Pennine Bridleway (192km) Print

A long distance route over the Pennines following old packhorse routes, drovers roads & newly created bridleways

Penine Bridleway Waypoint 1
Starting in Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Derbyshire, the Pennine Bridleway mainly follows historic routes and trails along the flanks of the Pennines. It initially follows the High Peak Trail along a disused railway passing through the limestone of the White Peak. (An alternative starting point is the site of the former Hartington railway station, using a short section of the Tissington Trail before joining the High Peak Trail at Parsley Hay.) Beyond the limestone plateau is the millstone grit of the Dark Peak, and the trail follows the line of a packhorse road from Tideswell, via Peak Forest to Hayfield, where it briefly follows the line of another converted railway, the Sett Valley Trail.Leaving Derbyshire for Greater Manchester, the trail follows the edge of a heather moor and picks up an ancient highway along the Tame valley. From here the trail descends to follow a dismantled railway where the route heads towards Hollingworth Lake. It later joins the Mary Towneley Loop, which climbs to the highest point of the Trail: Top of Leach at 474 metres (1,555 ft). The trail passes through the town of Waterfoot in the Rossendale Valley and follows new tracks via Lumb before entering the Cliviger Gorge and then climbing up to the Long Causeway. The trail joins the Gorple Road, a more remote stretch of the trail that leads to Blackshaw Head. The trail drops down into the Calder valley and the town of Hebden Bridge, where the route picks up London Road and heads towards Bottomley.