Went for a walk up Bleaklow moors today...

... to find the site of a WW2 crashed USAF B-29 bomber. You can walk to if from Glossop (off the Woodhead pass). Its a military grave and world heritage site that I've always wanted to visit, especially since I've always lived so close. Anywho, myself & a couple of mates went up for a walk to it today...
One of the best walks I've had in my entire life!

One of 4 engines

Trig point


Awesome Ice flow from the wind

Wing


Landing gear

What a beautifully desolate place. It is scary but peaceful at the same time.

How sad about the crew of the B29. I just looked it up on wiki and it says the crew were due to go back to the states three days later, but were all killed in the accident.

I am amazed that the wreckage is still there and hasn't been looted by collectors. It seems fitting that it is just left as it fell.

PS, you are all mad!

It is sad, the site was deemed a military grave yard I think. There's a fairly hefty penalty for anybody looting up there. Its not the only crash either, we passed another smaller plane on the way down.

HAHA! Yeah, its been the walk of the year though. Great way to see out 2011. We walked down the face after the crash site. It must have been a 70 degree angle. The wind and hail were in our faces, so for about 20 mins it felt like I had an icecream headache!

You and my OH would get on!

He went up Ben Nevis in May but was lucky to go up in glorious sunshine, although there was still a lot of snow and you had to be careful where you stood.

https://happyhoppers.forumotion.co.uk/t12050-hubby-s-trip-to-ben-nevis?highlight=ben+nevis

My oldest son then decided in August that he would do it too and chose the week that the tail-end of a hurricane came along. They had to contend with 70mph winds and ended up turning back before the summit. They were soaked to the skins (through 5 layers of clothing) and repaired to a pub at the bottom of the hill for lots of whisky.

HAHA! Yeah, we ended up in the Dog and Partridge on Woodhead pass.
All of my waterproofs gave up the ghost after 4 hours, so I was soaked to the base layers. Plus I made a big mistake wearing cotton combat trousers, so I was steaming by the fire when we sat down for our pint.
I got in and had a shower on full heat just to burn away the cold!

Totally insane! See you wouldn't get women doing stuff like that unless they were going to be warm, dry and there was somewhere for a cup of tea half way. Just why don't we rule the world, we make such sense!

You're kidding right!? Our lass gave me a right ear full over the phone for going without her!

Great pics! I love it up there.

Twenty years ago I'd have been there too.
Grand weather for it... probably added to the atmosphere of the site as well.

What stunning pictures!

Beautiful countryside although it must have been FREEZING!

What memorable thing to do too.

I went up in July this year - first time up there in about 25 years - some of the wreckage has gone in that time, but the vast majority is still extant.

Anyway, some of my pics.






I love winter walks, although I do need to brush up on my navigation skills again.
About 15 years ago went up to the Trig point on Black Hill in January. I should have realised that walking conditions were poor when the youth hostel car park was empty - not a tyre track on the 4 - 5 inches of snow. What was going to be a 5 mile out and back turned into something like Shakleton's ill fated expidition.

Complete white out, no discernible land marks, only me, a compass, a map and a watch.


looking back at the trig point on the horizon. The footsteps are roughly in line with the pennine Way - about 6 -10 inches under the snow!

Made some fantastic patterns in the snow though - something to do with sustained winds of over 70mph


Even lower down, the ice and snow had done strange things.




I later learned that temperatures on the tops had been as low as -8 with wind chill of -46!

It was dark when I got back - pitch black at just gone 3pm.

James

Those are amazing. The ice shapes are tops.

WOW!!!

Fantastic photos and how very interesting

Thank you for the great pics, I used to go onwalks like that when I was fit. I also love visiting anything historical that has its own story to tell.

My uncle was a fighter pilot in WW2.

Hugs

JO xx

Fantastic photos both of you - though you are both MAD as a box of frogs. Going out with a wind chill factor of -46!!!!

We had -21 here without wind chill and believe me that was quite cold enough for me.

OH and photographer son were very impressed with the pics.