Day two 31/5/08 Marsden to Hebden Bridge

Yet another early start, getting the train into Marsden for just after 8am to be greeted by some fantastic blue sky

With some early 2000 trance and hard house soundtracking the early morning nicely and a much lighter load on my shoulder, I eagerly attacked the 150 metre climb up to Standedge, which offered me a fantastic view of the valley which I had descended the previous week.

Standedge is one of my favourite places, as well as being truly beautiful it is steeped in industrial history. Part of the Pennine Way here used to be the turnpike road, built in 1815 and deep underneath, tunnels carry the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (the longest and deepest of its kind in Britain) and the main Manchester-Leeds railway line. The canal tunnel story proves that engineering fuck-ups were not confined to the modern day, the original engineer vastly underestimated the task in hand. The tunnel was still to be finished when the rest of the canal was finished in 1798 and goods had to unloaded in Diggle onto horse-drawn carts and carried over on the original turnpike, which is on the far side of Redbrook Reservoir in the the photo below, then reloaded onto waiting barges in Marsden. Thomas Telford took over the project in 1801 and the tunnel finally opened in 1811, after 17 years of work.

Having crossed the A62, I then enjoyed some fantastic views of the Castleshaw Reservoirs below.

Having then made good time, I was greeted by a much less cheering sight which was the aftermath of the large fire which had devastated the moor last Monday. When it was first reported, I was quite concerned as a similar fire above Stalybridge had burned for 2 full weeks. Having said this, there was still a strong smell in the air from the damage. The land to left of the path was largely untouched, so I would imagine it was from here the firemen fought the fire.

The next landmark I encountered was this communications mast, and about 100 yards further along, I got my first sight of the M62.




Before reaching the M62, I crossed the A672 which holds happy memories for me as this was where I used to come off the motorway on the way home from clubbing in Sheffield in the mid-nineties.




Shortly after, came the Indiana Jones bit of the walk - crossing the M62. I spent a few minutes indulging myself with a few photos.




From here, I climbed up to Blackstone Edge which was the highest point of the day at 472 metres. I was quite grateful for the good conditions as I could imagine it could get quite nasty up here on a bad day. I spotted this which I would imagine is designed to protect an overnight camper from the worst of winds.



Just below, I had a cracking view of the outskirts of Littleborough.


A little further along lay the A58 and the excellent White House Pub, sadly I was 30 minutes too early for opening time so the option of a quick pit-stop was ruled out



The next 4/5 miles was made up of a raised causeway, with a watercourse to my right and descending hillside to my left. It was fairly dull going along here but I was entertained by these sheep who seemed to moving along like soldiers on patrol. The lead one would take a few steps forward whilst the other waited, then he would stop and the other would catch him up while he waited, keeping a very close eye on me all the time.


Having left the causeway behind, it was back to hilly and rocky terrain and I saw what I think is a fantastic memorial, it must be visited by more people than any headstone ever would attract.


Further along, I finally made it to Stoodley Pike which had been on the horizon for what had seemed like ages. Given its location, I was mightily impressed with the effort of getting the materials up here. I have since done a little research and discovered it was first built in 1814 to commemorate the surrender of Paris and defeat of Napoleon. It was effectively destroyed by lightning and rebuilt in its present form in 1854.

After this, I was staring to feel the strain of the days walking and was quite grateful to reach the final descent towards Hebden Bridge, through the delightful Callis Wood.




Having crossed the Rochdale Canal and the River Calder, I found myself on the A646 feeling very weary by now and not quite appreciating the train station was another 3 miles away on the other side of town.



So, I was very pleased to see first this:-
and even more so to see this:-


I was very pleased with the outcome of the day, 20 miles in just under 8 hours.

Day one 24/5/08 Stalybridge to Marsden

Having set off from my house, I was soon at Walkerwood Reservoir to start the climb into the hills - as you can see it was pretty windy that day.

The early going is helped by water-board service roads



I was soon at Swineshaw (I love that name), which is the highest of the reservoirs that serve Stalybridge.


The next part is probably the toughest terrain of the whole walk, I was joining the Pennine Way north of Crowden and there is no direct path from where I was to the the Way, so its plenty of clambering over rough moorland. As there is lots of direction changing to avoid gullies and bogs a map and compass are essential.


My first sighting of Chew Reservoir, some of you may know Dovestones which it feeds into, was a big spirit-raiser as there is a proper path from here onwards.



When I finally reached the Pennine Way proper, I was treated to some of the most spectacular scenery as the path took me north along a narrow path along the top of a steep valley. I was having to be very conscious of my balance during this part due to the combination of large rucksack and high winds.





After a long gradual descent the green valley gives way once more to open, coarse moorland. You can see some of the path in the distance, which is laid out with flagstones which is a good-send as there is plenty of boggy terrain here. I later discovered most of these were laid between 1992-1995, having been air-lifted in, and were reclaimed from demolished mills.


Having crossed the A635, high above Holmfirth (half expected to see the ghosts of Foggy & Compo up to no good), I began the descent towards Marsden. I had just been startled by six Tornadoes flying low in close formation, I had not heard them as I had the radio on and by the time I'd picked my jaw off the floor and grabbed my camera, they had disappeared over the horizon.


Before getting to Marsden, I managed to get a photo of these two, for the benefit of those who love animal photos.


I finally reached Marsden after 9 hours 15 minutes, 17 miles covered, very grateful for the direct train back to Stalybridge.