Long distance routes | Easy Walking | Walking Guides | Geocaching |
We are blessed with one of the most comprehensive and ancient footpath networks in the country. It is reckoned that in our area we have nearly 600 miles of footpaths and bridleways. The area is most famous for its stone causey paths – installed to handle trains of packhorses in the 18th and 19th centuries, to know more take a look at A short history of our footpath network.
Over the last few years a lot of effort has gone in to make sure the routes are waymarked, so you shouldn’t lose your way. All the published routes have been surveyed and repaired to make sure you have a good walking experience. If you come across a problem, please tell us.
Long distance routes
We have two National Trails that go through the area and several locally developed long distance routes.
The Pennine Way
The Pennine Way tracks over 20 miles through our area from Blackstone Edge to Top Withens. It is very well way-marked and there are some great views from the route (especially from the iconic Stoodley Pike). If you want to detour into Hebden Bridge on your way, you can use the Hebden Bridge Loop path developed in 2015. Hebden Bridge is also the start of the Heart of the Pennine Way, published in 2015 which is available from local outlets.
The Pennine Bridleway (Mary Townley Loop)
The Mary Townley Loop enters our area at Summit and keeps to the high ground above Walsden, Todmorden, Eastwood and Colden exiting at Heptonstall Moor to later skirt Burnley, Rawtenstall, Rochdale and Littlebrough.
The route is mainly on tracks or good paths and is very well waymarked. You can pick up a guide at local outlets.
The Calderdale Way
This is a fifty mile walk circling Calderdale going through a great variety of landscapes.
The route has several link paths that allow you to divide it up into circular walks. It is well way-marked and the paths should be in good condition.
Up to date detailed directions .
Todmorden Centenary Ways
The Todmorden Centenary Way is a twenty-mile circular route. It goes through upland pastures, woodlands, open moor and steep sided valleys around Todmorden. It is both a fascinating walk for regular walkers as well as an invitation to those with less experience.
Using the link paths, it can be used to make a series of day and half day walks of various lengths or a whole weekend’s walking. It can be joined at any point and sections walked in any order. Walks can be devised to suit all abilities and link paths enable circular walks to be planned with the option of using public transport. There is a waterproof Todmorden Centenary Way map and a guidebook, available from local outlets and from the Todmorden Visitor centre on line shop
Rochdale Canal towpath
The 32-mile-long Rochdale canal runs from the centre of Manchester (Castlefield), through Rochdale and Littlebrough and enters our area at Summit. From there it winds down the Calder Valley, through Walsden, Todmorden, Eastwood, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Luddendenfoot (ending at Sowerby Bridge a few miles on).
The canal was conceived in 1776 but not completed until about 1805. Cotton, wool, coal, limestone, timber, salt and general merchandise were transported, but the opening of the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1841 caused a significant drop in trade. The canal closed in the 1960s, but was refurbished in the 1970s and re-opened in 1983. It is now used as a leisure route.
It is a fascinating flat walk that can easily be done in sections having easy access to trains and buses to get you back to the start. Some sections are suitable for wheel chair users.
The Stanza Stone route
The Stanza Stone route was developed as part of Ilkley Literature Festival. Along the route there are poems by Simon Armitage about weather which are carved into the landscape.
They are such a surprise when you come across them. We have one in our area on the Pennine Way at Lighthazzles quarry near Blackstone Edge and one just to the North on Oxenhope Moor.
Easy Walking
Don’t think that you have to be super fit to walk in the Heart of the Pennines. We have loads of walks that are short strolls, mainly on the flat, easy to access, but which still take you through fabulous countryside. If you are not experienced in walking in the countryside, we have lots of leaflets with clear directions and easy to read maps.
For more information, visit the Easy Walking page
Interpretation Trails
There are a number of walks where there are interpretation boards that explain the nature, landscape and heritage:
- Cragg Brook
- Ramsden Wood Farm Educational Trail above Walsden
- Luddenden Valley
- Hardcastle Crags
- Gorpley Clough Local Nature Reserve
- Geology Trail that starts from Guide Quarry at the junction of Flower Scar Road and Tower Causeway
Geocaching
There are hundreds of Geocaching sites both in the valley bottom and on the tops. There is a thriving geocaching community in the area.
For those that don’t know about Geocaching, it is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, at specific locations marked by coordinates. It is a great way of getting children walking in the countryside.
There is a good explanation about geocaching on Montem mountain gear website
