Preramble

'Do you know where Alderman's Hill is?' The enquiry was from one of two young girls who had approached me while I was waiting for the Kapitan and the Cabin Boy. 'Your standing at the bottom of it' I told them, and I gave them directions to find the path to the top. A few minutes later, we overtook them as they seemed to spend most of their time posing for selfies. The climb to the top of Alderman's Hill was steep and direct. The plus side of this was that we got to the top fairly quickly. The views from the craggy top are normally quite dramatic, down on to the three reservoirs of Dovestone, Yeoman Hey and Greenfield. Unfortunately, the morning mist still lingered and there was still a winter dawn gloom, and so the views weren't the best. I remember standing on this crag on a wonderful day when there was a cloud inversion below, with blue skies and sun above me. Today couldn't have been more different.

I took a few photos with the hope that one of them might turn out presentable and we headed off northwards on a track towards Dick Hill. The mist seemed to be getting worse and then we started seeing a few flurries of snow. 'Yippee, we could see some snow!' shouted the Cabin Boy. I reminded her that we were at the wrong side of the Pennines and we still needed to get home after the walk.  After Dick Hill we headed off on another track towards the war memorial obelisk. It wasn't long before we got there and found the two young girls we'd met earlier, wandering about the monument taking selfies of themselves. The sheer size of the monument is impressive and it has been given a prominent position looking over the towns of Greenfield and Uppermill. The plaques indicated that it is a memorial to those that were lost in both world wars. It is worth having a wander around this location since there are some large and interesting rock formations. This area is also known as Pots And Pans derived from the largest stone having holes and basins in its top. We started making our way back to Alderman's Hill. It was less misty than earlier when we got to its summit, but there was still that early morning gloom around. We made the steep descent back to the carpark and headed back to the car. We'd had the luxury of not taking our rucksacks on this preramble and so we picked them up from the car and set out on the main part of today's walk.

Dovestones Reservoir

Binn Green is appropriately named since it looks like a lot of people treat it as a dustbin. I've never seen so much litter around a beauty spot. At least the RSPB's birdfeeders were full and being used by our feathered friends. We walked down to the reservoir path and joined the masses of people walking the reservoir circuit. It was only around 9 am, but as we walked across the top of the dam, we could see what looked like chaos in the main Dovestone carpark. All the parking slots had been taken, and yet more cars were still attempting to come in, and those already in, couldn't get out. The day was brightening up a bit now and the tops were losing some of the mist. We crossed over Chew Brook and left the main reservoir path on a track that headed uphill to the edge. Immediately we lost the throngs of people and we were back on our own again. It felt quite a relief. We stopped for a break halfway up the climb. As I drank some coffee, I heard a screech behind me and a mountain biker came skidding down the track on my right. He did well to hang on since it was quite steep. 

Dovestone Rocks

The ascent track intercepted the edge path at the large Fox Stone rock. A plaque has been attached to the stone to commemorate the climbers, Brian Tease and Tom Morton. These youngsters were killed while climbing in the Dolomites. The next section of the walk, along the edge of Dovestone Rocks and Dean Rocks was absolutely stunning. There were huge crags forming the edge and large vertical drops. The reservoirs seemed a long way below. There are supposed to be some Peregrine Falcons around here, but the skies were quiet today. We could even see Manchester's city to the west and I noticed with some envy that its residents seemed to be enjoying some sun. 

The edge path led along the top of clough of Ashway Gap and got quite boggy. We continued northwards on the other side of the clough and eventually came to a large stone memorial cross.  The moment is to commemorate the death of the Liberal MP James Platt, who was accidently shot dead by the Oldham Mayor, Josiah Radcliffe on the 27th of August 1857. Radcliffe's gun discharged when he accidently stumbled while they were out shooting on the moors. Platt was hit in the leg and died from loss of blood. I've never found a happy story where guns are involved. It was now time for our highlight of today's walk, the Trinnacle. We started heading off eastwards over the trackless moor.

Trinnacle

One or two flurries of snow started again as we made our way over the moor but it didn't materialise to anything much. I didn't take a bearing since Birchen Clough on the other side of the moor is a pretty much impossible target to miss. After a while we dropped down to the path that runs along the west side of the clough. We could see some hardy souls making their way up the waterfall path. There seemed to be a lot of water coming down and I guessed that their route could have been tricky. We followed the path along the western edge of Birchen Clough until we reached Raven Stones. The crags here are as just amazing as those above Ashway Gap. Just as the track turned westwards the Trinnacle came into view. It really was a dramatic site. Three pillars of rock with Greenfield Reservoir being visible in the background, far below. I suggested that the Kapitan and the Cabin Boy should climb to the top of the central one so that I could get a good photo. They declined. Not surprising really, since I often hear or read of the occasional report of somebody falling off. A stream of people were making their way towards the Trinaccle along the track that runs along the edge of Raven Stones. I'm not a big fan of that path since it is narrow, muddy and has a massive drop off the crags. Instead, we headed on a more direct route across the moors, back towards the memorial cross. We had our lunch sat next to the curious stone shelter a hundred metres or so from the edge. It was a curious feature in that there was no obvious entry point to get inside it and it was partially filled in. Maybe it was a grouse butt at some stage. There was the inscription 'Mason' on a nearby stone. After lunch we continued back across the moors to the memorial cross.

Return

We started meeting other walkers again as we headed back down to the reservoirs. Most were coming down, but one or two late starters were still on their way up. We joined the parade of other families making their way across the Yeoman Hay dam. On the other side a dog litter bin was so full that people had started just piling up rubbish below it. If the Dovestone valley needs anything, then its got to be more bins. We made our way back up to the Binn Green carpark and the Cabin Boy left some more birdseed to supplement the meals from the birdfeeders. I was glad to see that no parking fine had been left on my windscreen.

It had been a stunning day around one of the most picturesque areas of the Peak District. The moorland edges around here are craggy and offer superb views down on to the reservoirs. It is a popular place though and so expect to share this wonderful location with a lot of other people. I wouldn't recommend climbing the Trinaccle...despite how many photos you may see of people standing on the top of it.