Winter Hill - Grain Pole Hill tour

       A strong, glacial wind blowing over the west Pennines today but the sun came out as well in the early afternoon as I headed off for a run. Since that strong wind was an easterly, today was perhaps not the ideal one to head westward from where I'd parked but I wanted to investigate a part of the moors I've not visited for decades so after climbing Winter Hill and heading north up Great Hill I took the path westward towards White Coppice. The day was even clearer than when I was up here a few weeks ago so not only did I once more have a clear view of Pendle to the NE but also the Bowland fells to the north and the coast to the NW. Another of those days when running is a joy. Underfoot the ground was mostly frozen and hard but with enough of today's snow melt to provide plenty of splotchy, splashy places and, inevitably, the odd patch of mysteriously unfrozen bog to take you by surprise as you suddenly sink knee deep. There were some surprisingly dry bits of moorland but at other times I was running atop snow drifts at least 2-3 ft deep (and hoping the snow was still frozen and iced enough to bear my weight). The path down towards White Coppice was pleasant, easy running – until I turned off it southward across the open moor to Grain Pole Hill. It was intersting crossing the brook on a 6 inch bank of snow, not knowing if there were reeds underneath or just water – and therefore not knowing how wet I'd get if the snow gave way. It didn't. I stopped for a while to admire half a dozen lapwings on the top of Grain Pole Hill but it was too cold to hang around for long. 
     The next interesting bit was when I realised I was no longer on the open moor but in a field with five horses, all standing unhelpfully in front of the stile I needed to cross. I'm not a great fan of horses, mainly because I've nearly been knocked over by them cantering over-enthusiastically towards me in the past. I decided to circumvent them and head for a different gate but, even though I'd slowed to a walk, they all came trotting towards me once they realised I was no longer heading towards them. Well at least the stile was now free so I circled round and reached it suffering nothing worse than a strong nudge in the shoulder by the most insistent of the horses.
     I was now on the bottom of Rivington Rd and there was no path across the next three fields to the track above (and it's not open access) so I headed west along the road. Thankfully a snow plough must have been through last week or this short section could have been quite tricky – the original drifts blocking the road must have been four-five feet deep. I then decided on an impromptu detour over the Pike instead of the direct route over Winter Hill. There were lots of people around the pigeon tower but not many on the Pike. From there a simple up and over Winter Hill back to the car. Very enjoyable.