the Forest of Bowland in the distance. ​
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Pendle Hill away to the north
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and to the northeast the high point in the middle of the picture is Boulsworth Hill. The town in the valley below is Bacup.
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I've left Top of Leach to follow the Rossendale Way to Cowpe Lowe. Cowpe Reservoir below.
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Passing through the disused Cragg Quarry
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Ripples frozen in time
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Views across the Rossendale Valley as I make my way along the bridleway...
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The summit trig on Cowpe Lowe
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The top is very flat so I've made my way across to the western edge of the summit to see Haslingden in the valley below and across to the West Pennine Moors
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Cribden Hill and distant Pendle Hill on the right as I head back to the summit
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South Pennine moors
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The next destination of Scout Moor
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The ruins of Fo Edge Farm. Edwin Waugh the Lancashire dialect poet spent a lot of time here writing his poems.
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and the nearby Waugh's Well, built in his honour
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The summit cairn and cross on Whittle Hill
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Cowpe Lowe behind the turbine and Pendle Hill in the distance
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A short detour to this shelter cairn on Whittle Pike for a view across to Winter Hill and Holcombe Moor
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It's great to be up here on a day like today
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Plenty of turbines for company
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Ashworth Moor Reservoir and I'm back where I started

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© Alan Kilduff 2016-2023                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
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