In the summer of 2007 the local authority and water company decided to carry out maintenance repairs on this section of the reservoirs but it rained heavily in parts of the UK in 2007 and each time the contractors were ready to move in it rained and flooded and access was denied. A local told us that the newly dumped stone in the centre of the picture was the latest attempt to repair the reservoir with the river finally low enough. It's a rare chance to see the path of the river snaking along as it was the River Etherow that the reservoirs were built upon.

Farming was the original use for the valley in Longdendale but the valuable low lying farms here had to make way for the railway although the Manchester and Sheffield line also brought a boost to the local economy as manufactured  goods and new jobs arrived. Local stone was used to build the railway and the dams but the the valley itself was forged by the River Etherow carving its way between the high moors.

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