Black Hill and the Wessendon Reservoirs
With much better weather than I had for my previous day's walk on the Pennine Way I set off from the Crowden Youth Hostel and climbed out of Longdendale. I was now walking on an excellent path in Crowden Great Clough through stunning scenery with a good mix of vegetation and with warm, sunny weather until eventually I reached the edge of the clough above Laddow Rocks. 
From this great vantage point I dropped down to the Crowden Great Brook where the terrain and the weather deteriorated as I crossed the bleak, dreary moor slowly heading towards Black Hill. While walking beside the brook the path had been a little boggy, but at least that had added a little interest to the walk, but once I left the brook behind flag stones became the path surface of choice which just added to the tedium. Flag stones may make the walking easier but they also make it less challenging. With the wind getting stronger and colder I climbed up to the flat, boggy, wind-swept summit of Black Hill. At the top I sheltered behind the Soldier’s Lump (the pile of stones that the trig point sits on) and had something to eat, but I didn’t stay long. Despite the sunny weather it was cold and windy and the dark peaty terrain on top of Black Hill is totally unappealing.
From this great vantage point I dropped down to the Crowden Great Brook where the terrain and the weather deteriorated as I crossed the bleak, dreary moor slowly heading towards Black Hill. While walking beside the brook the path had been a little boggy, but at least that had added a little interest to the walk, but once I left the brook behind flag stones became the path surface of choice which just added to the tedium. Flag stones may make the walking easier but they also make it less challenging. With the wind getting stronger and colder I climbed up to the flat, boggy, wind-swept summit of Black Hill. At the top I sheltered behind the Soldier’s Lump (the pile of stones that the trig point sits on) and had something to eat, but I didn’t stay long. Despite the sunny weather it was cold and windy and the dark peaty terrain on top of Black Hill is totally unappealing. Leaving the top I dropped down the northern slopes where views could now be seen extending far to the north including a noticeably tall mill chimney far in the distance. Leaving the black peat and the cold winds behind I was now able to enjoy the descent passing through a dense area of heather until I reached the second Trans-Pennine road that I had encountered on the trail, the A635. Crossing the road I found some shelter from the strong wind in a disused quarry while I had my lunch. Emerging from my shelter I started walking down a track past the Wessenden Reservoirs. After a short spell of rain this was an enjoyable, sunny walk down the valley, but with winds that were still very strong. At this point I had a choice to make. My destination for the day was the town of Marsden at the bottom of the valley, so an easy option would have been to continue down the wide track in this delightful valley all the way into Marsden. However it was only two o’clock, so I decided to stay on the Pennine Way by dropping steeply to the valley bottom after passing the second Wessenden Reservoir before climbing even more steeply up the other side. 
The Pennine Way has undergone many subtle changes of route over the years and I have found that every guidebook and map I have consulted shows a slightly different route, particularly at this point. My OS map shows the Pennine Way crossing the dam of the second reservoir and following a level path around the steep-sided valley to the top of the steep path mentioned at the end of the previous paragraph. This strikes me as a much easier and more interesting route than the one I took which was directed by my Harvey map and the signs on the ground. I don’t know the reason for the changes made to the Pennine Way but anything is better than that climb up from the river. I continued along the path beside Blakely Clough and climbed onto the windy moor of Black Moss passing between the wind-swept reservoirs of Black Moss and Swellands to cross Rocher Moss and head towards Standedge Cutting.
The Pennine Way has undergone many subtle changes of route over the years and I have found that every guidebook and map I have consulted shows a slightly different route, particularly at this point. My OS map shows the Pennine Way crossing the dam of the second reservoir and following a level path around the steep-sided valley to the top of the steep path mentioned at the end of the previous paragraph. This strikes me as a much easier and more interesting route than the one I took which was directed by my Harvey map and the signs on the ground. I don’t know the reason for the changes made to the Pennine Way but anything is better than that climb up from the river. I continued along the path beside Blakely Clough and climbed onto the windy moor of Black Moss passing between the wind-swept reservoirs of Black Moss and Swellands to cross Rocher Moss and head towards Standedge Cutting.Before reaching yet another Trans-Pennine road I turned right off the Pennine Way onto an excellent track, a former packhorse road, which led me all the way down into the industrial town of Marsden. With no youth hostel in the area I caught a train from the railway station in Marsden to Manchester and stayed in the youth hostel there. This was a really varied walk with some great highlights that included Crowden Great Clough and the Wessenden Valley, but Black Hill doesn’t deserve any praise. As the third of the great peat hills of the Dark Peak, Black Hill fails in every comparison to Bleaklow and Kinder Scout, which I went over the previous day. The other two have gritstone outcrops that add interest to the surroundings, and Black Hill doesn’t even top two thousand feet, unlike the other two. Even though this was the first time I’d ever been up Black Hill I don’t feel like ever going up again.
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