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.

Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden 24/07/21

16.8 miles, via, Sowerby, Wood Bottom, Luddenden Foot, Luddenden, Oats Royds Mill, Booth,

 Luddenden Dean, Dry Carr - Slack, Clough Hole, Garnett Edge, Midgeley Moor, Back Clough,

  Low Brown Knoll, High Brown Knoll, Flaight Hill, Robin Delph Flat, Gib Slack, Crimsworth

   Dean, Lumb Bridge, Shackleton Knoll, Rowshaw, Walshaw, Rowshaw Clough, Hebden Dale,

    Gibson Mill, Gibson Wood, Knoll Top, Colden, Colden School, Blackshaw Head, Hippins 

     Clough, Great Rock, Great House Clough, Cross Stone, and Priestwell. 

Having been NIW and Down Country for the week, travelling without walking plans and ending up doing a whole mess of not much as we endured a blast heatwave conditions, we return to the North Country feeling like we ought to get back on the trail as things cool down and gloom over again, as some more mileage needs to be put down among Calderdale's hills and valleys while it's not raining, not least because July needs to be redeemed after that damp spell got it going on completely the wrong foot, and having had too much enforced R'n'R. With a lot of miles planned, we travel early, to alight at Sowerby Bridge at 8.05am, under skies that look like they'll be keeping the sunshine at bay all day, as we start off with the morning chill still hanging heavy as we decline down Station Road, past the builders yard in the coal drops, and the old police station, down to the crossing of the mouth of the Ryburn as it flows under the railway to merge into the Calder, taking a left as we meet the A58 and crossing over West Street by the Sowerby Bridge flat iron to start the ascent to Sowerby village. We're coming this way as the options for low down and westbound routes up the Calder Valley are rather thin on the ground, and so we rise sharply with Quarry Hill, passing the Royal Oak inn and St George's church on the sharp rise up to Fore Lane, which skirts us around White Windows house, and St Peter's Avenue pushes us between the suburban and council estates on the hilltop, giving us a view over the lower Ryburn valley towards Norland Moor,for a change, before we pass the grounds of Ryburn Valley High School, with its old schoolhouse almost concealed in plain sight at the roadside. Arrive at the site of the Victorian village school, across the way from St Peter's church, which shares some of the neo-Classical vintage of its companion downhill, and pass through the old heart of Sowerby village by the shopping parade and the Old Hall, before the turn northwards and downhill comes by the Church Stile inn, taking us down Pinfold Lane as it clings on to the high edge of the Calder Valley, which opens out ahead of us, drawing our attention across the way towards Luddenden Dean, our first target for the day, as it merges in between the high hillsides, west of Halifax and below Midgeley Moor.

Northowram to Mytholmroyd 17/07/21

15 miles, via Lands Head, Upper Shibden Dale, Shibden Head, Ambler Thorn, Raggalds, 

 Soil Hill, Ogden, Ogden Reservoir, Ovenden Moor, Cold Edge, Withins Head, Hunter Hill,

  Wainstalls, Reap Hirst, Peel House, Luddenden, Roebuck Wood, Luddenden Foot, 

   Calder Valley Greenway, and Brearley.

After two consecutive weekends of garbage weather, shedding my walking plans on principle, coupled to the intent to travel away Down Country, seems like a rather foolish course of action once a veritable heatwave washes across the country, offering the hours of sunshine that we'd desired for a scenic walk, albeit attached to a temperature spike that you could probably do without, meaning that the trail is rejoined with hope that the month of July might be redeemed, while dressed in my light summer gear that hasn't been out in three years and loaded with liquids for what could be a very testing day indeed. This time busing out to Northowram goes without a hitch and it's already hot as our feet touch the ground opposite the surgery and across from the end of Hall Lane at 9.35am, so we already know that it's not going to be a rapid sort of day, which means a slightly more leisurely pace will allow a chance to properly see the landscape that we hurried through two weeks ago, seeing how suburbia has butted up to and penetrated the grounds of Northowram Hall, which still hides in there behind the wall and the trees, and how much of the associated estate has endured outside the boundary. Further on, we enter the landscape of fields and farmsteads scattered on the high land that Shibden Dale digs into, with Marsh Hall being by far the most impressive, with its apparent 17th century stylings and vintage, while Land Head almost form the heart of a rural mini-hamlet among the undulations and hillocks that rise around the concealed valley which remains our point of focal interest, to be found down Cave Hill where the view from the Brow Lane corner is as marked a contrast as you could want as the sunshine blazes down. Our traversal is thus resumed, as Blake Hill End Road traces the eastern branch of the valley, past Bleak Hill End farm, before turning back along the valley side with Paddock Road, past its eponymous farm and the only suburban house with an aspirant view in the area, before we join the track of Addersgate Lane, wending its way down the hillside past the farmsteads perched on the dale's brow, passing by Plough Royds, Woodcock and Adders Gate and getting quite the most superlative views of  downstream Shibden Dale, as we go.

Rumination: What is This? I Don't Even... 10/07/21

The Following is For Reference Only.

Every walking year seems to hit a point where my walking resolve starts to crumble, either from internal factors like mental or physical fatigue, or from external reasons like terrible weather, and we've definitely met the latter on those in 2021, but at quite the most unexpected time of year, as while early July can offer have weather that settles into roasting hot or markedly changeable, we have not seen consecutive weekends of awful weather in all of my walking years, having to go back to the infamously recalled year of 2007 with its latter half of constant rain and greyness for something comparable. Weather projections for this walking day had suggested we were due a day of sunshine and showers, that hard to read forecast that could bring weather that is sunny or damp, but when we rose in Morley we were greeted with fog, hanging low on the ground and not having been predicted to occur at any point in the week, which you wouldn't expect to endure at this time of year, so the walking resolve was steeled to go out and make the best of the mediocre conditions. The mental resolution for the day then started getting its beating right at the outset as we set out to hop on the #425 bus at Morley Town Hall, only to find it inexplicably cancelled and thus a half hour wait had to pass until the next service was due, putting me behind schedule and adding to the frustration that comes with a long enough wait of 20+ minutes for the #681 service at Bradford bus station, where it's painfully visible that the persistent damp gloom has not lifted even as we roll past 9.20am. The Halifax via Shelf bus is boarded, to ride us back up onto the Calder - Aire upland, and there's no sign of any improvement coming in the air, and indeed things look like they're worsening as we roll up at Odsal Top, as the skies darken and a sudden downpour comes on as we ride through Shelf, giving me an impromptu dousing as it runs in through the open bus window, and as we approach Northowram, conditions outside look no better than they did when I quit the path a week ago, and I stay firmly in my seat as my stop comes and goes a 10am, only moving on as we roll into the Halifax bus station terminus.

Brighouse to Northowram 03/07/21

6 miles, via Owler Ings, Brookfoot, Slead Syke Wood bottom, Sutcliffe Wood bottom, 

 Hipperholme Mill, Mytholme bridge, Shibden Hall Park (Mereside), Stump Cross, Salterlee, 

  Lane Ends, and Shibden Dale Brow. 

You can probably guess from the headline that this was not a walking trip that went as planned, and I should also have known that I was flick fate on the nose when I thought that I could take on the challenge posed by a day of constant Summer rain, but sometimes it seems that I really think I know better and that the weather conditions can easily be overcome even when taking on a trip from the banks of the Calder up to the watershed ridge and back down again, taking a long route around Halifax and taking in some of the Calderdale terrain missed on my long trips northbound. So, this object lesson in watching things come unstuck starts at Brighouse station at 8.50am, already dressed against the weather that doesn't take much time to come on as we take a snaking route across the town to the northwest, heading to Brighouse bridge via Gooder Lane and Cliffe Road, and then approaching the Navigation channel and  Anchor Bridge via the stub of Bridge Street, before we head out of town via Owler Ings Road and Bank Street, varying it us just so things can be kept interesting as we match old trajectories. There's already a persistent light drizzle in the air as we rise up to the side of the A6025 Elland Road, again, where we'll carry on northwesterly through the tree lined bank above the canal and the Calder on the way down to Brookfoot, by no means an original route choice but the only practical way to get to this low corner of the town, with its terraces stacked on the hillside above, its old Co-op store now occupied by a funeral director and the Red Rooster inn looking likes its back in business after seeming to have had regular occasions of being permanently shut. Our new route starts here, not up through the Brookfoot Business Park on the site of the old dye works, despite it offering a hard surface to walk on, instead joining the rough path at the side of Red Beck, which forms the valley that we're intending to traverse, possibly the most concealed of all the branches of the Calder, with our initial steps being taken up to the edge of the woodland and fields above the stream, pressing on past the industrial plant, with the vegetation having been very recently cut back so we're not getting an additional soaking from below as we rise on, up the dirt track to meet Wood Bottom Road.