Black Hill

Once a notorious wasteland of liquid peat and exposed hags, this high point of the Pennines has been transformed by restoration and flagstone paths. Despite its flat plateau, the summit offers a sense of remote isolation, with the Pennine Way providing a clean passage through the historically treacherous 'chocolate' sludge.

• •The name is a literal description of its former state; for decades, the summit was a 'black desert' of exposed, eroding peat with almost no vegetation, though recent conservation efforts have successfully encouraged cottongrass and heather to return.
• •As the highest point in West Yorkshire and the former county top of historic Cheshire, it remains the highest point within any metropolitan county in the United Kingdom.
• •A trig point stands at the 581m summit, which would be virtually inaccessible in wet weather if not for the flagstones of the Pennine Way; before these were laid, walkers frequently found themselves waist-deep in the notorious peat hags.
• •Looking north from the plateau, the skyline is dominated by the massive 228-metre television mast at Holme Moss, while to the south, the dark, sprawling mass of Bleaklow rises across the Longdendale Valley.
• •The summit has been civilised to such an extent by modern paving that the greatest navigational challenge is no longer drowning in a bog, but staying awake during the long, steady trudge across the plateau.