The bright weather broke come weekend and to add to the frustrations it was my weekend off. Saturday looked a washout on paper but it didn't turn out as wet as expected and I was able to take Brad & Holly on an unrecorded walk around Winter Hill which I had to cut short because Holly seemed off side and a long walk with Dad wasn't the cure, don't worry Hollies fine but like the rest of us Holly has her ups and down days too. Sunday looked brighter especially through the afternoon so I hastily put this walk together, well lets go back. I put 'A' walk together but I missed a path very early into the walk and ended up making it up as I went along instead.

Scout Moor Wind Farm lies between Edenfield, Rawtenstall and Rochdale and if you know where to look you can see Scout Moor from Winter Hill and even from Wigan well over 20 miles away. Of course Scout Moor wasn't always a wind farm, back in 2005 Peel Wind Power Ltd proposed to build 26 Wind Turbines and planning permission was granted and was completed in September 2008 where a work force was forced to endure 120mph winds and -25°C temperatures. To combat the harsh conditiions it is said that 30k was on spent on winter clothing to keep the work force warm. Seems the ideal location to build a wind farm much to the dismay of the opposition at the time.

It took me a couple of hours to come up with the route which including the gathering of information on where to park, finding a large layby nestled on the A680 between the Owd Betts Inn and Ashurst Moor Reservoir looked ideal. I was to arrive early afternoon and was beginning to panic if I'd find an empty place at the lay-by, after all I'm not from round here and coming up with a plan B seemed out of the question. Luckily enough there was plenty of empty places when I arrived and I proceeded to kit up at the back of my car while trying to get my bearings "looks now't like I imagined it would" but it never does.

The afternoon started off cloudy but according to the experts this would break for a brighter afternoon within the hour so I keep with the Summer attire but rolled my Montane stretchy hoodie into my pack should I need it. Within five minutes I'd sort of got my bearings and crossed the A680 before passing through a gate which gave instant access onto the moorland.

This cross on top of Whittle Pike near Bury, Lancashire is a memorial to Flying Officer Geoffrey Molyneux who was one of 18 men killed while on an RAF exercise over the Irish Sea on January 11th 1955. F/O Molyneux was a navigator on Shackleton WL743

The cross was erected by a local Scouts group of which F/O Molyneux was a founder. In the most tragic of circumstances it is thought that the two Avro Shackleton aircraft who should have been 85 miles apart crashed into one another while searcing the same target area over Scout Moor.

With Knowl Hill behind me and, under a pleasantly hot afternoon sun I took in the views over a glistening reservoir before stopping to look back on Scout Moor which was everything I'd imagined and more. Despite Knowrl Hill summit being busy the only other folk I'd seen where from afar and apart from them I'd only been passed by a chap on a mountain bike, the rest of the walk I'd had to myself in 'discovery mode'

A six miler on uncharted ground does the soul a world of good while my earlier mistake reminded me that I'm still human. The wind, the wild grasses, the moorland and skylarks coupled with modern renewable energy who would ever want to visit Scout Moor?

I'd come again, what a place.