Marsden Moor Stroll

Belting bread and marvellous moorland 

Bank holiday weekends in the UK are not often blessed with superb weather which is why this year’s early May bank holiday is one to be remembered. The sun shone, the temperature rose, sun cream was applied and the great outdoors beckoned.

About an hour’s drive from home we arrived at the Yorkshire village of Slaithwaite, or Sla’wit as the locals call it, in time for a stroll along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and a spot of lunch at the Handmade Bakery & Café.

Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Slaithwaite

The handmade bakery leaflet

I thoroughly recommend this bakery, look behind the counter and you can watch the hive of activity as the loaves and pastries are being baked. Seating for the cafe is at the front of the bakery inside the building plus a small garden area outside overlooking the canal. We had a magnificent sandwich made with their freshly baked bread and a delicious vegetarian tortilla, both served with inventive salads on the side. The coffee is excellent too.

Inside the handmade bakery

How to find the handmade bakery

It is a great place to eat well, enjoy the atmosphere, admire the landscape photos on the walls (made by a local photographer) and pick up some belting bread, cakes and pastries.

Suitably fortified we continued our stroll around the village and then returned to the car to drive up to the top of Marsden Moor. We parked at a parking lay-by on the A640, New Hey Road, above March Haigh reservoir (shown in yellow on the map below).

Route down to the reservoir

The views over the moor towards Marsden are ruggedly beautiful and from here you can see for miles and miles.

A couple enjoying the view

Once we had put our walking boots on we headed down to the reservoir, the going was quite easy and mainly dry but I imagine it could get rather boggy if there has been rain.

There is a notice board at the far end of the reservoir which explains that this was built about 200 years ago to provide water for the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. There are a number of reservoirs in this area that are used in this way. Each boat going from Marsden to Huddersfield could use the equivalent of 16 swimming pools of water to navigate the canal!

The Canal and River Trust maintain the reservoir while the National Trust looks after the moorland.

March Haigh Reservoir

You can find out more about the area, wildlife and walks on the National Trust site. The long distance Pennine Way trail (270 miles) crosses the moor too, in case you want a much longer walk!