This is a pleasant canal walk between two stations on the Manchester to Huddersfield railway line....

RGW

A pleasant walk mainly along the towpath by the Huddersfield Narrow Canal on the edge of the Peak District. Very tranquil on a winters afternoon. A long tunnel - take a torch!...

DerbyshireBBguide

A small diversion to the The Hartshead Inn was well worth it - the food was excellent - before descending quite steeply into Mossley....

DerbyshireBBguide

This route was basically a nice walk along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, and included several locks, a pylon astride the canal, some interesting canal and industrial relics, and most excitingly, a canal tunnel to negotiate!...

Mary Oz

After passing some new housing along a gravel path, we reached some woods, then a set of shallow steps took us up to the good path that runs around Knotts Hill Nature Reserve and reservoir. Back on the field path we had good views of Hartshead Pike, and back to the centre of Manchester. The views down into Mossley were lovely, but the steep path down was a bit muddy and slippy, and could be a bit overgrown in summer, but it looked well used....

Mary Oz

It is quite heavily wooded which means it doesn't have great views in spring and summer, but that doesn't really detract from it. Nice piece of public art by local artist Chris Cyprus at the start too. (See photo) Richly deserves its snail!...

jbeckton

I actually reviewed this as SPRMOS1 originally, not being quite sure how much deviation was needed to constitute a new route....

jbeckton

Graded one star as blocked access (padlocked gate) and no right of way on the OS map at grid ref 962040....

DerbyshireBBguide

A pleasant low level route which drops down the main road from Mossley station to Bottoms and then follows a former railway line (route of the Tame Valley Way and Pennine Bridleway) through to Uppermill. Views of the valley through the trees on a nice day in January but probably few views in the summer when the trees are in leaf....

DerbyshireBBguide

This was a very pleasant walk on a sunny day in January, starting off from the main road through Grotton but very quickly entering a hidden green valley....

DerbyshireBBguide

It is just a few hundred metres from Mossley Station (still in use) to the beautifully restored Micklehurst Station on the completely separate, but parallel line....

Mary Oz

As pointed out by Jbeckton, this route has access problems grid reference 962040 where a padlocked gate blocks the route. I snuck around the side of this and could see no trodden route across the field. On the OS Map there is no public right of way from here all the way to 964035, therefore this route should not be verified....

Mary Oz

It then crosses up through a field on an obvious path, to a quiet road. There was another field path shortly, off the next road, which gave great views of Mossley, but then headed steeply downhill to a pub, and was very muddy and rutted....

Mary Oz

Leaving the 'bus terminus at Grotton (not actually Springhead) head down Oldham Road past a terrace of houses and turn left down Old Mill Lane. Keep going over a stile and follow a grassy track along a field until you reach Thornley Lane. Here, turn left up Lane Head Road past a former pub which has a clock painted on the front permanently showing 28 minutes past 11 (it's always 2 minutes to opening time!). (Photo 4) Follow Lane Head Road and where it swings round to the left take a bridleway which heads off to the right before some houses....

jbeckton

The route is relatively easy to follow, although we did get a bit lost on the way up to Luzley Road....

thesnail