Colne to Keighley 18/09/21

Burnley Manchester Road to Burnley Central: 1.2 miles, via Centenary Way and St Peter's.

It feels like we've been waiting for the entirety of Summer for Summer to arrive, and now it actually feel like it's arrived, it's already done, as are my Jollies, thus starting out from Morley again as we return to the long trips on the train, looking to complete this three legged excursion around the western edge of the expanded field of experience in the East Lancs valley, heading out with my left foot's sole stuck together with one off-brand Compeed plaster and knowing that even with a 7am start from home, it's going to be a three hour trip to the starting line. As is familiar by now, the connection options in Burnley are awful, and thus to make best use of a wasted hour, it's best to alight at Manchester Road station and walk across the town again, alighting at 8.50am to find that the way up to the A682 is indeed a challenge, rising up the long allegedly level access ramp which adds minutes to any westbound connection, before we set a course around the east end of the town, hitting Centenary Way beyond the traffic island to head over the flyover that we passed under last time out, looking west to the town and its Town Hall, framed by Pendle Hill as we also pass over the canal. Looking east, the best, and indeed only, views to Boulsworth Hill and the Hameldon Ridge can be had over the roofs of Tesco and the bowling alley, ahead of the descent down to pass behind the police station and courts complex, before we come up to the eastern end of St James's Street, in the shadow of The Culvert and its embankment, and carry on up Church Street, passing below the high rising St Peter's Centre, the only tall building in the entire town, located in a loop of the River Brun, across the way from the closest batch of enduring terraces and townhouses in the town, around the bottom of Ormerod Street. Past the oldest schools in the town, we meet Burnley's parish church, St Peter's, located in it's yard in another twist of the Brun, and looking to celebrate 900 years of its recorded establishment in 2022, giving some ancient history to a town that doesn't suggest much before the 19th century, passed around as we join School Lane, passing below the old Grammar School on the way up to Active Way, which is crossed as we seek the alternate path to Burnley Central station, between the Anchor and Prestige retail parks which hasn't been cut off due to the dereliction of the Adelphi hotel, landing at 9.20am, meaning the last train trip of the morning will only require a half hour wait, and then we can lead you into the day's scheduled programming...

Todmorden to Colne (low route) 15/09/21

15.3 miles, Patmos, Lydgate, Vale, Cornholme, Portsmouth, Ratten Clough, Copy Pit,

 Holme Chapel, Cliviger, Walk Mill, Townley Park, Burnely Wood, Burnley, Danehouse, 

  Reedley, Brierfield, Whitefield, Nelson, White Walls, Primet Bridge, and Boundary Mill.

Four days into our week away, and it's already apparent that deciding to dump my original walking plans has proven to be an excellent idea, as taking time out for rest and relaxation has been a much better idea that trying to pound out the miles for three days of the week, which has resulted in giving us time for two trips for dinner out (Sunday Roast at the Shoulder of Mutton, and Tuesday night date with My Calderdale friends in The Old Gate), plus lunch with My Sister on a flying visit from Bolton and another visit due from My Mum's frinds in Skipton due for Thursday. Thus we are feeling like walking plans are being fitted in around the social calls, and only having one midweek trip on the slate, makes that a whole lot easier, again not needing access to the Parental Taxi to get to my starting line in Todmorden, riding the #592 bus to land at the bus stand at 9.15am under the viaduct on Burnley Road, with the A646 being our way ahead, the main trajectory that we'll be taking out of West Yorkshire to seal another long boundary extension onto our field of walking experience as we travel to visit all the end points of our recent trips across the hills to the East Lancs valley. With our destination being the exact same one that we last travelled towards from here, we'll match that route for the first steps, through Patmos (or Cobden) as we head out of town past Aldi, the Todmorden Community College and the cricket field on the main road before that route peels off north and we continue on a steady northwesterly, on the wrong side of the road to get any decent views across Centre Vale Park, going by the House That Jack Built, also passing the Hare & Hounds inn from Sunday's trip before heading on into the narrowing upper Calder valley. Beyond the grounds of Todmorden High school, we meet the bottom of Stoney Royd Road, our limit of experience on the Burnley Road since the Calderdale Way brought us this far in 2012, and thus everything will be new from here as habitation quits the steeply wooded south side of the road and a council estate lurks in the last spot to the west of the town where one could have been accommodated, where the views north head right up the valley side to Orchan Rocks and around to Whirlaw Stones, lurking high above the town.

Hebden Bridge to Todmorden 12/09/21

10.1 miles, via Hebble End, Calder Holmes Park, Machpelah, Mytholm, Colden Clough, 

 Hudson Mill, New Delight, Strines, Land, Clough, Moor Lane, Duke's Cut, Pole Hill, 

  Bride Stones Moor, Great Bride Stones, Fast End, Orchan Rocks, Well Wood, Hartley Wood, 

   Cross Lee, and Centre Vale Park.

It's been such a rough summer for keeping up with my planned walking schedule, that even before we got to my Late Season break away, I'd already decided to junk my plans for the week away, putting the Mary Townley Loop of the Pennine Bridleway onto the list of things to do in a future walking season, as what I really need right now is to feel like I'm getting to catch up on the excursions delayed because of the three weekends lost from this past month, especially as trips to the far side on the Pennies are going to start getting tenuous once the days start shortening. So I travel away with My Mum, as we seize the first real opportunity that we've been given to travel away from home for a while since this age of Covid descended on us, not getting to far away from home as we ride out to Hebden Bridge on Friday evening, landing us in a convenient place to be nearby to family and friends in the hereabouts, and taking a let in an Airbnb house, a classic Calderdale Under-Over, owned by a Norwegian family and used as their hytte, in as handy a location in the town centre as could be desired. Walking lands on the schedule come Sunday morning, avoiding the crowds of Happy Valley Pride weekend as we rise for a 9am start, descending from our base to the end of market Street to do a bit of a tour of the unseen paths of Hebden Bridge before we get going properly, walking up past the Co-op to the Hebble End bridges to join the canal path eastwards for a few terraces before dropping down Fountain Street to cross back over the Calder via the footbridge, then sidling along Central Street to cross the footbridge over Hebden Water that links the I&N school with Riverside Juniors on Holme Street. Passing the Post Office and the Trades Club, we rise to pass over the canal again at Bridge 17 and take our path through Calder Holmes park, and rise to Station Road, to be as close to the station as possible before we pick up the route that we'd had on the slate for August Bank Holiday Monday, which takes us over the canal for the third and final time, and onto the A646 as we can then follow the New Road - West Gate - Market Street alignment across the heart of town, long before the revellers and day-trippers get going, allowing us to quietly examine the town ahead of the throng. 

Hebden Bridge to Nelson 04/09/21

15.2 miles, via Calder Holme Park, Wood End, Lee Mills Bridge, Midgehole, Shackleton, 

 Walshaw, New Laithe Moor, Alcomden Bridge, Greave Pasture, Greave Clough, The Sod, 

  Hey Slacks, Boulsworth Hill (Lad Law & Abbott Stone), Bedding Hill Moor, Will Moor, 

   Deerstones Moor, Upper & Lower Coldwell reservoirs, Walton's Monument, Castercliff, 

    Marsden Park, and Netherfield. 

August Bank Holiday Monday also gets dropped from my walking schedule, not solely because of the mediocre weather, but due to the fact of being laid up in bed for 10 hours of Sunday with an absolute bastard of a headache behind my eyes, as if all the experience of the preceding day out overwhelmed me completely, completely blowing the already busted flush that was August 2021, and so as we head into the final third of this year, we have to start looking to force in the walking long walking days on the High Moors, regardless of the conditions, just to get them paced before the days get too short. That's where we find ourselves as September starts, alighting at Hebden Bridge at 8.15am, and setting out northbound, trying to find footfalls that haven't been made through this town already, which means passing through Calder Holmes park on the north side path and rising over the canal via the bridge into the formal garden by the Picture house, and thence crossing the A646 New Road to head up Bridge Gate, where the marketeers are already breakfasting in the many cafes and our path takes us over Hebden Water via St George's Bridge, the 1510 packhorse bridge that's one of the most enduring structures in the valley. Take a left onto Hanging Royd Lane, behind the town hall complex to trek on among the terraces and factory units that occupy the only significant area of flat ground in the town, which leads us up to another crossing of Hebden Water via the Victoria Road bridge, and another twisting turn or two among th terraced streets that start to stack up on the hillside, feeling puzzled that a riverside path in the town does not exist, only located at the end of Spring Grove where the Foster Mill packhorse bridge leads us across again and into the green passage upstream. The local cricket field is hidden in this riverside glade, as are some allotment gardens and the village bowling club, all crammed onto whatever flat ground they can find upstream from the town, alongside the river that churns away over the riffles and pools that have been contained by built-up walls along both banks, clearly trying to manage the flow of the many valleys that feed water into this single channel and into the Calder, a feat to be admired as we we move our way up to the Lee Mill bridge, where a suburban enclave has been developed on the mill site.

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.