South Pennines Walks - Pathfinder Author:Neil Coates As you walk in today's South Pennines you tread in the footsteps of generations who both endured and created a unique landscape, a millennium of upheavals that has bequeathed to the North a most tantalising and fascinating area to explore and enjoy. This is not just the England beloved of travel posters or programmes, a green & pleasant land of ... more »rolling vales, prim villages, bucolic inns and country churches viewed through rose-tinted spectacles. It's so much more than that: a heady combination of heritage etched into the geological skeleton; of moorland wind-riffled into myriad hues; of small farms with pocket-sized pastures rich with wildflowers picked out by a tracery of stone walls; of wooded dales and cloughs hidden in the hills; of hamlets and towns interlaced by causeys and tracks unchanged for centuries; of stunning views and challenging landscapes. The seemingly dour face of the gritty landscape has a soft underbelly which, once discovered and savoured, will not readily or easily be forgotten. The South Pennines is truly an enigmatic land; the most glorious countryside sharing the same land as the country's most industrialised belt. Such uneasy bedfellows make exploring this region endlessly fascinating. None of the walks in this guide is without a physical challenge - it's the very nature of the area; but equally none lacks rewards that far outweigh the effort involved. When the moors are fog-bound, then the cloughs and mill villages offer an alluring alternative, whilst on long summer days or crisp winter mornings the mosses and hills remain utterly peaceful despite their proximity to England's most concentrated urban agglomerations.« less