THIS is a perfect winter walk -- short, on the level, easy to follow, but dramatically enclosed within an amphitheatre of menacing Pennine crags.

Dovestone Reservoir, built in 1967, is justifiably popular with walkers and water sports enthusiasts and this gentle stroll follows the well-trodden route around the edge of the reservoir.

From the car park you can look northwards to high Alderman Hill, once a meeting point for ancient druids, as "Alder" was a mythical giant -- now thankfully sleeping.

The distinctive line of jagged crags on the south side of the reservoir are known locally as the "Indian's Head" and were the site of a 1949 plane crash above the little valley of Chew Brook which is littered with rock boulders thrown by the angry giants of Yorkshire legend. But the most surprising feature of this walk is to be found in the dam wall at the top end of Dovestone Reservoir -- an inscribed memorial to a visit made to Saddleworth by the King of Tonga in 1981. The king was in England to attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di -- and he headed north to admire the wonders of British reservoir construction.

DISTANCE: Three miles

START: Dovestone Reservoir car park (pay and display at weekends), Greenfield, Saddleworth (OS GR 014036). The reservoir is signposted on the Holmfirth Road (A635), east of Greenfield village. Follow Bank Lane below the reservoir dam.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: bus or train to Greenfield from Manchester. Dovestone is a mile east of the village along the Holmfirth Road.

From the car park join the path along the top of the dam at the corner of Dovestone Reservoir. Walk along the top of the dam with the reservoir to your right and Alderman Hill looming high above you directly ahead. At the far end of the dam go through a gate and continue along the track following the edge of the reservoir. Keep to the surfaced path alongside the reservoir which passes through the edge of a conifer plantation and go through a kissing gate to reach the dam wall of Yeoman Hey Reservoir, built in 1880. The King of Tonga memorial stone can be found near the base of the dam wall at this end.

Turn right and follow the dam between the reservoirs and at the far end turn right and follow the track which crosses a footbridge over a reservoir inlet running steeply down from the moors. The route is now an easy to follow track above Dovestone which eventually swings left above a conifer plantation and meets a reservoir access road. Turn right along the road which runs down from Chew Reservoir -- this was the highest reservoir in England when it was constructed in 1912. The high crags of the Chew Brook valley can now be seen over to your left including the distinctive Indian's Head. Follow the road downhill through a kissing gate and past the sailing club premises on your right. The road leads straight back to the car park.

Dovestone Reservoir is also the start and finish point of a 40 mile walk route known as the Oldham Way. This route takes in Saddleworth Moor, the Rochdale Canal, the Medlock Valley and Daisy Nook Country Park and is signed along the way with an "owl" waymarker. More information and leaflets highlighting the route are available from Oldham Borough Council or Oldham Tourist Information.