Featherbed Moss

About Featherbed Moss

Situated between the Snake Pass and the hulking mass of Bleaklow, this high gritstone plateau defines the wild, boggy character of the Dark Peak. It offers a remote, often sodden experience for those venturing off-piste, with expansive views south across the Ashop Valley toward the formidable plateau of Kinder Scout.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is a descriptive local term; 'Moss' is the standard Northern English word for a peat bog, while 'Featherbed' refers to the deceptively soft, sponge-like sphagnum moss and deep peat that can make walking here feel like treading on a mattress—albeit a very wet one.
• •It occupies the high ground between the A57 road and the higher summit of Bleaklow. While the Pennine Way skirts its western edge near Devil’s Dyke, reaching the highest point requires a trek through 'groughs'—deep peat channels eroded by rainwater.
• •From the summit, the view to the south is dominated by the great northern edge of Kinder Scout, while looking north-east reveals the sprawling, desolate interior of the Bleaklow plateau, one of the most remote moorland environments in England.
• •Navigation here is famously difficult in mist; the terrain is so uniform and the ground features so fluid that a compass is less of a suggestion and more of a survival requirement if you intend to return to Glossop for dinner.