Day seven - Saturday 7th September - Glossop to Hollingworth Lake

I was getting tetchy. Firstly breakfast service in my overnight place in Glossop didn't start until 9am, then there was nobody in sight, finally the breakfast took ages to arrive....
By the time I set out I was almost an hour later than I usually like to be.
Not only that, but the return of damp greyness had persuaded me to change my route, swapping a wander over the moors for a road route, with less detailed knowledge of what lay ahead.
Oh well, one foot in front of the other.
I passed under the Dinting viaduct, originally built in 1842, but upgraded in the 1920s, to carry the single track Glossop railway line over the road to Manchester, today's A57.

Today that road, along with most I travelled, was very busy indeed, as part of the M62 trans-Pennine motorway is closed for the weekend, causing traffic to flood every possible alternative the satnav can find.

I walked on, passing through Mottram, with a few handsome old cottages, to Stalybridge, which once curiously belonged to Cheshire but is now within Greater Manchester. The sun emerged as I crossed the canal and then the River Tame.

Next came a steep climb then a long slog to Mossley, where I spotted a row of cottages where the satellite TV salesman obviously went from door to door...

It's a bit of a one-street town, but for me it marked the start of an ascent which would last a couple of hours, first steeply to quit the town, then more gradually, on and on, up and up.

The murky views confirmed I had been right not to risk the moors.

At Lydgate, high and exposed, I suddenly came upon the church of St Anne, built in the late 18th century but remodelled a hundred years later.

 
The climb continued, eventually following a tiny lane for about 1½ miles, which rose to almost 1,200 feet and lifted me into the damp drizzle of the cloud base.

Even here the satnav warriors were out in force, I doubt if that road has ever seen so many cars.
At the top, the Bishops Park monument, which marks the highest point in the borough of Oldham (1,233 feet) was visible for a moment then wholly buried in mist.
Just along from there a large house in the local stone style loomed out of the murk - Wuthering Heights anyone?

At Grains Bar, a junction of several roads, the descent finally began. I passed a large pub, also in that architectural style, then the road dipped out of the clouds and there was something to see.

A long downhill followed, into the township of Milnrow, another one-street place, before I turned off to head for this evening's accommodation.

Uphill, of course...