On The Pennine Way Part Two (1/3) By Steve Rudd

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3), Part 1

After surviving the nightmare of Kinder Scout's mountainous bulk and getting back on track, the next 'hill' of worth en-route along the Pennine Way is called Bleaklow. Just like its predecessor, it could quite potentially be the death of you if you're not careful in negotiating the peaty wastes as you go up and over and onwards towards the tiny hamlet of Crowden.

I made it to the cairn-marked summit, but then I somehow lost track of the way and took one hell of a wrong turn down into the attractive town of Glossop. If anybody who is reading this has actually walked the Pennine Way before, they will now be scoffing and no doubt laughing their heads off at my misguided expense, for the official route goes nowhere near Glossop. Still, I quite enjoyed my scenic route detour (as if the Way itself wasn't scenic enough!), if only for the fact that I got to pass through the equally-as-attractive settlement of Hadfield (that, along with the nearby Hayfield, seems to be part and parcel of Glossop given the fact that they are that close together).

Upon finding the so-called high street of Hadfield, after pathetically traipsing around its plush residential outer reaches and receiving paranoia-inducing stares from dinner-munching school kids in due course (they obviously didn't see many Pennine Way walkers down from the hills), I marched on thrilled to bits in the knowledge that I'd visited the town in which the hilarious TV comedy series The League of Gentlemen was filmed.

In homage to such a series having been set there, a bright and breezy Cafe Royston lured visitors and residents towards the light, with the fictional town name of Royston Vasey having doubled for Hadfield in the series. From Hadfield I hooked up with a fantastic section of the Trans-Pennine Trail (which runs from Liverpool to Hull right over the Pennine chain from West to East) that scenically ushered me past a series of Manchester-serving reservoirs that dominated the pretty valley of Longdendale. Torside Reservoir being one of the most eye-catching expanses of water that became graced with boating action once the locals got off work at tea-time.

Thankful for a safe place to camp after my hair-raising night on Kinder Scout less than 24 hours previous, the small campsite in Crowden was a relative godsend, before I headed off in search of the feared Black Hill the next morning: another 'hill' renowned for its peaty wastes, and that can be particularly nasty to meet on a dark and damp day. Unluckily for me, the next morning was dark and damp and fog-riddled to such an extent that I was overjoyed to get over and off Black Hill.

The beautiful area around Holmfirth lay just a few miles further east, but the PW (short for Pennine Way) pressed on in a more northerly direction past yet more and more reservoirs - such as Wessenden -towards Standedge, where the A62 road cuts across the path, meandering West to Saddleworth. The next section between Standedge and where the M62 crossed the way at Windy Hill should have been a four-mile-long doddle, but as wind and rain set in ever more harshly, I took yet another unnecessary excursion that took me out of my way.

Still, I did eventually trudge across the pedestrian bridge that safely spans the awfully busy M62, before I proceeded to dart up onto the even windier Blackstone Edge, a rocky outcrop of high and mighty gritstone.

Continued ... next page

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