Langsett to Margery Hill and High Stones

The route

From Langsett Barn car park, drop to the reservoir and run the shoreline track beneath the pines, an easy, fast start that lets you settle in. Beyond the water the route climbs out onto the open Howden Moors, following moor paths and the peat edge up to Margery Hill at 546m and the nearby High Stones, the highest ground in South Yorkshire. This is the wild northern edge of the Peak District, a long way from any road. The return drops back off the moor to the reservoir and the woods, 18.3km with 343m of climb, most of it earned on the pull onto the tops.

The moor

The Howden Moors are among the emptiest in the Peak: blanket bog, gritstone edges and the sound of curlew in spring. Margery Hill and High Stones sit on the watershed between the Langsett and Derwent catchments, and on a clear day the view stretches across the whole northern Dark Peak.

Why it works

The reservoir section makes it approachable at both ends, but the middle is serious moor where the paths thin and the bog takes over, so it earns its grade. Go on a settled day - the tops are exposed and hard to read in cloud - and you get one of the best big-moor loops in the eastern Peak.

Good to know

Langsett Barn gives you a large car park, toilets and a cafe, and the 407 bus stops by the reservoir, so it is an easy start point. The reservoir woods ease you in and out, but the moor in the middle is remote and exposed, a long way from help, so carry food, layers and the means to navigate. Check for grouse shooting on the Howden Moors between August and December, when access can be restricted on shoot days, and pick a clear spell so you can read the featureless tops around Margery Hill and High Stones.