When I walked from Marsden to Hebden Bridge in April 2015 I followed the Pennine Way in a meandering journey north for a large part of the hike, which made me curious about the course of the trail before I had joined it at Haigh Gutter. I was looking to do a similar length walk (around the 15 mile mark) and settled on Hadfield as a handy starting point. The map revealed an alluring mix of moorland and reservoirs, deep-cut cloughs and crowded contour lines between that Derbyshire village and Marsden and I plotted a route that mostly followed the Pennine Way, only deviating slightly at beginning and end.
It was around 7:30 in the morning when I alighted at Hadfield station. The trains to Glossop enter and then reverse out of Hadfield to continue their journey and what was once the continuation of the line from Manchester beyond Hadfield to Sheffield is now the Longdendale Trail. It's just a short walk around the corner from the station to join this managed footpath eastwards, following the route along which trains used to thunder several times a day.
