Saddleworth Moor isn’t blessed with popularity and doesn’t have stories of joy. Speak to most people and they’ll say bleak, featureless and the moors murders.

However, I was sure there was more to the area than this and had seen a few good pictures of grand landscapes from the area so I had to make a visit. I’d been wanting to go for years but I always seemed to have a reason to procrastinate (mainly because it’s about the furthest point away in the Peak District from my home!!).

I had decided that I wanted to visit the Trinnacle, a gritstone outcrop consiting of three pinnacles which is situated near Ravenstones Brow. I had checked the maps a few times and planned a route so when the weather was decent Saturday I finally made a go for it and had a drive over to Dovestones Reservoir (my original plan had been to park on the road below Aldermans Hill as the route seemed shorter, but I think the ascent on the way back would have been a sting in the tail). I was instantly impressed from Dovestones Reservoir, the surrounding hills were dramatic and steep sided, I had expected softer inclines like Kinder Scout and Bleaklow. I was taking it all in the crsip winter air.

I turned the wrong direction a couple of times, I blame the area and it’s lack of paths not my amazing navigation skills for that! However, I finally got on track (not the way I had planned) and had what seemed like a very steep ascent up to Ashway Rocks. The path was pretty much straight up which is quite hard when you’re carrying a lot of heavy camera gear on your back (I must remember to take out the portrait lens and flash, but you know, good training!).

As I got higher, I took notice of various spots that looked nice, mainly around Ashway Rocks also taking notice that the route I was heading seemed to be in shadow and the Trinnacle may not be a viable shoot. However the higher I got, the colder it got with the boggy paths turning to ice with dustings of snow around.

I did get to near the Trinnacle but as suspected it was in shadow so I decided I needed to make my way back, already behind schedule despite leaving plenty of time due to the wrong turns and steeper than expected walk, however on the way back I did take the below picture which caught my eye as the contrast of the wintry hillside crossed with the late autumnal colours in the distance really struck me.