Kirklees Way #1: Marsden to Birchencliffe 03/08/14

Self at Marsden

August has to count, it's that simple, Summer has proved to be more climatically unpredictable than previous years and my motivation drop has had me having to reschedule most of the later part of the year, and what better way to focus yourself than to embark on a long trail, making sure that each coming weekend has another portion to draw you out, and so the Kirklees Way drops onto my schedule because I had wanted to see this district's high land and byways during the height of summer, rather than risking a conclusion during the seasonal turns of Autumn. Of course, I'd hoped to be on this 72 mile trail a month ago, and to be half way round by now, but there's not much point in further lamenting the failures of July, and we should instead look forward to this long tour of this district of marked contrasts, where the moors, towns and agricultural fields both pile up in close proximity and also spread out to provide a terrain that is both remote and crowded at the same time. Additionally, I'm on to Sunday walking again, not because I want to but because a Saturday that provides weather and moods that are distinctly uninspiring means my start has to get shunted so I can make hay whilst the sun shines, and with the trains landing right, the ride to Marsden is only 20 minutes longer via the crappy Sunday service on the Huddersfield Line, and I also get the bonus of a ride into platform 2 as well, the one that never seems to get used.

Kirklees Way #1: Marsden to Birchencliffe  12.2 miles

Above the Standedge Tunnels

Armed with my £2 guide book, I arrive at the start of the Kirklees Way to make an overdue return to the land of OL21, and there's no obvious marker to indicate that we are at the start of the trail, so I'll just strike my pose by the fingerpost next to lock 42E, and start out at 9.30am along a very familiar path indeed, westwards along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal path to Standedge tunnel, and it's bit odd that one of the district's engineering marvels should show up with the first mile of the trail. Much of the early going of the day is going to be on familiar track, but at least the next section, elevating me up the north side of the Colne valley is new to me, rising past the Tunnel End Inn and right through the middle of someone's terraced garden, neatly crafted up the valley side before meeting the contour hugging path that heads east, offering views over Marsden and the Colne valley, as well as the various lumps which will be in the landscape for much of the day, Meltham Moor showing it's less familiar face, Black Hill rising beyond Butterley Reservoir, and the high points of Marsden Moor estate crying out for an explore. It's also the only spot where you can look down into the valley to observe all four of the Standedge tunnels, three for railway and one for canal, but the two single bores sitting disused but maybe wanting a future that was denied to the ones at Woodhead, and having taken in the views, it's onward as the track starts to rise to meet Huck Hill farm, and then it's onto the path previously travelled over Slaithwaite moor. Exactly the same High Moor track as last October, but in conditions that are so much better, no bogginess and puddling, just miles of springy turf to pound out on as i make my way over toward Cupwith reservoir and the A640, all looking so much greener for the summer, but still stretching on for a lot further than you'd expect on a second time around. There's a small moment of triumph to notch up as the NT Shaw Heys gate is met, as 1,000 miles have been walked since I made my decision to aim for the target in June 2012, so even if my first four active months had not been counted, the ultimate destination would still have been made, altogether a bit of a manufactured success but I'm claiming it anyway. The pace picks up, as I burn off the other two walkers on the track, heading on to the branch of the Colne valley circular trail, surely on the slate for 2015, and then off across the dam as the clouds start to darken in the west, and I guess that even on a sunny day the threat of rain hangs heavy when you are this close to the Pennines.



Scammonden Water

Meet New Hey Road as the darkness consumes the moors, whilst the view to distant Calderdale remains illuminated and it's on to Watermans House, still looking like an accumulation of farming debris with the owner doing some eccentis parking to add another horse trailer to the pile. Pause to absorb the view, one of the best in the district before striking the grassy and still sketchy descent into Deanhead Clough, again looking greener than last year but under skies that feel eerily similar. Down to cross the dam of Deanhead reservoir, still looking under-filled, but I finally peel away from the rollercoaster ride that headed north last year, to follow the way east, rising on the gravel track to meet New Lane, which descends steeply on a surface that feels like it was relaid only a day or so ago. People start to appear around the place again, clearly tempted by the lure of Scammonden Water, but you do wonder if many were aware that reservoir paths rarely present easy going to unexpecting legs, and at Black Burne Brook, the path swings its way past the picnic site to traverse down to the reservoir shore, a good point to stop for watering and to consider this monster among West Yokshire reservoirs. Completed in 1969 and consuming the village of Deanhead, whose church still sits incongruously up the valley side, it must surely have the largest dam by volume of all earth banks in the country, not a fact I can immediately confirm but it is wide enough to have the M62 running across its top. At almost a mile long and  0.16 of a square mile of surface area, contained by steeply wooded valley sides it presents as placid an aspect as you could want, and I'll need to come visit again, just to see it when the sun shines. Follow the shore as far as the sailing club, before starting the ascent out of the valley up to the road leading to the activity centre and then following the path that rises above it, meeting the enclosed track that snakes uphill steeply, offering excellent views across all of  Deanhead Clough and down to the reservoir as the sun keeps threatening to break through. Meet the lane at Sledge Gate and press on as views actually start to improve further, and it's good spot to enjoy the landscape and the feats of engineering achieved within it before the path back into the moorland grass is met, rising sharply all the way to the A640 as the weather threatens to close in once more.

Slathwaite Wireless Station

A moment of reorientation is needed before pushing on, as I stand among unfamiliar hills up here, and I wonder why the Kirklees Way seems to be picking out such an eccentric route across the Calder - Colne divide, and it soon becomes apparent that it is to give you a real insight into this landscape, rather than just leaving it as 'the hills above Slaithwaite'. The track rises from the road towards Worts Hill, and as the path starts to crest around 380m, Calderdale recedes from view and the reason for coming this way becomes apparent, as the path enters the empire of masts that resides up on the hillside, and after regarding them from afar it's now time to wander among them. So depart from the top of the ridge to descend the rough track down to Far Worts farm with it terrifyingly large slurry tank, and then continue down the Causeway, to meet the mess of converging country lanes from where we meet Crimea Lane, the only other one which has remained a rough track. This takes us along the high land, right next to the Slaithwaite wireless station, where a pair of guyed masts rise above the field and machinery below them hums distinctly, but I can't claim to know what purpose the serve, unfortunately, and whilst as nothing compared to Emley Moor, they are still damned tall up close. The lane is good for evolving views, looking out over the hills that rise in south Kirklees, and spotting the Whitley Park folly temple on a distant hillside gives me one of those moments where the landscape shrinks and distant routes suddenly feel a lot closer together, good for putting a spring in the step when slatey skies are threatening to spoil the day once more. Rise back to the roads below the other notable hill top in this quarter, Rocking Stone hill, rising sharply out of the moor like Worts Hill and showing a good profile, and I need to  keep my wits sharp as I pace the edge of Rochdale Road (which probably doesn't ultimately go there) as I observe the erratic boulders which hang precariously on the edge of the hilltop, looking like they are taking a very slow slide down to the road below. Further along the road, past more farm conversions, the next pair of masts rise into view, forming the route's next target, and the path rises along a field boundary steeply to get to them, a suddenly nasty rise after a couple of miles of level going, which has me startling sheep from all corners of the fields. Actually a trio of lattice microwave towers rise from the edge of Round Hill, nowhere near as tall as the others but bulkier and just as distinctive, and sitting next to a field which claims to be the highest football field in the country, at 365m up, but it looks a while since the last match was played up here as moorland conditions appear to have returned to reclaim it.

Longwood Common

A moment of orientation places us above Golcar before we hit the track westwards, heading toward yet another mast that sits on the edge of the fields east of Halifax Road and the village of Scapegoat Hill, one of the highest in the county which means that there must have been a lot of hardy souls to farm out here in the past and hardier commuters who'd pick this as their country retreat. The trail avoids the village itself, but the large Non-Conformist chapel sits obviously in the landscape as the sun returns and we make our way onto Longwood Common, the last section of rough moorland on the high ground on the Calder - Colne divide, complete with a grassy ditch to traverse between the heather outcroppings, a challenging surface for trip hazards which is thankfully dry. I could all feel remote if it wasn't for the Pennine Manor hotel occupying a former farm a field distant, and benches are laid out for the walker to pause to enjoy the view at the end of the high ridge, a good spot to stop for lunch and to look to those few familiar high and distant points in the far east, and to ponder just how flat most of West Yorkshire looks when viewed from here. It's not of course, I've toiled along many trails with far too many ups and downs but when the 400+ metre hills that rise around the Colne valley are compared to it, the terrain towards Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield might as well be Cambridgeshire. Push off the moor and onto the lane down to Green Edge, where farms have clustered together to form a hamlet that has gradually developed into a cluster of executive getaways, and the path wanders among these until it finds a steep and green track that drops down the hillside rapidly, not offering the securest of footings as the high land is left behind. Once in the open, reorientation is needed again, finding ourselves above Longwood and its reservoirs as we move ever closer to Huddersfield, but our path swings us away from that direction, moving into Pighill Wood, following walled track down through it and loving the contrasts provided by the sunlight dropping down through the foliage, its enough to make me think that spring might not be the best time for woodland walking. Depart the wood, and enter Outland Golf course, where a particularly indistinct path crosses the middle of the fairways as I drop down to Hirst wood which surrounds Longwood beck, having lost 150m since leaving the moor, and of course a descent is immediately followed by an ascent back up the other side, just as the day starts to glum over again and the threat of rain returns from the west.

Halifax, from Turley Cote Lane
& 1,000 Solo miles Achieved!

It's 50m up to meet the track above lower Hirst farm, and the cold wind blowing in and the appearance of the M62 dominating the landscape makes this feel like one of the less inspiring sections of the walk, as we plough up a grassy and slightly precipitous track towards the motorway, eventually emerging onto New Hey Road, again, on the section truncated where the A640 was flexed to accommodate the cross country road of our nightmares. Pass a signpost telling us that it is both three miles to and from Huddersfield and the fun of the path diminishes further as we rise to cross the M62 and the follow the A640 down one of the least inspiring sections of A-road as far as the White Swan inn on the edge of Outlane. Swan Lane takes us north, clearly back into the vicinity of Calderdale as the sunshine returns once more as a bunch of views familiar from any traverse of the motorway, but to bee seen and absorbed at a human pace, a view which I have loved in passing many times, so it is odd that this is the first time that I have experienced it in person, having never walked in this vicinity before. The view also evolves as I go, revealing itself to the west initially, all the way across Sowood Green to the distant shape of Great Manshead, whilst to the north we see Holywell Green and Greetland, with the wind farm on Ovenden Moor beyond, but the real focus goes to the right as nestling in, and spreading out of, the Hebble valley, we have Halifax, unquestionably demonstrating itself as being the best of all of the county's towns to be viewed from above. Even at 4 miles distant, the spread of buildings gives you a feeling of how a town can develop, and it's at times like these that I wish I carried a pair of binoculars (too heavy to add to my baggage), or to have camera that did super-duper zoom and resolution (too expensive). Our path takes us onto the bridleway along Turley Cote Lane, and my guidebook give me a name for these ancient track that never quite became roads, 'Causey', derived from a French word and not a corruption of Causeway, apparently, and the landscape used to be littered with them before the road became the preferred method of transportation when carts replaced packhorses. This track is a beaut too, giving us a marvellous view beneath the sunshine, and it's kinda ironic that the best town view to be had along the whole of the Kirklees Way will probably be the main centre of Calderdale rather than anywhere actually within the district, but it's also worthy of note as it brings up my second 1,000 mile achievement of the day, and the last one for the year, 1,000 miles walked solo, on me lonesome, but are you ever really alone when you have a view to enjoy, I wonder, philosophically?

Birchencliffe

Moving onto Old Lindley road, the feeling of being almost done comes on, and approaching the M62 underbridge, the sprint to the finish line feels like it is due to start, so it's odd that the path suddenly hairpins back onto track that sends us off downhill in completely the 'wrong' direction, descending down to startle more sheep and encounter a boggy field corner before having to reascend the hillside that I had just come off to approach the house at the top of Wapping Nick Lane. A field walk past easily spooked cows then proceeds at a pitch that doesn't allow for hurrying, and then the guidebook provides a route description that makes little sense on the map and even less in reality as I fail to find the path leading up to High Haigh farm, instead following over styles that attempt to injure me as I arrive at Middle Haigh and the have to follow the track and road back to the top of the hill to find little obvious evidence of the route from above either. The weather closes over once more as I pass across the M62 again, returning to the influence of the Colne Valley, and the rain arrives as I cross the A643 and tramp my way over the fields to Crosland Road, noting that this might be the first downpour that has landed on me this year, as I cannot immediately recall any others. I'm also apt to demonstrate that I will be doing my own thing on the trail and not be following the route divisions as outlined, as the Sunday transportation options on Lindley Moor road are distinctly limited, instead passing my latest fantasy fixer-upper on the Calder - Colne divide, and striking off onto the field path that leads its way over to a a conifer-lined ginnel behind the outermost houses of Birchencliffe, the northernmost of Huddersfield's suburbs. The houses along Weatherhill Road and Yew Tree Road  are mostly semis clad in that ghastly grey pebbledash, maybe it's necessary when building at this altitude but it's so damned ugly when compared to the few stone terraces along the lane, it's enough to make you think that the planners of the past should offer an apology to the residents of the present. Still, the sunshine returns as we are rolling up at the A629 Halifax Road, just below Ainley Top, and this is my stop point for the day as a decent Sunday bus service can be guaranteed along here, the #503 running every 20 minutes, and completing my day at 2.50pm means there's going to be plenty of time to have have a photographic poke around at Huddersfield station before the two hourly (!) service to Morley departs.

Next on the Slate: The long walk down to the Calder and onwards to the top of Spenborough.


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1218.7 miles
(2014 total: 305.5 miles)

(Up Country Total: 1123.1 miles)
(Solo Total: 1003.3 miles)
(Declared Total: 1010.5 miles)