My 2026 SOTA goal is to complete G/SP, before today I only had 3 summits left.. G/SP-003, G/SP-006 and G/SP-012. Wards stone, White hill & Easington fell respectively. Skip back a few more days and the XYL has issued me with a free 1 day pass, “do what you want” sh said, so with that in mind a plan was formed to attempt to knock the 3 summits off.
Maps were consulted, compared and measured I figured doing the Wards stone first would be the wisest decision… longest way on fresh legs! followed by White hill, and then Easington fell… I discovered from a post on here, that White hill was likely a bog fest and could be quite unpleasant, so I was hoping so i was hoping for a fairly easy wander up the wards stone so my legs were still fresh enough for the bog fest of white hill! OOHHHHH how wrong I could be 
I arrived at the Jubilee Tower car park SD 542 573 at around 0815, got booted up and made my final gear checks, and off i went!! From that moment on, i didnt see another soul till i returned to the car around 1430, absolute Bliss 
I followed the path through the kissing gate, and dropped down the little valley, almost immediately I was ankle deep in thick gloopy bog! following the fence line across Apple tree moss to the distant cairn at Shooters pile was hell, every single step felt like 5.. a mile and a half of the wettest walking.. not seen bog like that since before they flagged the Pennine way to Black hill! Thankfully as I passed shooters pile, it dried up, this made the going much easier!
Turning right at the ladder stile and heading towards the lump that forms Wards stone you pass along Grit fell, thankfully the peat has dried out somewhat down this section and I was able to pick up the pace somewhat, you could see clearly at one point in the near past this too had been a wet soggy hell, but the recent dry weather had done me a favour! and soon the gamekeepers track was here.
Now really the name of the next section should have given me a clue.. Cabin Flat! IE flat and doesn’t drain! Cue another mile and a half of wet hell, with some HUGE bogs disguised as sphagnum moss, you got to be REALLY careful on here I was thankful of my walking poles, as i could test and prod but like Apple tree moss before it, it made slow, hard going… now it is interesting to note here, the OS map has 2 cairns marked on it to mark the path, i saw neither of these cairns, and the path is VERY easy to loose even in clear conditions (as i found out) so care is needed along here!
Now you would think the rising ground, and rocks would give some respite from the bogs, but the mountain gods were having a laugh with this one, as its stepped, and each step is??……………. you guessed it ANOTHER bog!! by now my legs were burning, but the end was in sight!
I arrived at the trig, had a bar of chocolate (Snickers if you must know) a drink and rested for a few mins… then onto business!
FT817, battery pack and Spectrum comms slim G deployed and the calls were thick and fast 31 QSOs in the log, 2M FM, 2M SSB and 4M with 5 S2S calls and a WOTA in all that too… fantastic 2 hours on the radio, I had intended on doing some HF, but no need when 2M was so alive with activity! an absolutely stonking couple of hours… best ive had in a long time! but sadly I had to stop somewhere, and face the return journey….
Now remember earlier when i said about doing 3 summits? well, I decided due to this one being so tough and having to do the same again to get back, I wasn’t going to do White hill my legs were really not up it! but i still had half an idea of Easington fell
Cue the 3 1/2 mile bog slog back to the car, pretty much the same as the way up! but didnt get lost this time….
As for Easington fell? well, I took a wrong turn after the Trough of Bowland and ended up going direct to Clitheroe… it’ll still be there next time, when i go do White hill!
As ever, thanks to all the Chasers and the fellow activators for the S2S calls! I had a hard, but brilliant trip up the Wards stone!
73, till next time!
Alan