Another Summer Saturday drops from the schedule due to heavy rainfall, as if the peaking of national all-time temperatures in late July was the cue for everything to go downhill and render the remainder of the season changeable and rather chilly, and so we are shunted onto a Sunday trip again, with my options limited by the issues that come with transport connections, and that's why we end up on an early bus ride out to western Huddersfield to start the Colne Valley Circular walk from Golcar, not a part of the world I've travelled into so far due to its distinct lack of railway stations. So alight the #301 bus by St John's church, in this village that has now been largely consumed into the neighbouring town's suburbia and we make our way to the Colne Valley Museum, where we'll have a 9.05am jump off, elevated above the valley side and surrounded by the many cottages of the domestic weaving industries of the early 19th centuries, and set off with the guidebook in hand, ready to be informed as to why so many houses have multiple storeys and large upstairs windows as we head down the steep Carr Top Lane, because many had their workshops located in the part of the cottage where maximum daylight for their workshops could be gained, it seems. This guide, which I've had my shelf for over 5 years, seems keen to inform me about everything there is to see on this route, and provides detail about the Sunday School and the lost Baptist Chapel on Chapel Lane before we hit the path by the burial ground that seems far to slick and slippery for comfort, descending us down towards the railway lines, where two short viaducts span a descending brook, one a disused relic of much busier times on the L&NWR's Leeds to Manchester lines, which are passed under to hit the soft track that descends to the valley floor under the cover of trees. Meet the Huddersfield Narrow canal by lock 15E, which has us tied to a familiar trail again, albeit one that's nearly 7 years old, and the route guide would send us along the towpath, but I'm ready for a deviation even at this early stage, which will take us down by the side of the Colne, which charges angrily after the rains of the last two days, along the path on the edge of the flood plain where the long grass will quickly saturate one's trousers, taking us around the Linthwaite's famous Titanic mills, named for their 1912 completion date, rather than their massive size, and our route goes straight through their carpark, where the Titanic Spa and many apartments now dwell within the site.
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| The Colne Valley Museum, Golcar. |
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| Domestic Industrial Weaving Cottages, Carr Top Lane, Golcar. |
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| The Golcar viaducts |
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| The Huddersfield Narrow Canal, and Titanic Mill, Linthwaite. |
Meet the lane that takes us over the River Colne, which despite us being in the warm and dry High Season looks every bit as busy as it did when seen in February 2014, and we ascend Bargate to meet Linthwaite proper, joining the A62 Manchester Road by the long parade of shops that have probably seen happier days, which we pace in front of up to the Spring Grove Mills, where we split up Hoyle House Fold to start our climb onto the south bank of the Colne valley, rising with Chapel Hill past the board school to meet the Methodist Chapel, Sunday School and Hall on Stones Lane in the heart of Lower Clough. I wouldn't have figured Linthwaite to have been big enough to get itself additional district names, but there we are, moving on along the footpath between the terraces' back gardens, elevating us up to the farmstead cluster at Flat House Lane, where we meet the Circular route proper again, passing the outermost edges of Greater Huddersfield as we join the field path west, onto some exceptionally damp turf as we land views up and downstream on the valley, and despite sunshine teasing its way through the clouds, the far horizon suggests more weather to come. Moving onto Banks Brow, we find ourselves on a tiered path above Slaithwaite, where we can look down to the rail traffic crossing the viaducts above the down, and into the landscape of mills that I've amazingly only visited once in all my years of wandering, with the drizzle coming on hard to add to the moisture underfoot as we pace along this bank that has proved to steep to attract suburban growth, carrying on to Hey Wood farm, where we escape onto the driveway down to Linfit Lane before we can attract the attention of the local cows. Return to fields beyond, still elevated above the outermost edge of Slaithwaite as we pass below Hey Knowl farm and through the gardens of the Stocker Head cottages, before descending down through the wet grass to make a crossing of Bradley Brook at the bottom of Kitchen Clough, and if the dampness of the morning hadn't proved too much by now, the ascent beyond the swollen stream through the waist high vegetation ensures that I land on Varley Road with saturated trews and waterlogged boots.
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| Manchester Road, Linthwaite. |
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| The Methodist Chapels corner, Lower Clough. |
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| Downstream View of the Colne Valley. |
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| Slaithwaite from Banks Brow. |
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| Kitchen Clough, with rain. |
We are close enough to Slaithwaite to bail, but my walking fortitude wins out as we haven't been out nearly long enough to quit as yet, and thus we hit the rising grassy track beyond Mansergh house to challenge the local horses for use of the fields on the way up to the horribly damp path that leads us to the elevated hamlet of Yew Tree, where vintage appearances rule the weavers cottages among the farmsteads, looking like a pleasant retreat above the valley despite the continuing rainfall. Returning to field paths beyond New House farm, we get another tease of sunshine, to briefly illuminate the view over Slaithwaite as it starts to retreat behind us, giving us as good a contextual view as we've had since setting out, as we pace on along the stone walls, and among the remnants of Shroggs quarry to the hamlet of Top o' the Hill, which has as much ancient and rural flavour as its neighbour at the very remotest edge of the town, where the bellcote-ed Sunday school is the notable feature at the side of Lingards Lane. Hit the firm track of Hollins lane as the rain from the west comes on again, and we squelch onwards down the track from where a good view up to the valley head ought to be forthcoming as we pass among the local farmsteads all the way to the lane's end by the Hollins Farms, but all ahead looks grey as we land in the grass once more on the way over to lost estate of Lingards Wood, where metal gates litter the landscape amongst the well built walls and the terrace of cottages known as Nathans stand utterly derelict, and inaccessible for contemporary redevelopment despite their proximity to Manchester Road below. Into the grassy plots beyond we head as the rainfall drops off but refuses to abate, confirming the belief that proximity to the Pennines ensures that the weather will be worse that the forecast might suggest, getting thoroughly dampened from below again as the route guide and its enlarged map fail to give clear directions of the route below the farmstead of The Hill, and my tatty OL21 proves much more useful to get us over to Cellars Clough and the deciduous plantation beyond, where a memorial bench sits to provide our first view over Marsden, hiding below the hills and rain at the valley's head.
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| Yew Tree hamlet. |
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| Top o' the Hill hamlet. |
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| Nathans cottages. |
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| The uppermost Colne Valley. |
I don't stop here to wring out my socks as a vegetation choked track needs to be approached to elevate us up to the B6107 Chain Road, where there's nowhere to sit down there either, and thus we press on towards Marsden, after a fashion at least, as we peel off the direct road down to stay elevated as we pass behind Hey Heads house, right at the outermost fringe of town, to follow the access track that leads to multiple former quarries that litter Holme Moor, the large heather clad slopes that form an apron around Deer Hill to the south of here. Thus we head on and up, towards a high path that offers views over the town that evolve as we progress, giving us more damp going as we elevate up to the level of the Blackmoorfoot reservoir conduit, landing us at 300m up as the rain sweeps in once more, coming on hard over Pule Hill and the barrier of moors beyond, and with the damp boots still sloshing around as we start a southwards track over the moorland shoulder towards the Wessenden valley, I again find myself pondering why I do this walking malarkey for fun, even when the conditions are not conducive for it. It's not even level going on this narrow path, as we undulate with the terrain with sometimes precipitous slopes down to our right, and also have head down to cross Ellen Clough, where a pipe bridge to the reservoir feeds is met alongside the footbridge, and as we continue on, onto the brow of Binn Moor, we come up above Bank Bottom Mill at the valley floor, with Butterley reservoir above it, far below us with no immediately obvious way down, so naturally the route guide send us uphill, over rough ground to meet the driveway of New House farm, the only one that tends the high field on this moorside. We soon find a way down, through the dampness of an enclosed groove that leads down towards the farmsteads of Binns down the hillside, giving us one last soaking as the rain finally eases off again, before we join the path that leads through the front garden of Owler's End farm and down the stepped path along the perimeter of the woods that surround Ing Lees house before we land on Binns Lane, our path from last week that we'll follow down to the path junction coming down from the valley, which we'll cross the follow the steps down by the overflow channel of Butterley reservoir.
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| Marsden Revealed. |
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| Holme Moor, and the brow path. |
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| Ellen Clough, with rain. |
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| Bank Bottom, from Binn Moor brow. |
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| Among the farmsteads of Binns. |
Slick stone steps are not what I want to experience after the hours of tough going that I've just had, but a slow descent down does allow us to get the full experience of the roar of the water pouring out of the reservoir and down the dam's spillway that illustrates well the force of the rainfall that we've been experiencing since this Summer took its weird turn, following it down to where is re-forms Wessenden Brook, and then set course for town on the access road through the woods below, which in turn leads into the Bank Bottom Mill site. It's now wholly out of use, and still awaiting the residential redevelopment that is surely due for it, with the tall and vacant buildings on both sides of the path rising boldly and eerily, presenting a face that surely won't endure like this for much longer before we emerge behind the terraces of Binns Road, where we pick up the path from last week once more, taking us past the old Co-op store, the playing field with the sheep groundskeeper, and the way on below the A62. The brook is much louder in this corner of Marsden than it was last week, but the immediate threat of more rain has passed, if the day's forecast is entirely accurate, and thus we find a spot to break off for lunch time, in the old church yard opposite St Bart's where we can drain the boots and wring out my socks, and take a good half hour to recharge the fortitude needed to take on the second half of the trip, which starts as we cross Union Bridge and the swollen River Colne once again, and seek the hidden path that leads from The Green up to the Station Road bridge, which takes us over the railway at the western throat of Marsden station. The sun shines properly, at long last, as we get ourselves onto the inbound leg of the Circular, pacing along Dirker Road and finding that the route guide and map can't agree on the route uphill and thus we choose the route up the exceptionally steep Spring Head Lane, a blast from the past of 2013, which eventually elevates us up to above Dirker Farm, to finally give us some contextual views around above the Colne Valley, which were hard to come by from the south side, as the north bank offered nothing beyond its horizon, but as we rise on up the steep green path up to Huck Hill, we get an evolving view around from west to east along the southern elevation, which makes a lot more sense now than it did six years ago.
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| Butterley Dam and Run-off. |
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| Bank Bottom Mill. |
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| The Old Churchyard, Marsden. |
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| Marsden station. |
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| Marsden from Huck Hill. |
That's a real benefit of walking a lot, as each fixture on the horizon gains extra familiarity with exposure to it, so as the damp and difficult track onto Slaithwaite Moor opens out ahead of us, we can take our looks back to see Deer Hill rise at the north end of Meltham Moor, with our eyes being drawn up the Wessenden valley towards Black Hill beyond its head, and looking west to Pule Hill and the well concealed routes over into Greater Manchester beyond the Pennine Flank, with the western horizon suggesting an absence of rain for a good while whilst at High Moor altitude. The feet can walk on the turf underfoot where it's dry enough and seek out the stones elsewhere among the moisture as the view west reveals the northern bank, up to the masts above Slaithwaite, and downstream to reveal Castle Hill and the Emley moor masts, far beyond the valley, as teases of the far eastern horizon appear occasionally, though moorland attention needs to be maintained as we pass into the National Trust's Marsden Moors estate, which contains that rough section of flagged paths through the long grass that are bounded with bogginess, as well as the duckboards that cross the upper reaches of Old Clough. Not really a fun path to take, and a short cut detour is offered on the ground to quickly press east, but we continue with the route north to meet the cinder track that leads up past Cupwith Reservoir, and only take the turn when we hit the 380m contour on Reaps Hill by another memorial bench, where we can take a much needed energy drink before carrying on alongside a landscape groove that has seen life as a concealed path for grouse shooting, which no longer goes on in this county, thankfully. It's all 'downhill' from here, having not risen high enough to peer over the Colne - Calder watershed, pressing east and meeting the only known building on the whole moor, a ruined shooting hut that wouldn't offer much shelter these days, which sits at a path junction only a few dozen metres from the edge of the Access Land, which we depart into the partially cultivated and reclaimed fields beyond which lead us out onto the lanes that litter this high corner above the Colne valley without ever offering a clear direction ahead, if the maps are to be believed.
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| The causey onto Slaithwaite Moor. |
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| The Colne Valley from Slaithwaite Moor. |
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| The Reaps Hill bench. |
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| The Shooting Hut on Slaithwaite Moor. |
The lane of Old Ground leads us onto the top of the Cop Hill ridge, which is surmounted by a prominent mast, but we don't get as far as its promontory as the Circular has us splitting off past the rapidly gentrifying Wham farm, and hitting the tracks and field paths that will lead us past Slacks, Folly and Upper House farms, with the route guide not providing the best directions to get us over the stiles and occasionally damp going as we slip over to the north side of the ridge above Scout Wood, the largest enduring ancient woodland in the Colne Valley. Route finding then gets easier once we find Scout Lane, a rather forgotten packhorse track which snakes its way down into the wood on a surface that is as much a mix of soil and stream as it is one of setts (which is what we call cobbles in these parts), giving us a very steep and slippery decline down to the bottom of Merry Dale, the concealed branch off the main valley, where we cross the moss-clad bridge in a woodland glade that feels perpetually moist, and hit the firmer surfaced lane up the other side, which serves the cottages concealed in the woods and elevates at a pitch that isn't enjoyed by my tiring limbs. Rise with Tyas Lane up to a higher level again, and meet the Birks farmsteads and the former Sunday School and Mission Church known as The Shred, which doesn't have an obvious constituency at its remove up the valley side, where our path splits into the fields below Wool Royd farm, and we get our landscape opening up again as we can look down Merry Dale clough towards Slaithwaite and back to see Scout Wood stretching up it as we press east, with the tall masts over the valley drawing us on, as the old reservoir above the town also appears. Our track leads us into the hamlet of Ainley Place, where a farm has grown along the path line, with a viewing bench parked right above its slurry pit, as the right of way slips us through another garden and into the enclave of stone cottages that has settled to serve the local farming trades, and it still feels rather bucolic, isolated at the end of its winding tracks, which we have to follow to traverse our way around the intervening Barrett Clough, which provides a burst of colourful plantlife, and a field of grazing Alpacas before Intake Lane rises to take us up to the hamlet of Wilberlee, the first notable outpost of civilisation seen since departing Marsden.
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| Scout Wood. |
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| Merry Dale. |
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| 'The Shred' mission church. |
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| Ainley Place. |
It's not much more than a single terrace and a few smart cottages of increasing modernity, but it has a turning circle for its very occasional bus service, where we can park ourselves again for a lunch completion and another 20 minutes of boot drying and sock wringing, which will hopefully get us on to the finish line, and we can bask rather in the afternoon sunshine before we re-dress and continue west on the guide book's last leg, up the narrow and rising Tiding Field Lane, up to the eponymous farm on the corner that is considered as the Colne Valley's first accident blackspot. Field walking awaits beyond, which provides views as we trace the perimeters of the plots below the masts on Moor Side Edge, looking back to Slaithwaite Moor and Pule Hill, south to Deer Hill and West Nab, now emerging at the far end of Meltham Moor, and forwards to see the east side of the Holme Valley rising above the Colne Valley flank, as our path rises us up to West Top farm, along the metalled track to Meal Hill Lane and uphill through the grass towards Mount Pleasant farm, and taking in the reverse of the views seen during our morning trek past Slaithwaite. Head into Campinot Wood, briefly and don't get tangled up with the driveway that runs through it before we emerge to traverse a horribly angled slope below the trees, giving clear direction of the route to come onto Westwood Edge, but we've got a descent to do before we get up there, and our slow and frustrating decline comes on past Heath house, as we join the damp and weed choked paths around the various Highfield cottages and farmsteads to make our way down to Highfield farm itself, where we pace on past its vast livestock sheds to find the clear route down into Crimble Clough, the wooded valley that flows into Slaithwaite from the north. It starts to feel like the Circular has been going on for too long as we bottom out at the stream crossing and the stepped ascent through the greenery beyond is a real patience tester as we rise to the remote terrace on Clough Road, which we then pace southwards along as far as Brook House and the turn onto New Lane, which leads us to a brutally steep ascent up a pair of fields and a rough plot to meet Westwood Edge Road, where our last views up the Colne Valley can be taken before we make the final turn onto the homeward leg, as the day's warmth and sunshine passes.
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| Wilberlee hamlet. |
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| The way to Campinot Wood, and Crimble Clough. |
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| The reverse angle view over Slaithwaite. |
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| Crimble Clough. |
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| The Colne Valley view from the ascent of Westwood Edge. |
Having watched the Colne Valley views evolving over the last few hours, its strange to rise onto Bolster Moor and be presented with a vista that is wholly unfamiliar, and the map needs to be checked to see that we have the remote and elevated suburb of Scapegoat Hill directly ahead of us, with the northern spread of Huddersfield below it, which forms our horizon as we descend through the spread of cottages and farmsteads that surround Drummer Lane, among high, level fields that have so far resisted suburbanisation. Meeting the pub, the Golcar Lily, on the Slades Road corner reminds us that there isn't far to go from here, and as we set off along the cobbles of Heath House Lane, towards the mill above the valley, we get sight of Golcar proper, on its own hill at the western extremity of Huddersfield, and it's been nice to have a half mile of level going in this late stretch as this really has been a day of not getting the speed up at all, and when it seems that a traverse of Heath House wood might be in order, the descent and climb is avoided as the Circular path actually takes us around the clough instead. It's more footfalls to make to cross the fields and the last busy stream of the day, but the easier going is a boon, as we head north up to Slades Road, again, and turn south onto the path from Upperfields farm which passes through the equestrian yard and then degenerates into a rough track that scratches the upper edge of Heath House wood, just as the threat of late drizzle comes on, not feeling like it's heading anywhere purposefully until we meet the remotest suburban enclave of Golcar at the end of West End Road. Ridings Lane will carry us to the finish line, behind the long terraces and up our last slope of setts to land us at the Colne Valley Museum at 4.55pm, only 5 minutes before it closes, finally closing the loop on a day that has completely confounded my expectations, having taken nearly 8 hours to do a trail I might have hoped to get done in not much over 6 hours, which bring up memories of that brutal 9 miles in 6 hours day on the Calderdale Way back in 2012, but that's the wrap on this trip, thankfully finished before Golcar's local bus services get irregular.
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| Bolster Moor, and Scapegoat Hill. |
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| Golcar from above. |
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| Heath House wood. |
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| The Ridings Lanes terrace, Golcar. |
It's good to see that I can still be confounded by a walking excursion after 7+ seasons on the trail, and maybe this experience is a useful reminder for me to do more off-road walking in the future, having pounded out so many miles on the highways these last few years, and also to not underestimate a modest distance on the ground, especially when you are expected to do paid work the following day, as I'm sure that my aching legs, and brain, will still be feeling these last 13+ miles when next Saturday's escapade comes around.
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4060.4 miles
2019 Total: 410 miles
Up Country Total: 3643.4 miles
Solo Total: 3746.2 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2654.2 miles
Next Up: Road Walking if it's been wet, Moorland Wandering if it's stayed dry...
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