Introduction
Today was a great day for a proper hill walk.
The weather was cool and cloudy with little breeze, but there was one heavy shower. The sun did shine for a while toward the end of the walk.
It’s a 50 minute drive over the Woodhead Pass to Langsett from Cheadle Hulme.
The walk is 9.5 miles. It’s a challenging walk, taking 4 hours to complete, plus 15 minutes for lunch. It’s a steady climb uphill for the first half of the walk, having a total ascent of 1480 feet (450m). The downhill part in Harden Clough is difficult as the narrow path gets lost in parts, and walking in the heather means you can’t see what’s underfoot.
This is predominantly a walk on the moors, where dogs are not allowed to run off the lead. However, the Water Authority paths around the reservoir are great for dog walking.
The walk is on OS Explorer Map OL 1.
I parked at the Yorkshire Water Car Park, Langsett Barn, use postcode S36 4GY. There are toilets, open until 5pm here.
Langsett Reservoir To Cut Gate
This is a typical reservoir open to walkers, with pleasant woodland walks all around it.
It’s clear that water is in short supply on the east of the Pennines too.
Beyond the end of the reservoir is a bridge over its pretty, main feeder river.
Immediately beyond the bridge, the ascent begins, and there are soon good views back to the reservoir.
Before long, the lakeside dog walkers are not around, and these classic Pennine moors spread out before me.
Mickledon Beck appeared on my right, falling steeply back down towards Langsett.
There are only a few sheep around, and they aren’t shy up here.
Where the map says “Fords”, it crosses the beck and I approached quite warily. In Fact, the ford wasn’t deep enough to wet my shoes!
Now the path widens to form Cut Gate. It’s less steep too. There are dramatic views east over the grouse butts to Sheffield beyond.
At Cut Gate End, the panorama opens up to the west now.
Harden Moss, Harden Grough And Harden Clough
This is a classic peat bog. Fortunately, the dry summer meant I had only one tricky spot to jump across a deep boggy crevice.
Here, the path is just soft and wet from last night’s rain.
A little further on, I found a small cross with a poignant message, dating back to 1943.
And then, I reached the trig point at 541m. The weather looked good to the south west, and threatening in the direction I was heading, north east.
The path leads north across Outer Edge.
Soon enough it reaches the South Yorkshire / Derbyshire boundary, which isn’t obvious on the ground. A path continues on to the left, and finding the route to the right is difficult. I was grateful for the GPS system on the OS app.
Harden Clough is steep and delightful.
However, this is Access Land and this isn’t a public footpath. It just seemed to disappear in places. The heather and ferns were now soaked by a short heavy squall. The path here is visible in the foreground, but then it’s anybody’s guess!
The Porter Of Little Don River
What a great name for a lovely watercourse, formed by the streams falling off the moors to the north and south. Mind, it would be a good name for a beer too!
Here, Harden Clough’s stream meets “The Porter”.
The weather was improving, the landscape softening, and I even saw a couple of humans!
And then there was bright sunlight.
There was even a pretty waterfall tumbling through the woods.
From here, the path rose above the reservoir and through the managed woodland to return to the car park.
This was a proper hike, and one I really enjoyed, though I wouldn’t want anything this challenging every week!
And Finally…
This is from “Anthem”, the new album by Irish American country rockers Flogging Molly, and it’s called “Lead The Way”. Feelgood music!