Sandbed to Cowling 26/06/21

16.3 miles, on The Pennine Way, via Marsh Wood, Pry Hill, Hebble Hole, Colden, 

 Hot Stones Hill, Green Hill, Clough Head Hill, Reaps Level, Graining Water, Clough Foot, 

  Walshaw Dean Lower & Middle reservoirs, Withins Height - Dick Delf, Top Withins, 

   The Height, Buckley Green, Ponden Reservoir, Dean Clough, Crag Top, Thornton Hill, 

    Oakworth Moor, The Sea, Cat Stone Hill, Ickornshaw Moor, High End Lowe, 

     Dean Hole Clough, Lumb Head, Green Hill, and Ickornshaw. 

Summer lands, in theory, but June fails to continue to flame as we aim our our most ambitious tilt at the lands between the Calder and the Aire, approaching an unbroken stretch of the Pennine Way, that most notable of long distance paths that I keep blathering on about never wanting to do in its entirety, located only a short way west of where we were last weekend, but those extra couple of miles upstream from Hebden Bridge requiring an earlier start and some inconvenient early morning busing to get us to the start of the trail and the time window we need for so, so much off-roading. So it's off the #592 bus at 9am, by the Sandbed terrace, on the side of the A646 Halifax Road, deep in the wooded cleft of Calderdale, by the Callis Bridge weirs and at the point where the Pennine Way and Bridleway both drop in from the south, immediately joining the former of these as it starts north, under the railway and past Lacy House, at the eastern end of the Underbank hamlet-let, and sending us directly up a stone causey at an angle that makes you glad that we haven't got wetness underfoot as height is rapidly gained away from the river. Altitude gains us views back, landing Stoodley Pike and its moorlands on our reverse horizon as we land amongst the perched cottages and farmsteads of Higher Underbank, following our path west before it switches back beyond, past the concealed former chapel and its graveyard, and onto the path directing us northeasterly into Marsh Wood, giving us a gentler ascent up the steep sides of the Calder valley than we are accustomed to, letting the locality of Charlestown and Eastwood recede behind us as we rise up through the ferns and birch, only getting steep as we rise up aside Dale Clough. It looks like it has an old hydro plant built above the cascade, which we pass on our way up through a knot of inconvenient vegetation to meet the cottage cluster above, the last one crammed in on the angled valley side as above lies open fields, met once we're past the Long Hey Top terrace and a passage along the track of Winter's Lane, with a clear way ahead through the long grass, angling us between the Popples and Scammerton Farmsteads, and passing through the wild garden of the latter on our way up to Badger Lane, one of the unexplored high roads in this quarter, and on up to the crest of the Pry Hill ridge, our first summit of the day.

Hitting the causey from Sandbed to Underbank

The Calderdale view from Marsh Wood.

The rise to Popples and Scammerton farms.

The height expands the Calderdale horizon behind us to a remarkable extent, revealing much of what we already know well to the south and east of us, while so much to the north and west of here remains terra incognita, to hopefully be explored through the coming summer, and as we come down the far side of the ridge we get the valley of Colden Clough cutting through the landscape ahead of us, heading down to the familiar sight of the Hebden Water valley that we traced so recently, with us soon meeting a narrow descending path between stone walls that does itself no favours with vegetation overgrowth and risks of injury to knees and ankles. The drop into the clough follows, giving us a sudden break from the rough fields of grazing sheep as we descend down the steep and challenging path down into Hebble Hole, where a quiet little glade sits at the western edge of the woodland down the valley sits, with the stream cascading below the footbridge that offers us passage across, previously seen on a long 2012 day on the Calderdale Way, which means we are at our long established boundary of the walking field of experienced before we start the path rise beyond, into virgin territory on another path that has an inconvenient vegetation problem. This angles us uphill once again, along the field boundary and across the meadow in the direction of Goose Hey farm, one of many that form the loosely associated hamlet of Colden, the last such settlement that we'll be seeing for a while, where a remotely located close of council houses can be found on the side of Smithy Lane, which is crossed before we get challenged by the spring growth of weeds for the last time on the way up to Edge Lane, the road leading to the upper reaches of Colden clough before petering out at the moorland boundary, which we approach as we rise on beyond High Edgehey Green. Elevate with the stepped and walled in path that rises up, giving us another broad reveal of the southern Calderdale horizon before we rise to meet the edge of Hot Stones Hill, literally at the edge of the cultivatable boundary of the valley by Long High Top and Mount Pleasant farms, beyond which the Way wanders among some quarry delves and enters the expanse of Heptonstall Moor, with the green tree-lined groove of Hebden Dale dropping down ahead of us and our path picking its angle to the northwest, directing us towards the hills on the Lancashire border, not really that far away to the west.

Colden Clough.

Hebble Hole.

Hitting the rise from Colden to Hot Stones Hill.

Joining the trail over Heptonstall Moor.

There's a lot of moorland trek to come, not that it's a particularly deep penetration into the moor, as the walled in fields above Hebden Dale sit not too far to the north of us as we follow the rough track that wends its merry way along among the long grass and heather, which is yet to get its summer colouring on, dropping down hill to meet the passage over Greenwood Lee Clough and then starting to rise once more up Green Hill, giving us a fine view east down the green and thickly wooded valley as the landscape above Hebden Bridge reveals itself, seemingly so close and yet so far from where we are now. The rise wanders us among former quarry remnants and boggy pits as we elevate on the thankfully dry path up to the next moorland crest on Clough Head Hill as the heather retreats from the landscape and we progress on across the plain of White Mires, where fingers of the upper Hebden valley reveal themselves ahead, forming clefts in the southeastern side of the Boulsworth Hill upland, and locally a flagged path arrives to direct us across the marshy land ahead, directing us onto the northern side of Standing Stone Hill before we restart our descent. There's a herd of moorland cows to be seen grazing and ruminating up here, just far enough away up the slope to not feel troubling as we join the side of a descending channel dug into the moor, which we follow as the next pair of valleys in the border region arrive ahead, the southernmost containing the Gorple reservoirs, with the Lower one immediately making itself a feature in the landscape below the hills that flank it, and our eyes drift to the valley to the north east, containing the Walshaw Dean reservoirs, our way ahead as we drift towards the day's western apex. Join the path by a long wall, notionally at the moorland boundary though the grass quality on both sides is identical, which draws us on, alongside the ditch across Reaps Level to meet the Pennine Bridleway as it drops off the ridge to the south, and takes us north as the morning gloom finally starts to break apart, thus illuminating Gorple Lower Reservoir and its reservoir house as the local features of interest, and the view of the converging valleys arriving to the east, with the sole inn and /or farmstead on the Ridehalgh Road, above and beyond, looking like the last significant outpost of civilization in this quarter.

Hebden Dale from Green Hill.

Boulsworth Hill from Clough Head Hill.

Graining Water and Alcomden Water, from Reaps Level.

Lower Gorple Reservoir.

Our westward drift has purely been due to the difficulty posed by the deep cleft of Black Dean and Graining Water as it cuts it way through the landscape above Hebden Dale, and its virtually in the shadow of the Lower dam that we descend to make out passage across it, dropping into the modestly sized gorge where Reaps Water merges in, beneath rocky outcrops and amidst a sea of ferns, traversing the pair of footbridges and contemplating this most appealing of secluded locales before rising up the side of channel coming in from the north, down from Widdop reservoir. Trace the high edge of Graining Water's valley as we progress upstream, eventually rising to meet the lane near the Well Holes farmstead, and trace it on as it rises up to Clough Foot, where progress over the Pennine ridge would land us on the Bronte Way route at Thursden after not too many miles, but we split off by the accessible parking spot for those trailing locally on the Pennine Bridleway and the Yorkshire Water permissive paths to keep us soundly on the West Yorkshire side, joining the Walshaw Dean access road, which naturally brings another ascent. Not too long a one this time, as we're only a modest way up from the from the meeting of valley of Alcomden Dean, which we elevate towards, with the path traced into this landscape clearly etched on the moorland elevation to the south, and our northeasterly way cresting us over by the Sutcliffe Rough plantation, lands the High Rakes rise of Wadsworth Moor directly ahead of us, illustrating our previous path into this valley, some eight seasons ago, the view of which opens out beyond a triangular meeting of tracks. The relative solitude of the early going ends as we start to meet other walkers, trailing their way down the paths from the Worth Valley, the watershed hills of which still lay some way ahead, beyond the many negotiable paths around the valley's reservoirs, the first of which soon lands ahead, Walshaw Dean Lower, with the Pennine Way signage directing us off the metalled track and down to pass over the dam, with the cloud cover coming over to give us another silvery surface to admire on the way over to the eastern bank.

The meeting of Reaps Water and Graining Water.

Graining Water below Clough Foot.

High Rakes above Alcomden Water.

Walshaw Dean Lower Reservoir.

A persistent breeze ensures that we keep moving on the undulating path at a remove from the shoreline of the Lower reservoir, pressing north with Middle Moor Hill rising above the head of the valley, and taking a predictable interest in the lodge house that sits at the western end of the dam of the Middle reservoir, at as remote a location as you could want while still being accessible by actual roads, which we elevate to the eastern side of before we settle onto the shoreline path, perched between the water surface and the run-off channel from the Upper Reservoir. This leads us halfway up the side of Middle reservoir, past the bridge to apparently nowhere and over the running in channel of Old Dike, before we meet the bridge over Black Clough and the shooters track that previously brought us here, and we can actually anticipate the weather improving to give us some illumination better that what we had in October 2013 as we rise to the locked gate and horrible step stile ahead of the break onto the moorland, where we can finally break for lunch after 3+ hours of going, admiring the view up to Walshaw Dean Upper before we press on. Having established several miles of a new western border, we'll be on known paths again for a while as we start up the rough path that leads to the welcome run of flagstones up the pitch of Mean Piece, going against the prevailing tide of walkers coming down from the Worth Valley, as the view over the valley behind us expands, while doing little to reveal the Boulsworth Hill upland to the west, as we're kept away from the bogginess that seems pervasive on this hillside below the elevations of Withens Height and Dick Delf hills. My last trip over here had me convinced that it was possible to completely lose the contextual horizon over the moor top, but higher cloud and an amount of Summer sunshine at least gives us much more to see as the distant southern horizon elevates itself over the bulk of Wadsworth Moor, though any route east or west would need to be tracked my a much more seasoned walker than myself, meaning that a tracing of the full Calder - Aire ridge from the Castleford confluence to Crow Hill watershed will probably never happen.

Walshaw Dean Middle Dam, and the Lodge House.

Walshaw Dean Middle Reservoir, and the Upper Dam. 

The flagged path up Mean Piece.

The Calder - Aire watershed, between Withens Heights and Dick Delf.

The trip over into the Worth Valley, with the Airedale horizon rising beyond does arrive quicker than expected, but once onto the northern side of this hillside, the track down to Top Withins is much longer than you'd expect, arriving in the landscape below its prominent trees at 400+m up, but sitting some way beyond the upper reaches of the headwaters of South Dean Beck, flowing east down to the Bronte Waterfall and Bridge, and once your'e there, you can meet the literary enthusiasts who'll tell you that it was the location that inspired its place in Wuthering Heights, and no the house itself. It's as crowded a walking location as you'll find in this county, I'm guessing, and its good to seem the descending route beyond in a climate more favourable that what we had for 2013's unintended finale, tracing the path downhill with a flagged surface leading us down to the ruined Middle Withins, and an improved track, suitable for carts taking us down to Lower Withins, or the traceable remains of it at least before we land on a viable path that lead us over the Heights, where a shortcut over to the north really feels like it ought to be findable, though all the available paths do not describe a decent route. So we'll stick to the route past the Heights farms at the cultivatable limit, the first habitation that we've seen on this side, and come down to meet the view to the River Worth proper, directly to the north of us, gaining Lower Laithe reservoir and Penistone Hill on our local horizon before we end our long northeasterly drift and join the Bronte Way route, from a mere month ago as it tangles up with the Pennine Way to get us off the high ground we've been on for so long, dropping us down the edge of Buckley Green and giving us sight of Ponden Reservoir in the landscape ahead of us. Gaining solitude again and rapidly losing altitude as we reenter agricultural country, the route takes its turns around Buckley Green Bottom and Buckley farms, before landing us by Ponden Reservoir by Rush Isles farm, taking us out along the southern shore as the sunshine rages down, making the idea of outdoor activities at the Within the Wood outdoor centre feel that bit more appealing, before we take the rising route away from the deep gouge of Ponden Clough and its beck to rise around to Ponden Hall and the rising path up the actual Worth Valley to the northwest.

Top Withens.

Middle Withens, and Lower Withens.

The Heights.

Ponden Reservoir, from afar.

Ponden Reservoir, up close.

Shed the Bronte Way path beyond Old House farm, with its field of donkeys and guinea fowl to continue north on a new outer boundary line, with Old Lane taking us back down to the shore of Ponden Reservoir, while also advertising the obvious climb to come as we have to soon rapidly elevate ourselves back to moorland altitude again, though that push is still a stretch further on, as we need to negotiate some damp going by the reservoir-side and make our way over the Worth at the western end of it, meeting the Scar Top Road before it starts its steep rise over to Lancashire, and ahead of our field climb up the side of Dean Clough. The trials of the Pennine Way start to feel like they're starting to test my limbs on the elevation up to the Dean Fields farmsteads, with the route beyond tangling itself up with the steep driveway uphill, before we join a rough path that drifts us above the tree cover of the descending Dean Clough, an unoriginal name to be found all over the county, which we skirt around to meet the high Crag Bottom road, which skirts us around the perched and eponymous terrace that could only have been located here to accommodate the workers for the old quarry workings above. We'll join the switchback path up there, and pause at the moorland edge to feed and water while contemplating the view up and down the Worth Valley and realising that the pressure on our walking window is starting to tell, and thus as we join the long straight track following the long wall up Thornton Hill onto Oakworth Moor, we really need to get a move on, so it's jets on to burn off the only other walker on this track, elevating us a ways west or our previous route up here on the Bradford Millennium Way, and keeping on a steady climb that is most comfortable for speed. The open moor that calls itself The Sea has the track reaming clear, and advertising the Crow Hill - Boulsworth Hill upland arriving to the south as our route seems to direct us up to the western edge of the moorland ridge, where the Wolf Stone rise around the trig pillar, which a day of easier going would have demanded a visit, with the view to Pendle Hill beyond, but after being teased in that direction, we drift away from the point where three counties meet and instead shift directly north, above the headwaters feeding down to Keighley Moor reservoir.

Dean Clough, from Old Lane.

The upper Worth Valley, from Dean Clough.

The moorland track, Thornton Hill.

Wolf Stones, from The Sea.

A rather intermittent causey leads us up towards the moorland ridge, ahead of which we can take our last looks to the northeast and the middle Airedale horizon before we are guided up to a stake that marks the transition over into North Yorkshire, far further south than the mind anticipates it, revealing a new horizon, that spreads around from Pendle Hill and the Forest of Bowland, to the high hills of the Yorkshire Dales in Ribblesdale and Upper Wharfedale, a grand old panorama out of which the river Aire emerges in a distinct gap in the Pennine range. On this northwestern side we see another change in the moorland quality, with Cat Stone Hill appearing much darker than the side we've come up from, with the heather proliferating once more as our causey resumes in a slightly more permanent state as it passes over the worst of the soft turf, angling us towards a stone shelter that's the only permanent fixture on the high moor and not giving us an obvious target downhill as we track the rough path beyond, at least until we spy the slab of terrain that lies behind Earl Crag, with its tower and pinnacle obvious once identified in the landscape. It could be very easy to get lost up here on Ickornshaw Moor, as the path changes direction just enough to think you might be going southwest towards Pendle at times, and it's only a distant shooting hut that keeps you certain of which direction you ought to be going, and the path does aim you down towards it eventually, making good visibility a must on terrain like this, shedding a whole lot of height as we progress down to High End Lowe to pass right up close to the hut, which has all the appeal of a country cottage, aside from its relative isolation. Landing close to the edge of the moor brings us into a peculiar landscape of chalets, or rather sheds, that sit an oddly inaccessible remove above the agricultural limit, and they dot the moorland boundary lacking as much as a firm track to get to them, for a way down to the passage of Dean Hole Clough, one of the major drains off this side of the moor, where we find ourselves now below the height of Earl Crag, with its sharp profile ahead of us, with Wainman's Pinnacle obvious atop it.

The guide stake on the Oakworth - Ickornshaw moor ridge.

The stones shelter, Cat Stone Hill.

The Shooting Hut, High End Lowe.

Chalet on the moorland edge, with Earl Crag.

It feel like it ought to be a quick run downhill from here, entering the landscape of farmsteads in the steeply folded fields above Ickornshaw and Cowling, but the Pennine Way knows that it's not meant to be a straightforward trail and thus it takes a sharp turn down to pass between the ruined farmsteads on the most marginal of fields around Dean Hole Clough, which we are then drawn down to and over again, and up the far side on that steep path seen from above that you just knew would be that last frustrating ascent of the day, taking apparently away from our finish line. The time concern is such that we keep the motor going as we pass around the depression formed by Lumb Head Beck, pausing only to admire the secret waterfall that spills down its cascade at the apex, before continuing on up the farm tracks that lead up to the sheds at the top of Green Hill, where we finally get a sightline to our trip's end and then lead us down towards the farm complex at Lower Summer Houses, where our path is directed away from the farmstead and into the field with the cattle who are not at all interested in my passage, as the meadow is traversed downhill to land us on the A6068 Colne Road. That's the first major road seen we started out, nearly 8 hours earlier, and there's enough time left to continue downhill into Ickornshaw itself, following the path from the Black Bull inn to meet this hamlet stretched along its eponymous beck, the next major branch on the Aire north of the Worth, where a suburban settlement has crept its way in around the towering former chapel, and the Pennine Way leaves us, to not actually meet the Aire itself until it gets to Gargrave. Nan Scar Road lead us up to the corner where Holy Trinity, Cowling's Parish Church lies, and we seal another new boundary marker on the walking field as we tangle up with another of 2013's routes, and from there we pass back over Ickornshaw Beck via Wink Holme Bridge, passing the old mills, and rising back up Gill Lane to the Colne Road to find the bus stop by the Cock Hill terraces, opposite the baptist chapel burial grounds at the southwestern-most extreme of Cowling, finishing at 4.55pm, barely five minutes ahead of the last regular running of the M4 bus to Keighley, and a 2+ hour ride homeward.

Further Dean Hole farm, Dean Hole Clough.

Lumb Bottom clough, and Green Hill.

Ickornshaw village, and Cowling parish church.

Cock Hill terrace, Cowling.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 5040.3 miles
2021 Total: 298.2 miles
Up Country Total: 4577.3 miles
Solo Total: 4708.7 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3638.1 miles

Next Up: Giving it some serious Up & Down on the Calderdale side (in theory).