This is a blog focused on a hike I went on back on 17th February 2020. A few weeks before the nationwide lockdown here in the UK. A hike which finally led to me discovering a waterfall I have long suspected my exist but had to concrete evidence. This waterfall is located in Rochdale near Scout moor wind farm and Greenbooth reservoir. it’s formed in a small opening with a small river flowing down in from Knowl Hill to the reservoir.
I first suspected it existing about 3 years ago while doing a shoot at Greenbooth and I found the river leading into the hillside but it Wasn’t possible to follow its trail but I know it would be heading into much higher ground which made the likely hood of a large waterfall possible. so when I got home that day I looked on maps on my phone via satellite mode and the 3D option I was able to see when looked like a large cliff edge further down the river.
and it looked as it water was indeed flowing down it although from this image it was hard to be %100 sure, the only way to be sure was to see it, with my own eyes.
so I have to figure out how to get there safely. The areas terrain is unstable most of the time with it once being a quarry.
also this waterfall i suspected to be very dependent on rain water as there is no lake or ever a pond on scout moor to my knowledge there for to be a supply of water to fall so if I was to get a shot it would have to have rain fairly recently and heavily.
So there is possibly a massive rain dependent waterfall down a narrow cut in a crumbly hillside which to get a good shot of I would need to shoot after heavy rain fall meaning the already fragile rocks would be saturated.....if you put it like that anyone who was to try this should need to be completely mad.....
So after a few scouting missions to work out the safest way to reach river I set off and coincidentally found another shooting location for once day after the lockdown...I feel for my walking boots already. Anyway Eventually after 3 failed attempts and one lucky and ill conceived attempt I found the right path.
I found a way to both the top and bottom of the fall. But it's the bottom i was interested in for now. But my journey was far from over, I still had to get closer the the actual foot of the fall and hope there was a shot ripe for the taking.
after a good half hour of creek walking and a few shots taken for good measure, i was at the foot of the waterfall fall.
In terms of height it is the largest waterfall i have seen in person, in terms of flow it wasn't amazing but there was enough water for my shot. I took out my frankenstien tripod with Benro legs and a make and model of head that i only got cause it allowed me to get panoramic images without undoing the leveling work then put my Nikon D7200 camera's L bracket into portrait, set the delay and with a shutter speed of 1/6th of a second and aperture of F11 giving me full depth of field making sure everything was pin sharp and half pressed to allow auto focus to do it's work then completed the press and release and stood back and waited the 3 seconds......Click Clunk....
And Home time.
'Scout Moor's Hidden Waterfall' is available as A4 glossy print from my Etsy store.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/770411168/scout-moors-hidden-waterfall
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