Old Glossop - Doctor's Gate - Bleaklow - Old Glossop

Craig Lannigan

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You begin the walk by visiting the quaint village of Old Glossop. There are several cobbled streets and picturesque landmarks to make it a lovely spot to commence an exhilarating walk. With plenty of places to park you will not be far from the road that takes you past the factory that lines the route onto the fells.

The road turns into track and the scenery hits you fast. You follow the course of a river through a valley for a short time, before climbing stiles separating fields. Still on the track, you walk past a reservoir set in a small oasis lined by nearby farm buildings. Avoiding anything that remotely resembles habitation, you begin to walk up gentle slopes towards open country. As quickly as you make any altitude you must descend again to follow a second valley track, also lined by a brook.

A couple of kilometres later and you begin to rise steeply, traversing many cloughs overlooking a very dramatic Doctor's Gate Valley. Continuing to rise, you eventually meet the Pennine Way, where the fells become moorland. You now start your journey towards the summit of Bleaklow, which begins as a well- marked stone slab corridor but soon turns into a varied and worrying network of paths and channels. Fortunately they all lead to the summit, which is a bleak and vast plateau of rock and peat.

The summit affords glorious views in good weather, but in itself is quite featureless. The route from the summit is confusing, but once again all routes lead to the path onwards. A gentle descent brings you to Torside Clough, which is spectacular. You walk along a small ridge path way above the clough and the view over Torside Reservoir and onto the rest of the Dark Peak takes some beating.

A diversion up one of the many smaller cloughs starts the journey back to Old Glossop. Initially over heather moors, the path turns into a track which leads you to Clough Head. The feature itself is again very bland but the view over Glossop and Manchester is excellent. Following the line of grouse butts and old quarrying remains, the path begins to descend to Old Glossop via local plantations. Emerging by stone-built cottages you find yourself once again within reach of the hospitality offered by the village's many public houses.

England - Central England - Derbyshire - Peak District

Features

Food Shop, Great Views, Pub, Toilets

5/28/2020 - mary Howson

Great walk. Completed in May 2020, on a beautiful, sunny, hot day during lock down. Good clear directions up to doctors gate, where we met lots of people walking from snake pass to the site of the air crash. We enjoyed the walk to Bleaklow head and easily found the next section of the walk. The final section off the pennine way towards Glossop was more difficult and the scramble up the clough could be missed, but directions and warnings are good. We did struggle on the section past the quarry and down to the plantations but soon found the way. The footpaths are not well marked and directions not particularly clear. We did wonder if 9.9 miles is accurate. My fit bit recorded 15 miles. It was a real shame pubs are closed, we could have done with a long cold drink. Fabulous walk in summer.

10/2/2019 - Martin Dunkley

I reccied this walk on 18 September 2019 in preparation for leading a ramblers walk in October. The walk was superb and very clear instructions until waymarks 26-28. I am not sure whether there had been any change since first written but this section was extremely unpleasant and unsuitable to take a group through. I have made an adjustment to stay on the very pleasant track at waymark 26 down to Blackshaw farm and Swineshaw reservoir back to the start.

4/23/2019 - Jarrod Hopkinson

I haven't done the whole walk (yet) but I can confirm that Doctor's Gate from Glossop to the Pennine Way is fully accessible and that the bridge has been rebuilt for at least a year now.

2/24/2013 - Malcolm Wilkinson

Did this walk on 17th Feb 2013 on a crisp clear Winter's day. Beautiful walk up Doctor's gate and up to Bleaklow. However got very lost trying to pick up the route off the top of Bleaklow, Headed North as instructed but never came across the noted fence to pick up the trail once more. I would advise against any non-experienced walkers attempting this route, especially in poor weather and certainly to have a map and compass handy in case our experience is repeated.

3/18/2012 - daron linney

Walked this on 3/3/2012 with a party of 6 [inc myself and my springer max]. The views are spectacular. I have walked different parts of the peak district, and this walk is one of my favourites to date. Good clear instructions, using a g.p.s and map encountered no problems. As said, looking back at every opportunity on Doctor's Gate [and indeed all along the walk] is well recommended.