Glossop is a former cotton town on the western edge of the Dark Peak, with Bleaklow — one of the wildest and most remote moorland plateaus in the Peak District — rising directly to the east. The Roman road of Doctor’s Gate crosses the moor, and the Longdendale Trail follows a disused railway through the reservoir valley.

A practical northern Peak District town with good transport links from Manchester, Glossop makes a useful base for the wilder Bleaklow plateau and the Longdendale reservoir chain — quieter and less crowded than Edale.