Introduction

I chose to head into the South Pennines today, starting my walk in the pretty village of Delph. in the borough of Oldham.

The weather has been quite kind this week, and so it continued today with pretty much wall to wall sunshine for this walk.

The journey took 45 minutes from Cheadle Hulme.

This walk is 7.1 miles with almost 1000 feet of ascent and took 3 hours 30 minutes plus a 20 minute break for lunch.

Much of this walk is great for dog walking, on the Pennine Bridleway, around reservoirs and along the Tame Valley Way. However the first third of the walk is in areas where the use of leads is required.

I walked in an anticlockwise direction.

The walk is on OS Explorer Maps OL1 and OL21.

I parked on the road, just above The White Lion pub, postcode OL3 5HX. What 3 Words ///solution.sticks.dynasties

Delph To Castleshaw Lower Reservoir

I left the village by the unsignedpath behind the right hand side of The White Lion, and soon came to a lovely fishing pool, bathed in autumn sunlight.

The path left the tranquil village scene, and emerged into open country, with the uphill route laid out ahead, and another, more open fishing pool reflecting the few wispy clouds above.

Heading up towards the reservoir, a cacophony of honking geese were going the same way.

I was soon at the base of the reservoir, with its attractive outfall.

I made my way up to the top of the dam, and stopped to enjoy the view across the water.

Over The Moor To Dowry Reservoir

I crossed farmland to reach the base of Cow Gate Lane. There were men at work relaying the stone surface and creating rainwater run-offs. Nice to see!

Continuing on to Moor Lane I came upon a sign for the GM Ringway path. This route follows approximately the outer boundary of Greater Manchester, from the moors to suburbia, including the Ladybrook Valley in Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall.

This was the high point of the route. Now I would head down to Dowry Reservoir. The grass bank of Crook Gate Reservoir is beyond..

After crossing the very quiet A640 Huddersfield Road, I took the lower path (not as shown on my map), staying close to the water. I then climbed up past the stepped outfall from Crook Gate Reservoir before dropping back down to edge of Dowry, and back to the road.

Denshaw

I took the road alongside New Year’s Bridge Reservoir before diverting across the fields. I headed on to Denshaw.

Denshaw is built around a junction of 5 main roads. I didn’t hang around here, but hastened down a track to another pretty fishing pool.

The Tame Valley Way

After passing some pleasing housing built from local stone relatively recently, I set out over a field and into the Tame Valley. There were some wet areas to negotiate before I reached this lovely cottage.

A short road section took me over the river, and then a narrow footbridge took me back again. From here it was a beautiful walk through woods and marsh grasslands. The route was difficult to see in places, due to leaf fall, but careful use of the OS navigation aid kept me on track all the way back to Delph.

One short section led up the left ban of the valley to a cottage. Here, the path goes to the right of the cottage drive. In a carport was a very old car ( guarded by a dog skeleton!).

Delph itself is a pretty village.

The White Lion was too tempting and served a fine pint of Thwaites Gold. There were plenty of diners in there, and the food looked worthy of a return visit some time!

All together, this was a glorious varied walk on a glorious autumn day!

And Finally….

I’ve been listening to the new album by Fairground Attraction. It’s very good, reminding me of Paul Heaton and Jackie Abbott’s music.

The album is Beautiful Happening, and this is the beautiful title track.