Bleaklow Head and Torside Clough from Torside Reservoir
You get a flat 5km warm-up, one long honest climb onto some of the emptiest peat in England, and then four kilometres of clear, fast descending along the lip of Torside Clough with the reservoir laid out below you.
Effort: Good distance, solid climb
Underfoot: Technical, navigation required
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A 16.9km loop from Torside car park in Longdendale, running the old railway line east along the reservoirs before climbing 400m onto the Bleaklow plateau and returning on the Pennine Way down Torside Clough.
You get a flat 5km warm-up, one long honest climb onto some of the emptiest peat in England, and then four kilometres of clear, fast descending along the lip of Torside Clough with the reservoir laid out below you.
The route
Start at Torside car park below the dam and pick up the Longdendale Trail heading east. The first 5km are the easy part: a level old railway line along the north side of Torside and Woodhead reservoirs, gaining barely 60m and giving you time to loosen off. You pass the mouth of Wildboar Clough at around 3km and keep going towards the head of the valley at Woodhead.
Onto Bleaklow
The route leaves the trail at Black Clough and turns southwest onto the moor. From here it is a sustained 6km pull of a little over 350m onto the Bleaklow plateau. There is a path for parts of it and nothing much for others. Above about 500m the ground turns to peat hag and grough, and the last kilometre to Bleaklow Head at 631m is the full Dark Peak experience: black peat channels, no obvious line, and a cairn that appears out of nowhere. In cloud this is a compass job rather than a follow-your-nose job.
Torside Clough
From Bleaklow Head you join the Pennine Way and turn northwest, and the running gets good again. The path drops past Wildboar Grain and John Track Well, then runs the northern lip of Torside Clough along Clough Edge with the ravine falling away to your left. It is one of the best descents in the northern Peak: a clear line, a steady gradient, and around 400m of loss over 4km with Torside Reservoir in front of you the whole way. Past Reaps you drop back onto the trail and the car park.
Why it works
The shape does the work. A flat warm-up, one long climb, a summit that feels genuinely remote for somewhere half an hour from Manchester, and a descent you can run hard. The 447m of climb across 16.9km is not a big number, but Bleaklow's ground is slow and the plateau punishes anyone who has not brought a map. Take it as a navigation day with good running at either end and you will get the best out of it.
The Bleaklow plateau is featureless peat hag and disorientating in cloud, with no continuous path between Black Clough and Bleaklow Head - carry a map and compass and know how to use them. The high ground is fully exposed with no shelter for around 8km, and the Clough Edge path runs close to a steep drop into Torside Clough. Open access land here can be closed at short notice when the Fire Severity Index is high.
Summits on this route
Safety on this route
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text register to 999
- Tell someone your route and expected return time before you head out
Leave No Trace
- Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories.
- Please respect the countryside and all its inhabitants.
- Dogs on leads near livestock, and around ground-nesting birds from March to July.
- Gates as you find them — open or closed, leave it that way for the farmer and the next runner.
- Take it all home — wrappers, peel, tissue, the lot. It doesn't count as biodegradable if you can still see it.
- Stick to the path where the ground either side is wet, planted, or nesting habitat.
Common questions
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