Marching To March Haigh

This first part of the walk followed the Pennine Way northwards. There were good views westwards down to the Cattleshaw Reservoirs. Further along the edge a stone post indicated that the Pennine Way branched to the right on to the moors, whilst the Oldham Way continued along the edge. I followed the Pennine Way.

The route goes over featureless moor until it reaches the A640. I was shocked to find a burnt out car in the gulley just off the road. A new addition since I had last been here. A few years back I'd come across a burnt out Range Rover further along the Pennine Way, near the footpath bridge over the M62. It must be the local pastime in this area.

I left the rusting wreck and headed off away from the road on the Marsden path. This path gradually drops down the moor and I could eventually see my next target, the March Haigh Reservoir. The reservoir is enclosed in a pleasing amphitheatre of hills with the Buckstones crags to the north.

Standedge

From the reservoir I followed the valley downhill towards Marsden. There is a blue plaque on a wall at the side of the road in Hey Green that signifies the location of the water powered generator which provided the first electrically lit house in the Colne Valley. There is an interesting iron gate giving access to the building, embellished with a wonderful bush.

I diverted off the road on to a parallel trail that runs through woodland. There were plenty of birds that had made the location their home. The previous time I was here I was privileged to watch a Kingfisher diving off a branch into the nearby river.

I reached the entrance to the Standedge Tunnel. This example of incredible Civil Engineering; it is the highest, deepest and longest canal tunnel in the UK. It is 5,189 metres long. It was built to link the mills of Yorkshire to Manchester. The tunnel is still in operation today, although for tourists rather than business. The entrance to the trans Pennine railway is nearby too. In fact, there are three railway tunnels that were built, although only one is in use now.

Virtutus Fortuna Comes

From the Standedge Visitor Centre I started the long ascent of Pule Hill. After crossing the A62, I started walking along a track that had been topped with all types of broken brick, block and concrete. It was awkward to walk along and I was grateful when it terminated at a couple of derelict farm houses. Their occupants had once expansive views over Marsden and I wondered why a property developer hadn't seen some potentially here. Probably, the cost of resurfacing that track might be one thing.

A steep ascent from the farms and I reached a wooden cross. A plaque on it commemorates the soldiers in the 2nd/7th Battalion of the Duke Of Wellington's Regiment that died in the 2nd World War. A sign, enclosed by a wreath, shows the Duke Of Wellington's crest that has the motto: Virtutus Fortuna Comes (Fortune Favours The Brave).

A large, square brick structure is nearby. This is a ventilation shaft from the Standedge tunnels that run beneath the hillside. I walked southwards along the gently ascending path that runs along Pule Hill's impressive western crags. There is much evidence of these crags (in fact a lot of Pule Hill) being quarried.

There was an amazing view across the Pennines as I reached the top of Pule Hill. A gale force wind was battering me; it wasn't a day for hanging about and so I started the descent towards Butterley Reservoir.

Utterly Butterley

Butterley Reservoir is very picturesque. It is the lowest of the four reservoirs in the Wessenden Valley. It has a dramatic spillway that apparently is the only spillway that is a Grade II listed structure. A track runs alongside the reservoir up the Wessenden Valley.

I came across an unusual still life sculpture near a brook. I was looking for a place to sit and eat my lunch but I was disappointed to find that it didn't have any comfortable perching points.

Blakeley is the next reservoir up the Wessenden Valley. It is smaller than Butterley but feels more secluded, and is just as pretty. I plodded along a rather muddy track alongside the reservoir. A met a rather dapper looking man walking in the opposite direction, who was wearing a flat cap and a green, plastic poncho. Maybe it was time to review my own walking attire.

The reservoir petered out to a stream running along the valley and I followed that until I reached the Pennine Way. If there is any part of the Pennine Way that could do with some TLC, then it is the ascent from this stream up on to Black Moss. The ascent is steep, although not dangerously so. The problem is that it is eroded and it makes it slippery in nearly all weathers. I say 'nearly', in that today's icy conditions, had made the mud quite tacky and provided some welcome purchase to the hillside. I'm not a fan of slab steps, but I think 'Pennine Wayers' would welcome some on this stretch.

Yorkshire Reservoir Bonanza

The path back to Standedge follows the Pennine Way and provided a bonanza of three reservoirs for my Yorkshire Reservoir Venture. A slabbed path brought me in between two of them: Black Moss and Swellands. There is a wonderful sense of isolation and remoteness in this area. I once wild camped near them. I remember poking my head out of my tent at 6 a.m. in the morning, only to find a man walking his dogs a couple of hundred metres away....so not that remote.

The Pennine Way made a slight ascent over the moor and revealed a view of the Redbrook Reservoir with Pule Hill overlooking it. The water from Redbrook replenishes the water in the Standedge canal that I'd visited earlier in the day.

It was still frosty when I got back to the car park, and in the Brin Clough Reservoir, I noticed that the Great Crested Grebe was still finding life under the water more agreeable than life above it. A bearded walker had followed me into the car park with his upper body only protected by a tee shirt. Maybe I really am getting nesh in my old age.