Eagle’s Crag, Todmorden

When I was a boy my parents used to drive us to Todmorden on Sundays to visit relatives. Eagle’s Crag was pointed out every time and, as a tiny lad, these eagle-shaped rocks were so high up they mustn’t have been far from Heaven. I even believed it when my folks said that each Halloween night witches boarded their broomsticks and flew off “The Eagle.”

Here is a walk up to get on the back of the rocks. The path up the hill runs out and you have to cut through gorse, ditches and thick foliage which is mostly on a steep slant.

Nearing the top I could see some horses and ponies eating grass. A foal quickly spotted me and was keeping an eye on me. I’m not sure how the horses got on that patch of grass but I had to pass them to reach The Eagle. The foal was watching me every time I looked up.

After scrambling through thick ferns and leaping bogs I approached the foal but it was vary (doubt it had seen many humans.) I expected its mother to come and give me a good kicking but it allowed me to stroke it after I’d lay on the grass for five minutes. I remembered a book saying that to make friends with a pony/horse/zebra you had to blow your breath up its nostrils (apparently this is one way they assess one another.) I did this and it seemed to work. I did not see any Zebras.

As you can see from the photos I stood on to back wings of the eagle but looking over the edge made me feel a bit queasy. The first time I went up there I found a sheep’s skull on the rocks in the middle of some branches laid out in the shape of a pentagram (devil worshippers?)

My car down below looked like a small toy. As I lay on my belly looking over the edge it crossed my mind that the rock may come lose and we’d go rolling down the steep valley and I’d get flattened by a juggernaut. At least it would be a fast ending.

Away from the rocks I sat back and watched the birds gliding down the valley and envied them. From my pocket I took out a dogs pooh bag in which I had a slice of iced Madeira cake. It melted on my tongue in seconds. The pooh bag had not been used.