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Yorkshire WalksHebden Bridge |
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| Distance: 51⁄2 miles (9 km) Time: 3 hours Start: Reasonable sized car park on Station Road near Hebden Bridge Railway Station at grid ref 994269. This is pay and display but very cheap and is an excellent starting point. How to get there: Hebden Bridge is on the A646 between Halifax and Todmorden. Terrain: Canal towpath walking from Hebden Bridge followed by a steady climb on good tracks to high moorland. There are one or two easy trackless sections and a small amount of road walking. Despite the mileage this is quite a strenuous outing with stunning views. Refreshments: A good selection of cafés, pubs and restaurants in Hebden Bridge. Maps: OS Explorer Outdoor Leisure 21, South Pennines. Licence Media 130/99, OS Explorer Outdoor Leisure 21, Crown Copyright. |
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| Hill walking can be strenuous, and it is up to you to approach it with caution and if you are inexperienced to do so under appropriate supervision. You should also carry appropriate clothing, equipment and maps, and wear suitable footwear. The details given here were believed to be correct at the time of going to press but neither the author nor Country Publications Ltd can accept responsibility for inaccuracies. Please stick to rights of way at all times. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hebden Bridge is a much underrated venue for a walking weekend or for a base for a day walk in the surrounding moorland and elevated hill country. There is a stunning network of footpaths and bridleways and a wonderful canal towpath which can be used to link up with rights of way heading to higher ground. Hebden Bridge was the first ‘Walkers are Welcome’ town in England and most walkers are attracted by the nearby routes along the wooded ravine of Hardcastle Crags or by the equally famous monument on Stoodley Pike, but there is much more to explore. This route takes a long walk along the towpath of the Rochdale Canal before following the Pennine Way into high country close to impressive moorland and with awesome views of Stoodley Pike and the surrounding countryside. You will be surprised how quickly the valley and canal are left behind and you find yourself in remote hill terrain following green lanes into the last of the farming country before the moors encroach. The Rochdale Canal was opened in 1804 and was a magnificent work of engineering, bringing a transport link along valleys between high ground where it seemed all but impossible. It runs from near Manchester (close to Oldham) and continues until Sowerby Bridge where the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway continues for a short distance. It was designed to take boats with payloads of up to seventy tons of such items as coal, grain, salt, wool and cotton. The last working boat to travel the canal did so in 1937. It was fully reopened in 2002 making it navigable for pleasure craft along its thirty-three mile (53 km) length. 1) Exit the car park and go left down the road. Just before a bridge head left past a barrier, dropping into Calder Holmes Park. Go right (at a junction) of the playing fields towards the canal. At a bench on your left, go through a gate, right and left along the canal towpath. Shortly go right over a bridge to go left along the opposite towpath. Follow this past Stubbings Lower and Upper locks 2) You then pass under a Railway Bridge (no. 20). Cross a narrow bridge near a canal overflow and continue to pass Rawden Mill Lock. Just before bridge 21 go right, through a fence gap, reaching a Pennine Way sign and information board. 3) Go left at a path junction, following the Pennine Way left over the bridge. Follow the Pennine Way up the hill and through a gate at a cattle grid. The track bends right towards a house, but follow the Pennine Way sign to the left to climb steeply through the trees to a path junction and marker posts. 4) Cross over, taking the far track (the Pennine Way) going half left uphill to pass Edge End Farm. Follow the track rising out of trees and passing through a gate. Take the green lane beyond (still on the Pennine Way) continuing to pass to the right of Lower Rough Head Farm to reach a path junction at the lane end. 5) Go left through a gate, and around the farm on a green lane towards buildings ahead. At a gate (and just before a gate opening) go left, taking the Pennine Bridleway (NOTE: this is signposted earlier than indicated on your OS map and heading actually down Pinnacle Lane). 6) Descend to pass through a gate and follow the track. Curve right through stone gate posts, continuing ahead through another gate and leaving the Pennine Bridleway here as it goes left. Follow the track (muddy after rain), passing Pinnacle Farm to a lane. 7) Cross over the lane (footpath signposted ‘Hebden Bridge’), passing through a gate to go down the right side of the field (trackless but a right of way). Stay on the right-hand side near to the wall to pass through gates and stiles in the right-hand corners of two fields. 8) Continue to a T junction at a house, and head left past houses on a track before going through a gate at the buildings’ end. Continue on the surfaced track which curves steeply downhill. 9) At the next junction turn left (Spencer Lane), and drop down to pass a post box. The lane curves around the houses and drops down to descend through the woods where it meets another road. Go ahead and under the railway bridge and left (through bollards) to climb past the railway station on the left. Curve right before the main car park, following the road on the right side to cross a bridge before going left into the car park where you started. |
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The information given in this walk has been provided in good faith and is intended only as a general guide. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that details were correct at the time of publication, the author and Country Publications Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for inaccuracies. It is the responsibility of individuals undertaking outdoor activities to approach the activity with caution and, especially if inexperienced, to do so under appropriate supervision. The activity described in this walk is strenuous and individuals should ensure that they are suitably fit before embarking upon it. They should carry the appropriate equipment and maps, be properly clothed and have adequate footwear. They should also take note of weather conditions and forecasts, and leave notice of their intended route and estimated time of return. |
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