Get out on the Pennines!

It’s best foot forward for the fourth annual South Pennines Walk and Ride Festival which starts tomorrow.

Oldham is taking part with a wide range of guided walks, cycling and horse riding events.

Organised by Pennine Prospects, a company formed in 2005 to co-ordinate regeneration activity across the South Pennines, the event aims promote the area and encourage people to visit and explore.

Councillor Mohib Uddin, cabinet member for regeneration, said: “This is an excellent event that makes the most of public transport to enable people to explore parts of the South Pennines that they may not have visited before. Oldham is committed to playing its part and events in the borough will be taking place through the 16 days of the festival

“I would urge people to take of advantage of the programme that has been put together, get out and about and into the countryside on their doorstep.”

In Oldham, the festival starts tomorrow with a 14-mile trek over the High Peak Moors from Greenfield to Marsden, led by the Peak and Northern Footpath Society.

This will be followed by the Chairman’s Crompton Circuit Crawl on Sunday, a 12-mile circular walk organised by Shaw and Crompton Parish Council.

On Tuesday, there will be photo-orienteering at Dovestone Reservoir at 10.30am; a 26-mile bike ride through the Saddleworth villages, starting at 10am from Saddleworth Museum; and a 10-mile circular walk around Saddleworth and Shaw, starting at Shaw train station at 10.30am.

A short six mile trip “Up to the Heights” above Dobcross takes place on Wednesday at 10.30am from Brownhill Countryside Centre.

Highlight of the first week is an illustrated talk by well-known author Paddy Dillon about the UK’s long distance footpaths, at Saddleworth Museum at 7.30pm on Thursday.

Mountain biking, Nordic walking, a towpath trek and a stroll round Dovestone reservoir complete an action-packed first week of the festival.

For more information and a full programme visit www.oldham.gov.uk/south-pennine-walk-and-ride-festival-2009.htm or contact Imogen Fuller on 0161-770 4165