Parking
Start at The Sands Car Park in Low Bradfield, a small free car park. Public toilets are in the village near the start.
Overview
About Damflask Loop
Why go
- The full loop links two long stretches beside the reservoir
- Low Bradfield's toilets and post-office refreshments sit on the route
Heads up
- Short road and pavement sections break up the quiet shoreline paths
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Peak District map
Full mapElevation157–167 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
5 active Peak District alerts
- ClosureA54 Cat and Fiddle road closureThe A54 Macclesfield Main Road (Cat and Fiddle) is fully closed to all traffic from 27 July through 30 October 2026 during phase 1 improvement works.Official details
- ClosureHooks Carr (Stanage Popular) car park closureHooks Carr (Stanage Popular) car park will be partially or fully closed from 6 October for four weeks.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Peak District Tour Guide
Your drive to Damflask Loop, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Peak District National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Damflask Reservoir from Low Bradfield0:00 / 0:25
“You're approaching Low Bradfield, the start of the Damflask Reservoir loop.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Peak District Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Where Wigtwizzle Hall Went
- The Names on the Crossroads Stone
- The Furnace the Wind Fed
- Dungworth's Other Carols
- 298 audio storiesacross Peak District’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, Red Fox, Eurasian Otter, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 88 trails, 76 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Damflask Loop
A village-to-water loopThis 3.5-mile loop (5.
This 3.5-mile loop (5.5 km) starts at The Sands car park and links Low Bradfield with both banks of Damflask Reservoir. Allow about two hours. It is a gentle family walk with long waterside stretches, but village lanes and short road and pavement sections are part of the circuit too.
Both shores, then the damCross the footbridge beside the cricket ground, then pass the post office, cricket pitch and…
Cross the footbridge beside the cricket ground, then pass the post office, cricket pitch and Smithy Garage before taking Lamb Hill toward the south shore. Follow the reservoir to the dam, cross it, and return along the north shore past the sailing and rowing club. Lamb Hill brings you back through the village and playing fields to the car park. Expect surfaced lanes and mostly level tracks, with occasional slopes steeper than 1:10. The dam is a good place to look back across the water. The reservoir was completed in 1896 and reaches 27 metres deep.
Parking and dogsThe Sands has free parking.
The Sands has free parking. Public toilets are in Low Bradfield, and the post office offers refreshments along the route. Dogs are welcome, but keep them on a lead to protect ground-nesting birds.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Peak District
248 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
36 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
15 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
51 sightingsPeregrine FalconMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
47 sightingsEuropean Fallow DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
54 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Peak District. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
