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Winter Hill & Two Lads Sunset |
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1st February 2026 |
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Overview |
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| Ascent: |
610 Feet - 182 Metres |
| Wainwrights: |
Winter Hill - Two Lads |
| Weather: |
Some Brightness, Predominantly Overcast. Light Winds Where Exposed. Highs of 8°C Lows of 5°C |
| Parking: |
Parking Spaces, Wilder's Wood |
| Area: |
West Pennine Moors |
| Miles: |
4 |
| Walking With: |
On My Own |
| Ordnance Survey: |
Explorer 287 |
| Time Taken: |
1 Hour 10 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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| Views over Wilder's Moor towards Two Lads 15:39pm 8°C |
| It's been a frustrating weekend with a poor forecast keeping me away from the high fells, and to add insult to injury, while viewing a cloud-topped Skiddaw from the George Fisher webcam this morning, there was plenty of blue sky and even sunshine on the lower slopes, the exact opposite of what had been forecast. After breakfast I took Brad and Holly on a five-mile walk, tiring out the pair of them, but it did little to curb my frustration, and with a weather window appearing before sunset, I headed out to Wilder's Wood to walk Winter Hill and maybe catch the sunset. |
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| Winter Hill Transmitter Mast. |
| There was some brightness when I started the walk, but predominantly it was cloudy with lots of layered cloud below the high-level clouds, which might, if I'm lucky, make for a nice sunset. Clouds were coming and going as I joined Rotary Way, obscuring the top of the transmitter mast one minute, before clearing the next. |
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| Winter Hill summit. |
| It's been raining on and off all week, and I knew the summit would be like a quagmire, and I wasn't wrong. I thought I knew every way to reach the trig point without losing a boot but today I found possibly the driest route to date; I just need to remember it for next time. |
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| Winter Hill summit 16:30pm |
| I spent about five minutes just hanging around and taking in the views and generally enjoying just how quiet it was. |
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| The Transmitter Station from Rivington Moor. |
| There's still no access through the transmitter station, and over the last few months folks, including myself, have been cutting across the moorland in an effort to return to Rotary Way. It's quite a nice walk, but as you can imagine, it's very wet underfoot, and with just fifteen minutes before sunset, it's not a place you'd want to be without a head torch. |
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| Layers and laters of cloud above Rivington Pike. |
| If you look closely you can see a thin layer of mist forming over the moorland. |
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| Lower Rivington Reservoir and Rivington Pike from Two Lads. |
| I made good time crossing Rivington Moor and soon joined the slabbed path bound for Two Lads which offers excellent views over Rivington Pike and the unfolding sunset. |
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| Mist forming over Adam Hill and White Brow from Two Lads. |
| With the sun officially set my attention was diverted towards the mist forming over Adam Hill and White Brow. |
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| Returning to Wilder's Wood. |
| A large gap parted between the cloud allowing the colours of the sunset to spill through momentarily. |
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| Last light 16:55pm |
| I hung around on Two Lads summit and even contemplated heading over Crooked Edge Hill to extend the walk but I changed my mind and began my descent from the hill. It had been one of those really quiet walks only spotting three people all afternoon and those were from a distance, the kind of walk where it was just nice to get out and make the most of forecast even if it was for the last hour of the day. |
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