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Winter Hill & Two Lads Sunset |
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4th August 2025 |
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Overview |
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| Ascent: |
610 Feet - 182 Metres |
| Summits: |
Winter Hill |
| Visiting: |
Two Lads |
| Weather: |
A Bright, Windy & Brisk End to The Day Highs of 18°C Lows of 12°C |
| Parking: |
Roadside Parking, Wilderswood |
| Area: |
West Pennine Moors |
| Miles: |
4 |
| Walking With: |
On My Own |
| Ordnance Survey: |
Explorer 287 |
| Time Taken: |
1 Hours 20 Minutes |
| Route: |
Wilderswood - Rotary Way - Winter Hill - Rotary Way - New Path Through Rivington Moor - Two Lads - Wilderswood |
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Map and Photo Gallery |
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| Two Lads and the Winter Hill transmitter mast from Wilders Moor 18°C 19:40pm |
| I wanted to sneak a quick walk up to Winter Hill to catch the sunset now that it's creeping back to the right side of 22:00pm, that said I had planned to head up to Helvellyn on Monday evening only for the forecast to change about an hour before I was set to leave, aye it saved me the cost of the fuel but talk about disappointed so I settled on somewhere more local and closer to home. |
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| Looking back on Wilderswood and Rivington Lower Reservoir from Wilders Moor. |
| You wouldn't think it but it's actually blowing a gale on the back of Storm Floris which affected Scotland, Cumbria and Lancashire with gale force winds and rain. Locally we weren't to badly affected the rain only lasting until lunchtime so Paula decided to put the washing out which dried in double quick time, trouble was the wind was so strong it snapped the washing line spreading the clean washing all over the garden, great! |
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| Evening girls. |
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| Looking back on Two Lads with Adam Hill seen far left. |
| I was in two minds what to wear so I stuck with shorts and a base layer and tied a windproof jacket around my waist which didn't stay there long. Despite the beautiful light it was feeling pretty chilly once exposed. |
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| Aye I know... |
| ...It's just a bloody fence but I loved the light in this photo. |
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| Cotton grass swaying in the wind. |
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| Cable anchor. |
| Normally I have time to spare when I come up here for a sunset walk but I'm pushing against time tonight looking how low the sun is I only have about half an hour before it sets and the trouble is because maintenance is being carried out to the cables a huge perimeter fence has been set up preventing access to the transmitter station so I have to take a lengthy, and boggy diversion I hadn't planned for. |
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| Back on track as I head towards Winter Hill summit. |
| The diversion sent me through bog and in places I was jumping over standing water and I wasn't really looking forward to the return leg as I had to pay more attention as to where I was putting my feet rather than the unfolding sunset. |
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| Almost at the summit now. |
| I'm not used to the sun setting in a north westerly direction as I normally come here during the winter months when the sun sets in a more westerly position. This is the first time I've seen the sun directly over Winter Hill summit. |
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| Sun setting from Winter Hill summit. |
| After this mornings heavy rain the summit was especially boggy but I'm not complaining with a view as good as that. |
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| Heading back to the transmitter station. |
| It's been six months since I was last here and this path says a lot because it wasn't here the last time I was here and traces direct from the summit all the way back to the transmitter station and avoids the detour I took earlier which was great news, the not so good news was how wet and boggy it was. |
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| Loving the light. |
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| Moon to the south. |
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| And sun set to the north. |
| Almost back at the track now. |
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| Just minutes left... |
| ...before the sun sinks into a bank of low haze. |
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| Sun set over Rivington Pike. |
| Not seen in the photo are the dozen or so folk dotted around the summit which was great to see on a school night. |
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| Two Lads summit. |
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| Sun set over Rivington Pike. |
| It was blowing a royal hooley on Two Lads but I hung around for a few minutes watching the colours change in the night sky until I started blowing warm air into cupped fist such the sudden drop in temperature. The numbers had started to dwindle on Rivington Pike too as folk began to make their way back to their cars before the night descended proper. I turned my back on Two Lads and began my own descent from where I spotted two dog walkers on Rotary Way below who looked local to me. Pale yellows and oranges merged and peaked into a fiery afterglow before the grey took over bringing the day to an end and just enough light for me to make my way back to the car. |
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