Having found myself with only a couple of hours to really enjoy the fantastic September sunshine I managed to squeeze in a walk. It wasn’t an epic romp but it doesn’t always need to be to make me smile.
Having already seen 4 of the 6 Stanza Stones scattered around the South Pennines, I decided to head up to the Rain stone today.
The Stanza Stones were completed in 2012 and are 6 poems by Simon Armitage which have been carved on stones, each dotted about the uplands of the South Pennine landscape. There is a great trail guide you can download on this website – here – but frankly the walks are far to short for my liking so in the past I have turned them into longer circular walks.
Today I headed off to the Rain stone, parking on Todmorden Rd at Summit. (A place interesting in its own right for being the highest point on the Rochdale Canal). Crossing the canal I headed uphill on the Pennine Bridleway.
I got a bit distracted when I met these two gorgeous donkeys, so had to stop and say hi.
I resisted the draw of the White House Pub when I reached the A58, I hadn’t walked anywhere near far enough to justify pub lunch. Following the Pennine way across the top of the hill it was windy enough that two wind surfers where having a great time on the Blackstone Edge reservoir.
The Rain stone can be seen from the Pennine way path looking across to the popular climbing crag. It seemed a bit odd to be reading a poem about rain in the glorious sunshine. If you click the photo you should be able to read the poem.
Despite being low, the sunshine made Warland Reservoir look very beautiful. 
From there I followed the bridleway down to Warland and on to the Rochdale canal which I followed back to Summit. Only about 5.5 miles in total, but a good use of a couple of hours on a sunny day.
Wonderful photos from your walk!