Tilly on the Sett Valley Trail
Last week, I needed to go to Manchester for a quick business trip. Since I didn’t want to leave Tilly at home, I decided to find some dog walks along the way.
Travelling from Buxton, I followed the A6 to Chapel en le Frith and then turned off the dual carriageway and carried on along the A624 to Hayfield (eventually leading to Glossop). My first dog walk began at Hayfield, where I parked up and walked along the Sett Valley trail, which is a 2.5 cycle and bridleway trail which links Hayfield to New Mills.
View from Sett Valley Trail
It is a linear walk which follows a former railway line through countryside with some lovely views of reservoirs and hillside views. The first section of the path leads to Birch Vale where you need to cross a relatively busy road to continue along the Sett Valley trail. I continued along this path for a little longer and met quite a few fellow dog walkers along the way.
It is useful to know that there are lots of footpaths which lead off the Sett Valley trail and I noticed that you could walk up to Lantern Pike, however a copy of the The Peak District: Dark Peak Area (OS Explorer Map) would prove very useful if you wanted to develop a circular walk of your own.
Tilly and I were out for about an hour and a quarter and enjoyed a lovely linear walk.
Having arrived back at the car, it was time for a quick breakfast for Tilly and a comfort stop for me. There are toilets in the pay and display car park, which are very welcome on a road trip!
I continued on to Manchester and spent a couple of hours working, whilst Tilly had a well deserved snooze in the car. Our journey back was via Glossop and our destination was Torside reservoir and the Longendale Trail. From Glossop you follow the B6105 towards the A628.
Views of reservoir from Torside
The Longendale trail is another path which is used by both walkers and cyclists but has beautiful views of reservoirs and dramatic hillsides. There is a good visitors car park at Torside which also has toilets. Whilst the car park is pay and display, you can use your Peak District visitors car park pass if you have one.
You can choose to walk in either direction along the trail, the Woodhead tunnel is at one end, whilst Hadfield is signposted in the other direction. Either one will allow to give your dog a good stretch of his/hers legs…….
Finally after a long day on the road we headed home via Glossop and then Chapel before heading down the A6 back to Buxton.
