It’s not often I frequent the moors north of the A628 so I thought it would make a good location for my first Peak District walk since last summer. The weather forecasts were looking exceptionally good for the day, and so I decided to set off extremely early, arriving just after sunrise at 7am. The destination was the car park at Winscar Reservoir – a good starting point as it meant I’d be initially walking with my back to the low early morning sun.

Winscar Reservoir and Snailsden Edge

Winscar reservoir is one of 25 dams along the course of the River Don and was the last to be built with work being completed in 1975. The catchment is low on supply, meaning that when the reservoir is fully drained, it takes an average of 2 years to refill again. The walk starts by heading over the reservoir’s lower dam and following the path north to the upper dam that separates Winscar Reservoir from Harden Reservoir. Cross the dam and continue following the path west, gradually rising to give good views across Harden Reservoir.

Shortly after disused quarry workings become noticeable on the left, the path turns sharply south south-west. This path should be followed until it takes a bend to the left at a wall. At this point, another path branches off sharply to the right, heading up the slope to Snailsden Edge. Continue west along the edge for some distance. The trig point is not visible from the path so keep your eyes peeled for a faint track leading up to the trig (track starts at Gridref: SE 13224 03249, trig is at Gridref: SE 13198 03310). From the trig pillar, another track leads back down to the edge path. Continue to follow the track west. The track will evertually contour around Snailsden Pike End and head north north-east, gradually descending down to a footbridge that crosses Reaps Dike below. After crossing the bridge, head roughly north-west, following the line of grouse butts until the head of Ruddle Clough is reached.

Ramsden Clough, Lightens Edge, and Dewhill Naze

The best views of the walk are to follow as we follow the northern edge to the summit of Woodhead Road. From the head of Ruddle Clough, turn left and follow the edge path around to the head of Ramsden Clough. The views looking down through the clough are fantastic, with Riding Wood Reservoir and Brownhill Reservoir visible in the distance. After crossing the head of Ramsden Clough, the path leaves the edge briefly as it heads west, then north-west across Herbage Hill, eventually bringing you back to the edge on the other side of the hill at the head of Little Twizle Clough. Continue west along the edge (known as Lightens Edge), crossing the head of Great Twizle Clough along the way. More great views are available down on the right, overlooking Yateholme Reservoir and Holme. Towards the end of the edge path, it veers uphill to the left and crosses a section of Holme Moss to arrive at the car park at the summit of Woodhead Road. If in doubt, aim for the Holme Moss transmitting station situated opposite the car park. On a clear day, it’s easily spotted in the distance.

The next section of the walk takes us down to Dewhill Naze which makes a nice viewpoint looking out over Woodhead Reservoir. I wanted to minimise road walking and so attempted to contour around to it keeping to the moorland. This proved to be harder than I originally thought as the landscape appeared to be made up of endless giant tussocks that did a great job at twisting my knees and ankles in every direction. My left knee especially had a torrid time and didn’t really recover for the rest of the day. If you’re not interested in visiting Dewhill Naze then you could quite easily skip it by sticking to the high ground and following the fence towards Britland Edge Hill and Dead Edge End instead. This fence starts opposite the next parking area down from the summit car park. When Dewhill Naze’s most southern point is reached, continue around the edge for another couple of hundred yards then head directly north across the grassy moor. Aim to keep to the highest part of the moor until the head of West Withens Clough (to the right) is passed, then head diagonally north-east up the slope towards Bleakmires Moss and to the right of Britland Edge Hill, until a fence is reached at the top.

Dead Edge End

From this point, navigation becomes a little easier. Follow the line of the fence for some time as it circles around Withens Brook Clough and along Withens Edge, ignoring any other fences that connect to it from the left, until eventually the trig point of Dead Edge End is reached. After the obligatory trig pillar photo’s, continue following the fence until it turns sharply south-west. At this point, head directly south-east across moorland, keeping to the highest point. A good track is eventually reached that runs above the disused Woodhead rail tunnels. Turn left onto this, heading roughly north-west. The track eventually bends sharply to the right and descends back down to the Windle Edge road. It’s now a simple short stretch north-east back to the Winscar car park.