From home, via Tod, shepherds rest, langfield common, stoodley pike, kilnshaw lane, edge of cock hill moor, buckley stone, hebden. Return via church lane, dean delph, Calderdale way.
Weather – cold, bright with sunny spells, very heavy snow showers in the afternoon.
Left 9:30, arrived back 5pm (one hour in hebden for lunch)
12 miles
The forecast was for heavy snow all night and all day. Sunrise showed plenty of new snow but a bright sky. I didn’t want to drive, I thought the roads would get blocked, so a high level walk to Hebden Bridge and back looked good, then I could get the train back if necessary (and have a good lunch in hebden to boot). Weather was good from the start, plenty of snow but the ground wasn’t frozen.
On the way to Stoodley Pike
Stoodley Pike
Stoodley Pike
Todmorden from Stoodley Pike
There was wind all day and the snow was powdery and this meant some great snow sculptures, especially on the grass and on the lee side of stone walls where the snow funnelled through.
I took a different higher level route to Hebden, that I hadn’t been on before, which worked out well. As I arrived into town, the first snowfall of the day also arrived with a vengeance, leaving me plastered in snow within a few minutes but I could dry out and have a great lunch at Greens.
After a slap up lunch I couldn’t decide whether I had the time or energy to walk back but eventually I decided I couldn’t face the train and knew I wanted to keep walking. I had about two and a half hours daylight left. The weather had turned much more showery, with intermittent very heavy snowfall. I took the Calderdale way, which I knew well but as I got nearer to home it was getting dark and I had to run where I could to make up some time. The paths were covered in snow and it’s a maze of walls and fences so getting stuck in the dark wasn’t attractive, but I knew that there were some clear roads on the way as escape routes if necessary, so I had some contingency. I managed to get to clear, well known paths with just enough light but it was almost full dark by the time I got home, by this time pretty well wet on the outside from the heavy snow.
Hebden Bridge
Just before the descent into Hebden Bridge
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