Cowm Reservoir, Whitworth Near Rochdale

Introduction

It’s been a very wet week, so I aimed to ensure I was walking on good tracks and minor roads today.

I had walked in the lovely Healey Dell with Cal and Adam last year (April 19th), and wanted to explore this area further. Healey Dell is at the bottom right corner of my map below.

Today’s weather was forecast to be mainly dry with odd showers. The forecast was wrong.

This is a walk of just under 7 miles with almost 1000 feet of ascent.

It took 3 hours, plus 20 minutes for lunch.

It’s a 45 minute drive from Cheadle Hulme.

This walk isn’t great for dog walking as about half of it is on open sheep pasture. However, the rest is excellent!

I parked on the Reservoir Car Park which is at the dam, not where shown on the map. The postcode is OL12 8BE. I walked anti-clockwise.

The walk is on OS Explorer Map OL21 .

Cowm Reservoir

Just as I left the car, it began to drizzle slightly.

The reservoir has a water skiing club, evidenced here!

A local celebrity from the 19th century is celebrated on this display board. 4 minutes 17 seconds for a mile in 1865 – impressive!

“Treacle butties”! Mmmm.

There were lots of songbirds flitting around the lakeside shrubs and trees. I managed to get a shot of this lovely male bullfinch.

At the far end of the reservoir, the water was flooding in.

On the nearby ridge there was a glimpse of quarrying machinery.

Rounding the reservoir, I stayed next to the water, rather than taking the track shown on my map, and as I neared the dam a gate to the right took me diagonally up the hill to rejoin my planned route.

The drizzle was intermittent, and the view was lovely.

The Moors

So I was heading uphill now, and the rain was becoming more persistent.

These young cattle, looked very cosy in their shed at “Limed”.

By the time I reached the vacant cow sheds at Meadows, around midday, the rain was a deluge.

I couldn’t shelter in the sheds as they were shin deep in cattle poo, so I sheltered in the lee of the driving rain for a while.

Setting off across the moors, it was bleak. Look what happened to the last folk who ventured here!

I was glad to be on track, but the puddles and rain had now breached my walking footwear!

Eventually, I reached the junction with the Pennine Bridleway.

The quality of the track made this an enjoyable section to walk, despite being up in the clouds.

Descent To Healey Dell

As I headed downhill, Spring Mill Reservoir appeared beneath the clouds.

And so did a couple of humans further down the track, with their off road machines.

Soon, the views of distant civilisation appeared. The rain had stopped, but the skies were threatening!

The trackside cattle looked at me like I was mad to be out here by choice!

Yet, by the time I reached the Healey Dell, it was an almost picture perfect day for a stroll along the disused railway line!

However, the watercourses told the real weather story.

Another small fishing reservoir made a lovely backdrop for a couple of adjacent bungalows.

As I returned to the reservoir car park, the outfall reflected the inward water volumes I had seen at the start of my walk.

This would be a great place to visit again in better weather.

Today, it was simply a great adventure, and I do enjoy a good adventure!

And Finally…..

Last week, I chose a favourite Iggy Pop track, not knowing that he would release an album of brand new material the next day. His new album Every Loser is a cracker, but he doesn’t make the blog two weeks running.

Instead, here’s a brand new punk rocker from the USA. Those who are old enough will remember Jan and Dean or The Beach Boys singing “Little Old Lady From Pasadena”. This young lady is going there! From her debut album, Dumb And In Luv, this is Suzi Moon with “99 Miles To Pasadena”.