Learning from yesterday I minimised my exposure to the cold wind by brushing my teeth while still in my sleeping bag inside the tent. After having packed my various dry bags of belongings inside my rucksack I eventually emerged from my tent to face the chilly morning. A cold easterly wind was blowing inconstantly but the wind turbines in the distance were stationary, just as they were last night when the wind was a steady breeze. (Maybe awaiting connection to the electricity grid due to delays in obtaining Planning Permission)? As I set off across the empty moors, the pink underlighting of the clouds soon passed leaving a grey, overcast sky. The line of gritstone slabs placed to provide a stable surface for the Pennine Way were frequently covered with grey ice, while the muddy sections were frozen hard, preserving bike tracks (despite a "No Cycling" sign). Reservoirs beside the path had signs which warned of cold water shock leading to death, and the water, rippled by the wind, steel grey with a little foam, certainly looked cold today.
Blackstone Edge was well named. Like Standedge later in the day there were multiple blocks of near black gritstone, that required walking on or around to make an irregular progress. The ground dropped away to the right and would have provided extensive views in clearer weather. What could be seen were the edges of urban areas. Patches of white ice attached themselves to the rocks.
The M62 motorway, the main route across the Pennines, slicing through the high moorland, could be heard well before it was visible. On reaching the A62, quiet now the motorway has taken its traffic, I left the Pennine Way joining the Oldham Way, barely 1 1/2 days walk from where the Pennine Way finished in Edale. At least one person walking the E2 went via Edale to complete the entire length of the Pennine Way, the first National Trail in Britain, now 50 years old.
The Oldham Way is a circular walk around the old industrial town of Oldham, once a major textile producer. I would follow it for only a short part of its extent. If I thought that leaving the Pennine Way would result in fewer hills I was mistaken. The first part of the Oldham Way was distinctly up and down. After passing near Diggle I turned off to reach my hotel for the night. I was disturbed to discover my route led me steeply downhill for a good distance. A hill I will have to climb back up tomorrow. The buildings I was passing were distinctive, built of blocks of blackened gritstone. I liked those buildings where the glass window panes were separated by stone uprights. Retail estates had names referring to the mills that once stood there. As a bonus I went by, and into, a café beside a river with lovely carrot cake (the nuts not crushed too small so that they added texture).
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