This weekend just gone, I completed a classic walk called the Crowden Horseshoe. It is a 16km circuit taking in the summit of Black Hill (582m), and is a northern Dark Peak walk, only just within the boundary of the National Park.

It is very much a walk of two halves. The first uses the Pennine Way to hike out of Crowden to the summit, and the second descends back to the valley via a really featureless broad spur leading to a few lonely looking trig points. It is so featureless that I even had to take a bearing from the summit to make sure I was going the right way in some of the best weather conditions I have been out in recently.

The views are incredible though – especially as you descend to the series of reservoirs close to Crowden.