Reservoirs, moors, golf courses and a wind farm add character to this walk on Ovenden Moor from Oxenhope. Ogden Water is particularly impressive.
I was looking for a good walk from Oxenhope and wanted to include some reservoirs. After all reservoirs tend to dominate this part of the country, mainly due to the narrow valleys and industrial past. Starting with a steep climb from industrial Oxenhope past the first of four reservoirs (Leeming) attracted the attention. However the town was soon left behind and the sharp climb took us (myself and my faithful hound) high on to the moors. Unlike the walk up to Wuthering Heights however there was not the sense of remoteness that characterises the nearby Bronte Moors. This was partly due to the number of reservoirs but also the increasing presence of a large wind farm to the west.
The walk down and around Ogden Reservoir is beautiful, particularly if you take the lower path next to the river. A real find. From the dam though the path climbs steadily west and, although the golf course distracts to the left (it looks interesting) the view becomes increasingly dominated by the ‘eye drawing’ wind turbines which have been built at Skirden Head. The Oxenhope and Ogden Water walk ends on a happy note. Here the drop back in to Oxenhope (I like Isle Lane) offers some wonderful views over the valley and moors.
Take a good look at the wind turbines. I am concerned that too many land based turbines with seriously destroy the landscape of the UK. Off shore is fine, in fact good.
The biggest challenge on this walk is to find your way alongside Leeming Reservoir at the start of the walk. It is often the case that the start of the walk is most difficult.
A nicely varied and interesting walk, particularly nice is the section down the gully to Ogden reservoir. However, the 2 miles of tarmac above Warley Moor reservoir were the most depressing 2 miles we’ve ever walked! This road was strewn with litter thrown from cars for its entire length: Red Bull, larger and cider cans, beer bottles, soft drink plastic bottles, cardboard coffee cups, assorted MacDonald’s and Greggs food containers. We’ve never seen rubbish on this scale before anywhere. Then there was the fly tipping: car tyres all along the route literally hundreds and a couple of places where piles of tyres had been burned. Plaster board and other builder’s waste, black bin bags of household rubbish, garden clearance rubbish, a mattress and internal doors. Just before the turn to ‘Isle Lane’ there is a very attractive gully and waterfall right next to the road, a 10′ high security fence has recently been erected around this, but there were still dozens of tyres down at the base of the waterfall. Pity, but I don’t think we’ll do this walk again.
Thanks for letting me know about the return part of the walk. The rubbish was not there when I last visited (pre lockdown) so it has come about as a result. My only concern were the dominant wind turbines! I will look for an alternative return next time I am nearby.
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