Carole's retirement adventures

County: West Yorkshire

Name of high point: Black Hill 582m (1909 ft)

Date completed: March 18th 2026

Black Hill is located in the Peak District. It used to be the highest point in Cheshire but now lies on the border of West Yorkshire and Derbyshire and is now the highest point in West Yorkshire at 582m.

I decided to take advantage of a decent weather forecast and attempt my first county high point of 2026. This one was a 1.5 hour drive from home (in theory but bearing in mind I had to travel on the M60 /M62 where there are frequent hold ups) so I set off just before 9am as I was meeting a friend at the start of the walk at 10:30am. I arrived at Wessenden Head Car Park at around 10:20 and although the car park is small and was busy I managed to get a space there. An alternative place to park was back in a lay by on the main A635.

We started the walk by going through a gate opposite the car park onto a wide track. It’s signposted The Pennine Way and is easy to follow all the way to Wessenden Head and Wessenden Reservoirs.

It was good to see a variety of wildlife on the route including toads and meadow pipits. Amazing what a bit of sunshine does.

The Pennine Way was quite busy with hikers, dog walkers and cyclists all making the most of the good weather. After passing the two reservoirs we then passed Wessenden Lodge to find a fingerpost which headed left off the main path which still followed the Pennine Way and was well signposted.

This path took us downhill to a footbridge which we crossed and then had a steep climb up a bank opposite Blakely Clough

We stopped for a rest at the top by an old air shaft and continued up the clough to a small stream and a weir which we had to cross. The path continues for quite a way across the moorland on the distinctive slabs of the Pennine Way until it reaches Black Moss Reservoir which looked quite low despite a lot of winter rain.

There was another reservoir marked on the map called Swellands Reservoir but it was completely empty. Apparently, there is restoration work being done in the area which explains why it’s dry.

We walked all the way round Black Moss Reservoir to get to the Old Pennine Way by the Reservoir Dam and stopped for lunch sitting on a wall at the side of the reservoir which was very pleasant.

After lunch we set off over the peatlands of Marsden Moor having left the New Pennine Way behind. The terrain underfoot was quite boggy and there was no definite path. We had to follow a line of posts to stay on the route eventually picking up the flagstones which were a welcome sight and made the walking a bit easier. This eventually brought us to the A635 and a small car park.

There are some animal sculptures on the Moor like the one in the photo which are helping the National Trust monitor the health of Marsden Moor through the ‘Eyes on the Bog Project’, a restoration project to monitor the peatlands.

Having reached the main A road we had to walk about 250m along it to find a track on the right hand side which would take us up to the summit of Black Hill. This was probably the most challenging part of the walk as there was no definite path through the peatlands and bogs which made the walking quite hard going. We eventually found a path which had small marker posts along it. The path then became a little easier to follow all the way up to the summit of Black Hill and the Trig point.

From here we turned left and re-joined the Pennine Way which crosses the summit of Black Hill from Crowden to descend a paved path following a boundary ditch. We had to cross Dean Clough which was a challenge to already weary legs. This paved path eventually brought us back to the A635 where we crossed and made our way back up the the car park.

Another county high point ticked off but this one was a challenge due to the terrain and the boggy peatlands. I could have chosen the easy way up and down but where’s the challenge in that???

A total of 10.65 miles and an elevation gain of 1476ft on a beautiful spring day and two very tired legs.

The M60 and M62 didn’t disappoint as it took me 2 hours to get home, a distance of 41 miles!!