Torside Clough

Torside Clough - 4.5 miles aprox 5 hrs - 448 metres of accent - Rating: Moderate

Torside Clough is an amazing place to explore you can either scramble up the Clough discovering plunge pools and ancient trees along your way or take the upper path which follows the edge of the cliff side, giving breathtaking views of Crowden and the reservoirs. It's one of the many routes up to Bleaklow head if you fancied a longer hike.

So it was the 29th of March and Boris had lifted the 'stay at home' restriction enabling us to finally meet up again after 13 long weeks. Excited doesn't even come close! After a tearful reunion in the carpark we head West up the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) towards Torside Clough. As the path crossed the road we stayed on this side and went back on ourselves up the rhododendron lined drive way. On reaching the property at the end the path it heads up a short sharp incline. Once at the top you can continue heading up to your right and along the ridge towards Bleaklow head. Today we followed the track heading down towards the river.

Within minutes you forget the surrounding towns and villages as you're transported back to a raw untouched wilderness cloaked with ancient trees and blankets of moss. Plunge pools and waterfalls entice as you make your way up the stream, navigating the pathway over precariously placed rocks and boulders. The light and shade from the over hanging ridge makes for spectacular photography.

As we neared the top of the Clough, turning our final corner we were treated to a huge plunge pool and waterfall, unfortunately it was still a bit to cold to submerge ourselves on this occasion without hot drinks and towels waiting. However the spot has been marked and we will be back.

From here we made our own path (sheep path, however you wish to name it) back up to the ridge. We followed the clearly marked path back with view of Torside reservoir ahead of us and Crowden just across the valley. A steep decent found us back on the TPT and greeted by the world's (not official) smallest pony! After sizing him him against Sue's mini we thought better of it and continued alone back to the car.

Today we parked in Torside carpark at a cost of £4:70 for the day (cash only). There is free parking at the end of the valley but spaces are limited.

We found this to be a great scramble, but losing the beaten track along the way you need to be prepared to navigate alternate ways around slippy boulders by making your way up the cliff sides, and up moorland terrain at times, all part of the fun right?. You can find the full OS route map to down load here

Check out our day on Torside Clough in our YouTube vid below. Give us a subscribe to see more routes and adventure ideas in the future.

If you decide to give Torside a go, enjoy the scramble and let us know how you did, in the comments below. Or check out our Wildboar Clough and Crowden posts for more ideas in this area.

Onward!