May, 26, 2021.
OLD GLOSSOP, SWINESHAW RESERVOIR, BLACKSHAW FARM, PEAK NAZE, OGDEN CLOUGH, DEEPCLOUGH, REAPS FARM, LONGDENDALE TRAIL, THE ANCHOR AT HADFIELD, PADFIELD, GLOSSOP CEMETERY AND THE QUEENS AT OLD GLOSSOP
Distance: 9-10 miles.
Difficulty: Moderate after strenuous start.
Weather: Early drizzle and overcast drying up later.
Walkers: Peter Beal, Andy Blease, Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe with Daisy, Mark Gibby, Hughie Hardiman, Alan Hart, Chris Owen and Paul Sidebotham.
Apologies: George Dearsley (in Turkey), John Jones (having dental treatment), Jock Rooney (walking with B team), Dean Taylor (in Shropshire), Keith Welsh (in Cornwall)
Leader: Cunliffe. Diarist: Hart.
Starting point: Wasteland opposite The Wheatsheaf at Old Glossop.
Starting time: 9.38am. Finishing time: 2.20pm.
This was our last walk in the merry month of May and we will be glad to see the back of what has been a disappointing wet and chilly approach to summer. The forecast for the remainder of the week was encouraging as “flaming” June approaches so we look forward to warmer weeks ahead.
Unhappily the early drizzle and lowering clouds spoilt the normally stunning views available after a steady climb had taken us to the top of moors overlooking The Longdendale Valley. Fortunately the rain had ceased by the time we descended to walk along the Longdendale Trail into Hadfield.
By the time some of us had sampled the excellent Tetley's cask bitter in The Anchor, some of the clouds had cleared and we saw some sunshine on our return route.
From the unofficial car park opposite The Wheatsheaf at Old Glossop we walked up Blackshaw Road and through a tunnel under flats. We turned left and then right at a green public footpath sign.
To our surprise when we reached the farm a gate (22mins) which we had used before on many occasions had a sign “Private: No Right Of Way.” After some deliberation we proceeded through the gate which seemed to be our only way of exercising our rights to roam on the moors beyond at Peak Naze and Ogden Clough.
We carried on uphill through two more gates, which had similar signs for those approaching from the opposite direction. When we reached the familiar ruin of a roofless building we paused for Pietime (67mins)
Resuming we continued our ascent, passing grouse butts on our right as we reached a ridge overlooking the Longdendale Valley.
This was Deepclough where we started our descent, soon picking up a well-worn path to turn left with a potentially fatal drop down to the valley on our right (74mins). After a lengthy flat walk the path started to descend increasingly steeply to the valley below with Reaps Farm on our right (97mins)
We turned left to follow a sign indicating The Pennine Way until we reached a main road. We crossed this, turning right for 20 yards before following signs for Hadfield to our left (104mins). This was The Longdendale Trail.
Longdendale, which means long wooded valley, is where the River Etherow flows through six reservoirs – Woodhead, Torside, Rhodeswood, Valehouse, Bottoms and Arnfield. There used to be a seventh at Hollingworth but this was abandoned in 1990 and now forms part of Swallows Wood Nature Reserve.
During the Roman occupation a fort guarded the valley. In the Middle Ages a packhorse route called a saltway was used to export salt from the Cheshire wiches (Nantwich, Northwich and Middlewich) across the Pennines.
The Manchester-Sheffield railway was built here between 1839-45 and the three-mile Woodhead Tunnel was the longest in the country at that time. Passenger services ceased in 1970 and goods in 1981.
The trackbed was used to create the Longdendale Trail, which is now part of the Trans-Pennine Trail which in turn is part of a 2,000 mile walking route from Liverpool to Istanbul.
We turned left towards Hadfield, reaching a car park (149mins) at the end of the trail before crossing the road beyond it and passing Malvern Rise on our right. This brought us to a memorial statue which we passed on our right as we walked up Railway Street.
At the crossroads (154mins) we turned right and soon arrived at The Anchor on our left (155mins). Once again we received a warm welcome from the landlady, whose Tetleys cask bitter was in fine fettle.
For the final leg of our journey we turned right out of the pub, retracing our footsteps but carried on when we passed Railway Street on our left. We crossed a railway bridge (158mins), first entering and then leaving the village of Padfield before we reached the entrance to Glossop Cemetery on our left (173mins)
Here we paused on the cemetery wall for lunch, Resuming we followed the road through the graveyard until it swung right at the end. As it did so, a few yards to our left, was a stone step stile by which we exited the cemetery (181mins)
The path went right through a wooden gate and continued through a farmhouse garden which was stacked with stone blocks. This led us to a main road where we turned right for 50 yards and then went left (184mins)
This took us down to Swineshaw Reservoir (188mins) where we turned right along its banks. The path then led us down to the farm where we had seen the peacocks and waterfall earlier. We turned right (195mins) and retraced our footsteps back to our cars (209mins) to deboot.
Next week's walk will start at 9.30am from the entrance to the Park Hall Estate at Little Hayfield. Free parking is available on the left of the main A624 road before it reaches Tom's former hostelry, The Lantern Pike. We intend to climb Mill Hill before heading across to The Little Mill Inn at Rowarth for a bracer at about 12.30pm, returning to arrive at The Lantern Pike for further refreshment around 2.30pm.
Happy wandering !
Map by Tom
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