Hen Cloud

Rising like a jagged fin above the Staffordshire Moorlands, this gritstone outlier offers a more rugged, concentrated scramble than its famous neighbour, The Roaches. Its weathered edges provide steep, dramatic lines for climbers and a punchy ascent for walkers, rewarding them with an immediate, sharp perspective over Tittesworth Reservoir.

• •The name is a corruption of the Old English 'hean clud', meaning ‘high rock’. It is a literal description of this isolated stack of gritstone, which stands as a steeper, more compact alternative to the main Roaches escarpment.
• •Looking south-west from the summit, the view is dominated by Tittesworth Reservoir, while looking north-west across the Cheshire Plain, the distinctive white bowl of the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank is often visible.
• •The hill was part of an estate where the Brocklehurst family released several Bennett’s wallabies in the 1930s. This unlikely colony survived in the crevices of these gritstone edges for decades, with the last sightings occurring well into the 2000s.
• •Most walkers tackle Hen Cloud as a sharp detour before heading north onto the main Roaches ridge, but the direct ascent from the road at Upper Hulme is the best way to appreciate its sheer verticality.
• •It remains an ideal spot for those who find the popular Roaches ridge a little too busy, proving that a significantly steeper path is the most effective form of crowd control.