Cowpe Lowe & Cowpe Moss from Cowpe

All ready and eager to go we set off on the road to Waterfoot and the start of this walk from our kind friends at Go4awalk.com.  Awaiting delivery of my new phone with Navigation software onboard we has to revert to good old Google maps for the route.

The journey was going well we were making good time and then  we came to the instructions:-    ...take the next right up Gincroft lane.  Well the first thing we noticed was the dead end sign but accord to the route follow the road until you come to the second t-Junction and then turn right.

I'm not say this was a narrow road but if you tried to over take an ant you would be in either of the tall hedgeson either side, but it was a metaled road and I've done single track for miles before.  We left the village behind and and continues on  past the first T-junction then came to a staggered cross road.  The road ahead was a stone pathed  track  suitable for a 4 X 4 maybe but not a lowly Astra.  So it must be right. So a  right turn was taken and  after 400 yards the road ended in a gated farm yard and the gate was locked. 

How good was my reversing, not bad in fact  400 yrs backward in a single track road with stone wall one side and hedge the other is no mean feat.   Well time to check the route to see if this was right.  Yes it was we were going the right way. but then we noticed the Google maps disclaimer ....

....Have you read the disclaimer on the bottom of a Google route it goes like this:

"These directions are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, weather, or other events may cause conditions to differ from the map results, and you should plan your route accordingly. You must obey all signs or notices regarding your route. "

What does that mean  I wonder..  Based on this one probably ....  Don;'t actually follow this route it's wrong  for many reasons but we don't really know which.

Thank fully as a walker lead one of the of the essentials I carry is a map of the walk and with a little looking we were able to navigate to the start.

We're  here at last !!

We all get ready and check the route looking forward to a great days walk.  

The directs for the walk seam straight forward so off we go. By now we are about an  hour late starting the walk thanks to our little excursion due to Google.  Off we head uphill  into the fast approaching gloom as we get higher we come upon a gentleman painting a wrought iron fence we passed the time of day as you do and he replied "my luck the only time get to paint this and starts to rain again!"

The route says : Ascend a clear path through a metal gate. Well there is an over grown path with a gate which has a sign access only for delivery vehicle, and beyond is open country and a deeply rutted track.  Me thinks these Lancaster's have a wicked sense of humour...

onward and upward we cone to the ruins of a old farm build the path heads into a area of active spring which makes the going a little damp under foot ( I'm sinking....   was a phrase that passed the lips of one person.

we came to a junction of paths  the route said  Ignore the path going south east and go south. so with compass in hand we were stumped. the where three paths plus the one we had come up.

We had One to West,  a second  to south west and one to north east...  Tie  for a bit of map read and route mapping to it  but no matter how we looked  we could not work it out  we tried the south west path this immediately descended to the right of where we had come  up from.  we tried south west it  did turn south west  but went up instead of down.

By this time the cloud had descended the rain was failing and we were all disheartened. we went to the map to see if we could plan a route from where we where on the map to create a walk but after a short  discussion is was decided we would descend go back to the car find a teas shop and work  a route out there  suffice to say we did not find a teashop open and decided to give up finally.

In fifteen years of walking this is a first never i not completed a walk well with the exception of the walk that started it all..   The Derbyshire hills and dales walk 43 mile in one day  but even than I'd covered 30 miles but that another story.

and the moral of this story ......

Don't trust Google  to get you whee you want to go as These directions are for planning purposes only  !!!