| Walk: | Haslingden Grane, Calf Hey Reservoir, Hog Lowe Pike, Holden Wood. | ||
| Start Point: | Clough Head car park | Grid Reference: | SD 751 231 |
| Distance: | 8 miles | Ascent: | 1,300 feet |
| Time: | 4.75 hours | ||
| Weather: | Mixed, mainly dull with some sun and rain. | ||
| Comments: | Haslingden Grane now refers to the area,
but Grane was the name of a village that has now been demolished,
with only some foundations to be seen. There is still an old
graveyard there but no church. This was dismantled and rebuilt at
Holden Wood. The area has many old ruins scattered throughout the
valley. All this occurred subsequent to the construction of the
reservoirs.
Our party of 7 set off from the Clough Head car park and picnic area, and dropped down to the end of Calf Hey Reservoir (very low), before climbing through woods and Boardman Close onto the open moors to reach the trig point at Hog Lowe Pike. Sue tried to treat her blistered heels, new boots, but felt that she would not be able to complete the full distance, and took a cut out back to her car. The remaining 6 continued over Causeway Heights and down to the Holden Wood Reservoir (also very low). The central one, Ogden, looked full, so we thought that some maintenance was ongoing, although we did not see any activity. At Holden Wood we passed the Church that was moved from Grane, which is now an Antique Centre. On the way back to Clough Head we passed round the back of Jamestone Quarry. Up to quite recently an active and thriving aggregate quarrying operation, but now quiet and deserted. A sign of the recession in the construction industry? Will it reopen, or is it the last of centuries of quarrying in the Valley of Stone? It was poignant to look over to Musbury Heights and the old chimney where Haslingden Flags had been quarried and sent round the world as paving stone. Trafalgar Square is paved with flags from Musbury Heights. |
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Scroll down to see photos of the walk

Calf Hey Reservoir, very low.

New growth in the woods

Rustic Art?

Looking east along the Grane Valley with the Ogden reservoir full

Group on Edgerton Moss . . .

and at Hog Lowe Pike, as Sue doctored her feet

Holden Wood Reservoir also very low

Holden Wood 'Church' . . .

now an Antiques Centre

Part of Jamestone Quarry . . .

now deserted and rusting. Musbury Heights and old works chimney in the background