North Marsden Moor circuit

This is quite a hard walk, with part of it being over the morrland with no paths. Howver, it is a fantastic walk in northern part of the moor with some good views to reward you. As you can see from the route profile below, it has a steep start!

We parked at the large car park byMarsden Train Station, where the National trust office is (Grid ref SE 049 118). Head out of the car park back towards the station, onto the road and bear right. The road crosses over the railway. Turn right once over the bridge (the main road bears left) and then turn left up a track after about 50m.This part of the path is part of the Colne Valley Circular Way - look out for the route markers on fences, gate posts, etc to help you on your way.

After about 150m bear right (still following a footpath). At this point, you'llprobably feel like you're waliking through someone's garden, but don't worry as you are on the right of way! Follow the path uphill to a larger farm track. Cross straight over and continue on the bath (still uphill!). As you go uphill, you'll be rewarded with great views - Holme Moss and Black Hill behind you, with Huddersfield off to the right and Halifax appearing ahead.

After about 2.5km you will see Cupwith Reservoir ahead on the left. Just before the reservoir, the Colne Valley Circular Way heads off to the right. You need to ingnore this and continue straight ahead along the edge of the reservoir. When you reach the road, cross the road bearing right and take the footpath on the left.

Follow the track through a farm yard and into a field. Once into the field, turn left and follow the path down the steep bank, heading towards the dam wall of Deanhead Reservoir. Follow the path along the dam wall. At the end of the wall,continue straight ahead up the steep grassy slope to a broken wall and then bear right. Follow this and then bear left, heading uphill to the Saddleworth Road.

Once on the road, turn left, and then look for a footpath on the other side of the road just ahead. Go through the gate and then follow the path away from the road for about 75m, then turn left on a track that runs parallel to the road. You'll also see the M62 away to your right down the hill. Just before a wall, you'll see a large boundary stone. Once you go through the gate in the wall, this is where the path peters out and a bit of a slog begins!

Your route takes you along the ridge above the M62 - keep following this for about 3km until you get to the Way Stones (Grid ref SD 998 141). From the stones, bear left towards a fence ine and follow that all the way until you meet the Penine Way (at about grid ref SD 995 129). Take th Penine Way downhill to the main road, cross this to the obvious paths on the other side (there is a National Trust information board there) but leave the Penine Way here and bear left following the Pack Horse Trail acroos the moor back towards Marsden.

At Close Gate Bridge, turn left following the river up to the road. The road leads you to the Tunnel End Inn, a great place for a pint at the (almost) end of the way. Walkers are very welcome here! From the pub, head down the hill towards the Stanedge Tunnel visitors centre and cross the canal. Follow the tow path to the left, which will take you back to the station and the car park.

Distance: 17.6km

Time: 4 hours (plus breaks)

Posted via email from Adam A Davidson

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Marsden to West Nab (and back)

A great walk to a fantastic view, with good paths for most of the way and a hike across moorland for the kilometre to/from the summit.

We parked at the car park near Marsden station - the one for the Standedge Tunnel.

From here, head out of the car park down the hill (away from the station). At the junction, bear right following the round round. You'll cross over a stream and the road will go under the A62. Keep going towards a small roundabout and go straight over.

The road starts to climb and brings you up to the dam wall of Butterly Reservoir. Follow the Kirklees Way along the side of the reservoir. About half-way along (at grid ref SE052099) leave the main track and take the path that climbs up to the left, slightly back on yourself. Follow this to grid ref SE052102, where a path heads off to the right between two walls up the side of a field. At the top, bear right where there is an open turning area for cars. This points makes a decent coffee stop!

Walk out the end of the turning area, bearing left and follow the distinct path up the hill to the path that runs just below the top of Binn Edge (SE056102). Turn right and follow this path for aout 2km until it is above Wessenden Reservoir. At Little Hey Sike Clough (SE063088) strike off the path across the moorland heading almost directly east.

When you get to the fence near West Nab summit, follow it to the right to find a crossing point and then head up through the rocks towards West Nab - the trig point should now be visible on the horizon. Once at the trig point (SE076087), the view makes it well worth the trip.

The route back is a reverse of the route up. Once you get back to the footpath at Little Hey Sike Clough, you can either head back along the route you followed up or you can cut straight down the hill (south west) to the lower path below. This will then take you along the Kirklees Way back along the side of Wessenden and Butterly Reservoirs.

Go back the way you can up back to the car park. The Railway Inn at the entrance to the car park makes for a nice place to enjoy a chilled beer!

Distance: 14km

Time: 3-3.5 hours (plus breaks)

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Circular Walk taking in Blakely and Butterly Reservoirs

Really nice mixed walk, with hills, moorland, reservoirs and valleys, with some of it along the Penine Way. Does mean a bit of climbing though!

The starting point is the car park on the Penine Way off the south side of the A62 above Delph/Diggle (grid ref SE018095).

From the car park, take the Penine Way path (past a Penine Way information board) heading north-west out of the car park parallel to the A62. Follow the well worn parth down the hill with Redbrook Reservoir on your left. You get great views across the area, with West Nab ahead of you most of the way. When you reach a dip at the bottom of the hill (grid ref SE027095) at the southerly most point of the reservoir, branch off to the right heading up the hill (this is still the Penine Way).

Follow the Penine Way over the hill, turning left along the top (and down the eastern side) of Black Moss Reservoir. Continue on the Penine Way until it drops steeply down Blakeley Clough to the stream and foot bridge (grid ref SE053089). This side of the stream makes a nice stop for lunch/coffee/tea!

Cross the footbridge and take the grassy path (leave the Penine Way) that follows the stream down towards Blakeley Reservoir. At the head of the reservoir, join the wide stone road/track and follow this down the side of Blakeley Reservoir and Butterly Reservoir. The Penine Bridleway is going to go across the dam wall of Butterly Reservoir (grid ref SE049106), but at the time of writing the route was not yet open (although it looked complete!). If the route is open, take this as it saves a bit of time (and climbing!). If it's not open, follow the track on for another 50 yards and take the stone steps down to the left (there is a public footpath fingerpost pointing the way!). This leads you down the side of the weir dropping down from the reservoir. At the bottom bear left along the fence line and climb the steep stone steps up the other sdie of the valley into the village of Netherley. At this point, you'll rejoin where the Penine Bridleway will cross the reservoir wall (grid ref SE046106).

Follow the path up passed the children's play area and go through the wooden gate, then turn left along the front of a row of garages to the road. Cross the road, and take the side raod ahead for about 50 yards. As the road curves to the left there is a footpath that heads directly ahead up the hill. Follow this up to the next road. The views on this path back down the valley towards MArsden are worth taking a moment to enjoy! Turn left along the road when you reach it. On your left, you'll see the Marsden Golf Course.

Follow the road to a T-juntion (grid ref SE038101). Immediately across the road (slightly to the right) you'll see the footpath you want with a small marker. Follow that, and after a bit of twisting and turning it opens onto a wider more distinct track. Take this path all the way back to where it joins the Penine Way and retrace your steps to the car park.

Distance: 10.4km
Time: 2 - 2.5 hours (plus breaks)

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Serial to USB convertor for Garmin GPS unit

My Garmin eTrex Legend came with a serial cable connection, which was fine with the old desktop computer which had a serial port. However, the laptop I now use doesn't have one. To get round the problem I ordered this Serial to USB convertor from GPS Bitz. It works a treat, and was dead simple to install. The conertor came with the required drivers on a CD-ROM, which also contained detailed instructions.

On top of that, it arrived within a couple of days of ordering. Great service from GPS Bitz in my view.

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Walk: Dovertone Reservoir ridge

This walk takes you from Dovestone Reservoir, up to the ridge that runs above it along to Chew Reservoir and back down to Dovestone.

Park in the free Peak District National Park car park above Dovestone reservoir at grid ref SE 017 044, just off the A635. If it's full, you can often park on the main road. From the car park, follow the path down the hill towards the reservoir. Turn left once you join the main path. This brings you to the dam wall between Dovestone Reservoir and Yeoman Hey reservoir. Cross this and then turn right. Almost immediately there will be a path on your left that heads up the hill across the grass. Follow this up (it's a long slog!) to the gate and the keep following it up to the top of the ridge (it does seem to go on forever, but the view makes it worthwhile!).

As you get to the top, you'll be following the ridge to your right. Cross the stream and follow the path round the ridge. The path comes and goes in places, but if you keep near the edge of the ridge, you should pick it up if you lose it. The path follows the ridge all the way round to Chew Reservoir (grid ref SE 035 019). Walk along the dam wall, and then follow the track that cuts diagonally down the dam wall. This is a tarmac track that leads all the way back to Dovestone.

Once down at Dovestone Reservoir, follow the trach left passed the sailing club and then across the dam wall. At the end of the dam wall, go through the gate and follow the track that leads up some steps to the right hand side of the small stand of trees. This loops round the back of the line of trees and brings you back to the track below the car park. Retrace your steps to the car park.

Route length is about 11.5km and should take around 3 hours, plus time for breaks.

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Walk: Featherbed Moss loop

I did a lovely walk on Featherbed Moss over the Christmas break. The starting point is a small parking area just off the A635 at grid reference SE 050 061.

Walk out of the left-hand corner of the parking area over a stile. There is a relatively distinct path heading out over the moor. At the time we did the walk, work was being done to lay flagstones down on the path. Once this has been completed, the path will be both obvious and easy. Until then, the path peters out a bit but is marked by occassional stakes (and piles of flagstones waiting to be laid!). It could also be a bit boggy. It was below freezing the day I did the walk, so the ground was rock solid, but you could see the muddy bits!

Once you get down to the south-west corner of Black Moss Reservoir (grid ref SE 033 085), the path becomes obvious again. Follow the path down the side of the reservoir and across the top, then coming back down the other side between the Black Moss Reservoir and Swellands Reservoir. This is part of the Penine Way and is very well trodden! Follow the path for about 2km to the top of a steep drop down to a stream with a footbridge over it. The wall by the stream makes for a good lunch/coffee/tea stop.

Cross the footbridge and continue up the slope immediately opposite the end of the footbrige. There is a more distinct path to the left but it takes you the wrong way. As you start up the slope, you should see a fingerpost at the top. At the top, follow the road round to Wessenden reservoir. Follow the track down the side of the reservoir, which will lead to Wessenden Head reservoir. Keep on the track, which will eventually lead you up the hill to a B road. Turn right to the A635, and turn right at the A635 (following the Penine Way signs). If you want to cut the walk a bit shorter, follow the A635 back to the parking area at the start of the walk.

Cross the A635 at the Penine Way marker post and follow the track to the top of Black Hill (grid ref SE 078 046). At this point, leave the Penine Way and follow the footpath heading north west off the hilltop. There a re quite a few tracks here, so make sure you get the right one! Follow the footpath back to te A635, turn left along the A635 for about 500 meters to get back to the parking area at the start of the walk.

The total distance of the route is 16km (about 10 miles) and it would probably take 3.5-4 hours plus time for breaks.

You can get the Tracklogs file for the route here.

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My GPS and mapping software

I take my GPS unit on pretty much every walk. Even if I'm not using it for navigation, it lets me know how long and how far I've walked, as well as providing a good back-up to my map reading by giving me a 10 digit Ordnance Survey grid reference!

I use a Garmin eTrex Legend (not the colour version), which seems to be pretty robust and does exactly what I need it to. It's also easy to use, which is a bonus! The battery life seems to be very good too - I can get a good day's walking out of a set of rechargeable batteries. Garmin publish firmware updates for their GPS units here, so it's worth keeping the firmware up to date.

For mapping software, I've always used Tracklogs. They were the cheapest when I was looking for my first digital map (and probably still are). The software is, again, easy to use but is also very powerful and lets you create some fantastic maps. Two other great features I use a lot: the profile of your route (so you can see how bad those climbs are going to be!) and the 3D landscape it generates which helps me visualise the walk a bit more. It also make transferring routes to the GPS a breeze!

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