Featherbed Moss, Black Hill and other ethels in the Northern Peak District

bootsandbanter
30 minutes ago
5 min read

Ethels, trigs and unexpectedly dry ground across Featherbed Moss and Tooleyshaw Moss

Date: 25 April 2026

📍Route: Clockwise - Crowden Carpark > Laddow Rocks > Featherbed Moss > Black Chew Head > Black Hill > Tooleyshaw Moss > White Low > Hey Edge > Crowden Castles (old quarry) > Crowden Carpark

📏Distance: 19.35 km

⬆️Ascent: 537 m

⌛Time: 6 h

Weather: 19°C, sunny, very warm, no wind

Mood: Remote, expansive, lucky, exploratory, slightly smug (because dry bogs deserve it)

The walk goes over few featureless open moorlands. Also, although I was lucky with the conditions (everything was dry), the walk goes over peat bogs. Navigational tools are essential as there aren't really any visible landmarks. Easy to lose indistinct paths in few places.

A Day That Felt Like Summer

What a beautiful day this was. It felt like actual summer.

I had planned these Ethels in the North for winter. The plan for these was always freezing conditions (so that bogs are solid) or after months of dry weather.

The forecast for this April day was brilliant, but what really seduced me was the no wind forecast. I smile each time I see this on a weather app :)

Heading North

I have never been so far north in the Peaks. I was near the area in January though.

The morning was chilly, so I only took a light windproof jacket.

Drove for 70 miles. Blue, blue skies. So uplifting.

When I arrived at Crowden car park, it’s not big, I took the last spot. Another favourite, it was free. 👌🏻

From the Crowden car park I headed out towards the Crowden Outdoor Education Centre.

Onto the Pennine Way

It was only just after 10 AM when I got onto the Pennine Way. It was promising to be a hot day, it really felt like summer.

The path towards Laddow Rocks is very well defined, quite stony and rough but super easy to follow. You start a gentle climb straight from the car park.

The views were expansive and the contrast with the blue skies was extremely pretty. All I could hear was bird song.

I didn’t meet a single person for the first hour. It takes just over that, about 4 km, to get to just before Laddow Rocks. The steepest part is towards the end where you climb Oaken Clough. Nothing strenuous though.

The path forks and I turned left.

Groughs… but Make It Dry

The path was cutting through groughs. I thought, here we go… goodbye clean shoes 🤣

To my surprise, everything was dry.

At the top I went over a stile and turned left towards Featherbed Moss. I haven’t heard good things about this area, so I was a bit apprehensive. The kind of place that probably swallows boots, dignity, and the occasional overconfident hiker.

The ground was ever so slightly squelchy in a few places. My eyes were fixed on it though, it was very easy to lose the way. Not very well trodden and quite featureless.

I can see the trig in the distance.

First Wins: Trig & Ethel

The Featherbed Moss trig was less than 1 km from the stile.

An Ethel and a trig is an elite level treat for me 🤣, N78 Ethel and N63 trig.

Returned to the stile and went towards Black Chew Head ethel, the path runs alongsside the fence on the left. No issues with the ground again.

To get to the actual Ethel, you hop over a fence, reach a small pile of stones, but don’t be fooled, the actual Ethel is 50 metres away. I always open the Ethel Ready app and make sure I am on the marked spot 🤣. This was N79 Ethel for me.

Edges, Sun & Blueberries

I dropped back to Laddow Rocks and onto the edge path. Loved that part.

The steep hills were covered with blueberry bushes. This would be nice in summer 🫐

The sun was beating down, sunscreen on for the first time this year.

Once you drop to Crowden Great Brook there is a very good flagstone path for most of the way towards Black Hill. There are some boggy patches on this section but nothing major.

The trig was sooo white. Had my sandwich there. N80 ethel and N64 trig done.

I actually stopped to eat. Still stood up, but I wasn’t walking as usual. Growth 😂.

Black Hill is the highest point in West Yorkshire!

Tooleyshaw Moss: Unexpectedly Kind

Then onto the Tooleyshaw Moss area. Now this must be terrible most of the year. I am sure that this place eats people and other creatures daring to venture into it for breakfast. I am not sure how I escaped such a fate. 😅

Black ground, peat hags, high peat groughs. All dry, dry 😂!

I was soo smug, stepping right into the dry mud, feeling like a goddess.

It goes on forever. I do not recommend this in any other conditions but dry or frozen, unless you are into torture.

The area reminded me of the Nab in the Lakes. Back then I was lucky, this April day I was lucky too 🍀

The high grough peat bogs on Tooleyshaw Moss

The One I Almost Missed

I was so into my thoughts that I missed the next Ethel - White Low. I had to go back.

The thought of this Ethel not being lit up on Summit Bag?… no chance.

Went back around 500 m, into some faint path off the main one. The spot marked by nothing. Very flat summit area. Not sure why some Ethels are like that 🤷🏻‍♀️. N81 ethel in the bag.

Towards the Hey Edge trig I had to use the GPS. No visible path once I forked left off the main one.

I finished the water too. Hot day.

Hey Edge, my last trig. N65 done.

Wandering Off Route (On Purpose)

From the trig point at Hey Edge, you can see two paths leading away from it, I took the right-hand path. I should have dropped straight to the main path but I abandoned my original plan and went towards an abandoned quarry because it looked more interesting than the path. This apparently is known as Crowden Castles.

Wandered around it. Loved it. No one around again.

Great views towards the reservoirs, deep blue water shimmering. Sun high in the sky. Silence and my footsetps.

And just like that, 6 hours were gone.

Wandered in an area I have never explored before.

It felt like the height of summer. Remote, not a lot of people, expansive views and big skies.

Wonderful.