Assault On Black Hill

10.00 As the alarm clock sounds, Team OUTDOORSmagic is itching to go. The tension is palpable as team members realise they've overslept by three hours and consequently the planned expedition to the Lakes is ruled out on logistical grounds (in English: it's too late)

10.35 A team conference over breakfast throws up the alternative strategy of attempting the majestic peak of Black Hill, renowned for its deadly boggy terrain and homicidal picnicking sheep.

11.05 The Team leaves base

11.06 The Team returns to base to collect a mislaid sun cap

11.32 The Team arrives at advance base camp at Crowden YHA (GR 074994) and attempts to hire yaks for the walk in

11.52 All the yaks have already been hired. We will have to do without.

12.00 The Team successfully sneaks past the archery butts at the local outdoor centre and begins the long haul up the Pennine Way towards Laddow Rocks

12.05 Still walking

12.20 Still walking

12:25 A small bird flutters past to the Team's left

12.45 Brightly-coloured rubbish is strewn across the crag...

Laddow Rocks looking rocky

12:46 The 'rubbish' turns to be rock climbers battling with the vegetation on one of the area's earliest climbing crags which is now rarely used. The climbers shout abuse as the Team attempts to put them in a handy plastic bag.

13.30 Laddow is left behind and the team battles with the deceptively strenuous paved path towards Black Hill. Team leader, the Ed. reminisces about the days when this was ferocious bog

13.35 The Team's progress is barred by a pair of feral sheep and a man in very tight, grey Lycra shorts. It is hard to tell which is more frightening

13:36 The sheep leg it, the man in Lycra is definitely more frightening

14.00 The majestic summit of Black Hill (GR: 078047) looms ahead, its trig point rearing up like an eroded molar looms from a small hump, but first the Team must negotiate the boggy summit plateau

14.05 The treacherous summit plateau has dried up. Team members tell old stories about the phenomenon of bog-suck

14:06 Success! The Team summits and triumphantly mounts the Trig point

14:07 A Park Ranger drags the Team off the trig point. It has been dreadfully hard, but Team OUTDOORSmagic has bagged its first summit. A huge celebration is planned involving ham and cheese pickle sandwiches

14:15 The ham and cheese pickle sandwiches have been left at advance base camp. We make do with two mouldering fig rolls. Everyone is fully aware that despite the triumph, we must not drop our guard, the climb isn't over till we're all safely down. We decide to descend along the opposite side of the valley via Tooleyshore Moss, White Low (GR:and Westend Moss - names which no-one has ever heard of

15:00 Tussocky moorland walking.

15:15 More tussocks

15:26 The Team reaches the infamous 'Notch of Death' (GR:082016), the last obstacle to our safe return. Fortunately we are all able to negotiate this formidable hurdle successfully.

The Team tackles The Notch of Death

15:48 Triumph! Weary but satisfied the Team stumbles back to advance base and some well-earned ice cream. Still no sign of the yaks or indeed the local Buddhist monastery.

In Reality: We walked from Crowden to Black Hill via Laddow Rocks and back to Crowden along the other side of the valley. The section from Crowden up to Black Hill is a mix of good, rocky path with a conserved section paved with old mill slabs. The summit area of Black Hill is famously bleak and boggy in poor conditions, but in summer is drier and much more pleasant. The route back can get damp but isn't in the Black Hill class. There's good parking and toilets at Crowden as well as a camp site and the Youth Hostel. The walk should take around four to five hours but can be easily extended, reversed, rotated etc.

Best maps are the OS: Peak District, Dark Peak area Outdoor Leisure 1:25,000 and the OS Landranger 110, Sheffield and Huddersfield 1:50,000

Webcasts: That's quite enough dull as ditchwater webcasts for now.