One of the best things to come out of lockdown is that my buddy Rob, who manages retail stores, has had loads of time away from the shops he’s in charge of which means we have had loads more time to get together for our ‘you may meet one person outside for exercise’ time.
Some of our walks have been following the dogs through the woods and some of them have been discovering new places locally.
This walk we decided we wanted to go find Middle Black Clough waterfall. It was a random Thursday afternoon in November and we were the only people there which was amazing.
We visited on a sunny day, after a few weeks of intermittent rain, so we knew the waterfall would have some flow, but it wasn’t going crazy!
I wore a pair of my water-resistant ACAI walking trousers for this one and I’m so glad I did – between wiping mud off my hands as I grabbed branches and rocks to get past an obstacle and the fact I ended up on my bum in the stream, laughing at myself, whilst trying to “rescue” a stubborn Flash who just couldn’t be bothered to get wet – I needed their water resistance!
On the way back Flash decided he was not happy crossing the water at the stepping stones that we had used on the way out, and then he decided he wasn’t happy wading through the water that Melle had just been through either. He sat grumpily on the opposite side of the stream to us, whilst we tried to convince him to cross. In the end I decided, as we were so close to the car, it was probably just easier to wander through the water and carry him across. So, into the slippy stream I went. Flash obviously saw me and my boots get submerged, and in return, just jumped intot he water and trotted past me. As I turned round, my foot hit a slime-covered rock, and I ended up on my bum in the water – with it rushing all around me, giggling. Both dogs and Rob looking at me like I was mad from the river bank.
Getting there;
There is a small car park for the Longendale Trail off the Woodhead pass, that we parked in. We walked down the hill, across the bridge over the stream, over a small stile, and followed the route on the opposite side of the stream (the white line on the map). This meant keeping the water on our left hand side as we walked. We followed the path until we came to the end of it in a wooded area.
At this point you are going to need to cross the stream – if it’s not too rainy there are some stepping stones, but be warned they are a bit slippy! If it is raining, you’ll probably have to wade through it. And then you can either scramble up the side of the clough, or take a route a bit further in, which still involves scrambling over some really big rocks but follows a path. We took the route slightly inland on the way there, and back down the clough on the way back – both are do-able.
But wear walking boots, preferably waterproof, and something you don’t mind getting a bit dirty!