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 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.
