Todmorden to Colne 28/08/21

16.7 miles, via Cobden, Willow Bank, Hole Bottom. Whirlaw Stones, Stony Lane, 

 Mount Cross, Stiperden Bank, Stiperden Slack, Hoof Stones Height, Black Hameldon, 

  Hare Stones Hill, Gorple Gate, Clough Head, The Brinks, Flaught Hill Tom Groove, 

   Hey Slack Clough, Boulsworth Hill (Lad Law, Weather Stones, Little Chair Stones, 

    Little Saucer Stones, & Great Saucer Stones), Pot Brinks Moor, The forest of Trawden, 

     Hollin Hall, Trawden, Winewall, Cotton Tree, and Colne Field.

Another August weekend proves to be unusable thanks to another bout of unseasonably awful weather, which at least allows me a clear couple of days to be domestically sociable as My Mum travels Up Country on a flying visit, though it frustratingly denies me the opportunity to abuse my Parental Taxi privileges while I continue to tilt at the passage over the northwestern hills of West Yorkshire, so enforced rest comes on as I quietly curse out what has been easily my most disappointing Summer so far, at least until the long Bank Holiday break turns out to be the first warm one in six. Thus we get back to early starts on our trailing, and alight at Todmorden station at 8.20am, arriving in the upper reaches of the Calder Valley under the brightest of skies, a sight which we've really missed and will enjoy all day as we start out descending, down Station Approach and finding the shortcut path that I knew existed beneath Todmorden viaduct, taking us down to the A646 Burnley Road by the bus station and the new branch of Aldi, turning up the valley to follow the road into the quarter of town, nominally Cobden (or Patmos) that we haven't seen too much of previously. Past the shopping parades and Todmorden Community College, we get a frontage of townhouses along the main road, and we manage to distract ourselves from out intended route out of the valley by missing our northward turn as we traipse past the cricket field, crossing by the lodge house of Centre Vale park and rising into the landscape of post-industry and terraces, up West Street and Blind Lane to get back on track with Victoria Road, taking us under the railway as it rises up the Copy Pit line, and get our ascent really going as we hit Meadow Bottom Road. Rising up the clough of Willow Bank with short terraces flanking the road, we soon land by the site of Todmorden Laundry, with one cottage using its former chimney as a turret house of sorts, beyond which the lane starts a twisty path up hill, passing around the cottages and farmstead that have been dug into the rising hillside, and getting some early shade as we elevate up towards Hole Bottom, giving us some respite from the breath-testing ascent before we tangle up with the Calderdale Way path as it takes its turn up through the trees.

Mytholmroyd to Brierfield 14/08/21

15.2 miles, via Hawks Clough, Crow Nest Woods, Hebden Bridge (Fairfield & Hebble End), 

 Heptonstall, Slack, Clough Hole, High Greenwood, Black Dean Bridge, Clough Foot, 

  Widdop Reservoir, Great Edge Bottom, Tom Groove, Rapes Clough, Thursden New Bridge, 

   Broad Bank, Holt Hill, Lane Bottom, Haggate, Marsden Height and Catlow Row.

The first weekend of August is lost due to neither day being able to present a viably large window of decent weather for trekking over the Pennines, with rain particularly blighting the latter half of the Saturday, and thus our disappointing Summer continues with us being almost halfway through the month before we can get out again, full of intent to seek out the way to the only road that could honestly be described as a mountain pass in West Yorkshire, over the top of the northwestern high lands and into the East Lancs valley once more. We'll start this trip from Mytholmroyd, just so we are varying up our start lines and putting down a bit of distance before we are compelled onto the uphill lane, alighting at 9.10am and setting a course westwards along the floor of the Calder Valley, seeking a path that makes the most interesting possible passage along the straight mile of the railway line, which means descending to Cragg Road and cross Cragg Brook via the footbridge in the shadow of the viaduct that leads us over to the flats of Elphaborough Court, which are passed among to join Thrush Hill Road, where we pass under the narrow tunnel to the north side. Thence left, down behind the housing block on Erringden Road to meet the first footbridge, which elevates us over to the south side again, leading us into the Nest Estate, with its enduring 1940s vintage prefabs, and its path through the central close before we turn to the railway once again, passing over the stone Paddy Bridge, which doubles as a farm access route, which lead us back to the suburban edge of Caldene Avenue at Hawks Clough, where another turn takes us over the rails for a third time, over the footbridge leading to the Great and Little Stubb farms. Pass among them before another farm track drops us down, taking us under the railway via the Stubbs lane underbridge before we meet a rough path that shadows the railway west, through the trees and above the industrial enclave at Calder Brook before we meet Carr Lane and pass over the railway for the final time in this quarter, settling us onto the track of Crow Nest Road, which leads us below the steep ban of woodland at a short remove from the railway's side, where morning sun teases us with an appearance above the canopy before we meet the outlying houses that sit beyond the site of what used to be Hebden Bridge's gasworks, just a step or twelve east of the end of Wood Top Road and the railway station.

Hebden Bridge to Burnley 31/07/21

14.7 miles, via Calder Holmes Park, Hebble End, Mytholm, Rawtonstall Bank, Pry Hill, 

 Blackshaw Head, Well Hill, Pole Hill, Hawk Stones, Stiperden Bank & Bar, Coal Clough 

  Wind Farm, Long Causeway, Mosley Height, Mere Clough, Red Lees, Brunshaw, Turf Moor,

   Burnley Town Centre, Sandygate, Barracks, Central & Manchester Road stations.

As we find ourselves on the cusp of August, you might have the hope that we have something like a Summer climate in the air, but we're not seeing anything of the sort as we approach the high season objectives around the moors to the northwest of Calderdale and over the English Watershed into East Lancashire, instead of sunshine and warmth,we've got a cool and white cloud-y sort of day to face, hopeful that the proximity to the Pennines is not going to bring the rain at altitude as we join the old road out of the Calder valley for a proper trek into the unknown. We're not up with the lark today, instead riding out to Hebden Bridge for a 9.15am start, in the hope that predicted rain on the far side of the Pennines might have blown itself out by the time we get there, aiming ourselves towards the high roads by keeping low initially, departing the station to make a passage through Calder Holmes park, where its gloomy and early enough to only have dog walkers for company as we track its paths over to the side of the Rochdale Canal, where we cross Bridge 17 to follow the towpath west, past Blackpit Lock and over the Calder aqueduct. There's light drizzle in the air as we make our way along the back of the factories and terraces of Hebble End that are squeezed onto the narrow island between the river and the canal, keeping to the path until we meet the site of Calder Mills, where we split off to Robertshaw Road, taking us over to the other end of the ranked terraces in this space to follow Stubbing Holme Road as it follows the channel of the Calder, markedly narrower here as it flows down from its confluence with Colden Clough, where a footbridge takes us to the north side again, and up alongside the interceding stream channel. This leads us up to Bank Foot Bridge, where we land towards the western end of town, crossing over the A646 King Street to get on our route properly, starting our ascent of Church Lane as it passes behind the old folks home complex and into the district of Mytholm, passing the church of St James, which confirms itself as Hebden Bridge's parish church, on the closest plot of level ground large enough to accommodate it, as well as passing the local school and starting our climb in earnest as Bank Terrace and Glen View Road start their steep, twisting course uphill between the terraces and semis that cling onto this hillside, among the rising woodlands.