Page 49 - Real Rochdale Issue 09 Winter 2020

Take a walk at Watergrove

The ruins of Littletown Farm

further up. At Littletown Farm there are some
picnic benches if you’ve brought a snack.

After Littletown Farm continue along the
Enjoy a circular walk with lots of cobbled road and go through the gate. At
history around this Wardle reservoir Steward Barn you can stop to look down on
the woods and the reservoir. Here the road
continues up and to the right. Take the path to
the left through the gate - signposted Pennine
Watergrove reservoir in Wardle is popular with If you want to go through the gate in the wall on Bridleway towards Whitworth.
walkers, cyclists, runners and windsurfers. your left to the other side of the wall, this will
bring you out at the windsurfing club, or you can
This walking route follows public footpaths and stay on the road.
bridleways and takes about an hour. For families
with younger children it will take an hour and a When you reach the windsurfing club, turn right
half (or slightly longer, depending on how often up the sett-paved Ramsden Road.
you stop to jump in puddles).
For an alternative route closer to the water (and
Parts of the route can be muddy and wellingtons out of the wind), turn left through the gate into a
or walking boots are recommended. It is not wooded area. The path is easy to follow around
suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs. the reservoir but there are more steps and the
paths are narrower. It’s still a route suitable for
Start from the car park at the foot of the families. The path into Higher Slack Nature Reserve
reservoir dam, which is about half a mile up
Ramsden Road from the Globe Inn pub in Wardle If you stay on Ramsden Road you will pass the
village. ruins of Littletown Farm and then Steward Barn Follow the path down into Higher Slack Nature
Reserve and when you reach a bridge over the
This route is around the reservoir anti-clockwise, stream to your right cross it and head up to
so the water should always be on your left-hand another gate.
side.
Through the gate, there is another sign for
From the car park head through the gate to the the Pennine Bridleway, ignore the sign for
right (if you are facing the dam) and along the Whitworth this time and turn left here.
road. As you draw level with the top of the dam,
continue along the road to the left. This path is out in the open again and brings
you back down into another wooded area and
Here, at the cattle grid you will see date stones eventually down to the side of the reservoir.
set into the wall. These are from Watergrove Continue along the side of the water to the dam
village (and surrounding farms) which was and then turn left along the top of the dam and
flooded to create the reservoir in the 1930s. A date stone from 1709 back to the car park.

REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2020 48 49 REAL ROCHDALE - WINTER 2020