Kinder Loop Day 1 - Glossop to Langsett

Distance: 21.6 miles
Ascent: 550m
Weather: sunny

Animatronic robins
Woodpecker
Long tailed tits
Buzzards
Oyster catchers
Curlews
Lapwings
Frogs frogging
Mallard on a tiny pond
Red grouse
Pied wagtail
Kestrel
Thing on wall (ed. meadow pippet)
Hare
Pheasant
Bunnies: oodles

Well fed, we set off from the Queens Arms Inn in Old Glossop and walked through the park (where the small child falling over into the wall was not at all amusing) and into town.

We took a lane up to Mouselow Hill, where the motte is now a mobile phone mast. Possibly we could have taken a more direct path, but we got put off by a big sign in the distance saying private. At the other side, there was clearly a path through, so we should have gone to investigate more closely.

At Padfield we joined the Longenden Trail and then the Trans Pennine Trail (east) and followed this for the next few miles, above Rhodeswood, Torside and Woodhead Reservoirs. At the entrance to the old Woodhead tunnel, we crossed the road and headed up on to the moorland above. There were significantly fewer people up here, and significantly more sheep and birds.

At Dunsford Bridge it got busier again with walkers and cyclists,  we stopped for lunch on one of the benches handily placed every km into Penistone, with buzzards circling overhead and curlews calling.

We left the TPT at Eckland and then followed bridleways towards Langsett Reservoir, where we left the Kinder Loop for the day. A very pleasant grassy path took us to the Dog and Partridge hotel, where we have a room with a view of lapwings and bunnies.