9 April 2021

A walk to Blackstone Edge via the ‘Roman Road’. Bright sunlight with moody, dark clouds. Meadow pipits everywhere.

Blackstone Edge
Blackstone Edge (with hiker for scale)

As we reached the trig point near the summit, I heard the unmistakeable cronk of a raven, and looked up just in time to see it flipping upside-down mid-flight in the way they do. Some of my friends still think I’m winding them up about ravens flying upside-down. A raven cronking over Blackstone Edge—how gothic is that?

Raven
Raven over Blackstone Edge

I once saw Snowdonia from Blackstone Edge, but there was no chance of that with the sun descending to the west. Apparently, on a clear day, I might just have been able to make out the summit of Helvellyn in the Lake District, immediately to the right of the very visible Pendle Hill. No luck there, either. But I did spot Ingleborough and Whernside in the Yorkshire Dales. And my favourite trig point on my beloved Moor.

I really enjoyed our walk. We don’t visit Blackstone Edge all that often, but I’ll certainly try to make a point of rectifying that mistake.

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