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An invigorating moorland walk, punctuated by reservoirs, finishing off with a stretch of the Rochdale Canal.
Distance 5 miles (8km)
Minimum time 2hrs 30min
Ascent/gradient 656ft (200m)
Level of difficulty Medium
Paths Good paths and tracks throughout, 2 stiles
Landscape Open moorland, reservoirs and canalside
Suggested map aqua3 OS Outdoor Leisure 21 South Pennines
Start/finish SD 945201
Dog friendliness Under control around sheep loose on open moorland
Parking At pull-in for cars at roadside, near Bird i' th' Hand pub on A6033, between Todmorden and Littleborough
Public toilets None on route
(1 user review)
© The Automobile Association 2008. © Crown Copyright Licence number 100021153
1 Walk to the right along the road for just 75yds (68m). Cross the road and take a track on the left, Warland Gate End, past some cottages. Cross the Rochdale Canal on a swing bridge and follow the track uphill, between houses. At a sharp right-hand bend, by more houses, the track becomes metalled. Continue uphill, passing a house and stables, to a small gate above the house. From here you bear slightly right, up to another stile. Follow the wall to your left (which soon becomes a fence) with a stream to your right. Cross the stream by a gate; you are now on land owned by United Utilities (formerly North West Water). As you approach the retaining wall of Warland Reservoir, you can follow the track on your right (or take a steeper short cut on the left) up to a track that follows the contours of the reservoir.
2 Walk left along this good, level track, with terrific views over Calderdale and East Lancashire. Cross a bridge at the northern end of the reservoir, and keep on the track as it follows a drainage channel. When both track and channel wheel to the right, go left at a stone bridge, to follow a path (not very distinct and may be boggy) in the direction of another, smaller reservoir, with a windfarm visible on the horizon.
3 A line of paving stones will help to keep you dry-shod, before you walk along the left edge of Gaddings Dam.
4 Bear half left at the far end of the reservoir, by a set of stone steps, on a clear path that soon passes close to the curiously-shaped outcrop called the Basin Stone. Soon you come to a meeting of paths, marked with a small waymarker post.
5 Bear left here, on a path that's soon delineated by causeway stones; you are now following Salter Rake, an old packhouse road. Enjoy excellent views over Walsden as you make a gradual descent, still across open moorland, then accompanying a wall.
On approaching houses, go through a gate and between walls to join a metalled track past the houses and downhill. After 75yds (68m) you have a choice of routes. Keep left on a metalled track to another house. Through a metal gate below the house, follow the causeway stones to the right, accompanying a wall (ignoring a more obvious track to the left). The footpath becomes sunken, between walls, as you descend and pass to the left of a white-painted house. The paved path takes you across a little beck and up into a small collection of houses, known as Bottomley. Go right here, down a metalled track, and bear immediately right again, through a gate, and on to a cobbled, walled path directly downhill, which takes you to the Rochdale Canal.
6 Cross the canal by the side of Bottomley Lock, and walk along the canal tow path. The fourth bridge you come to is the swing bridge. Go right here and back to the Bird i' th' Hand pub.
Salter Rake is an old packhorse road which, as the name suggests, was used particularly for transporting salt from the Cheshire salt mines across the Pennines. When these trading routes were first established, the Calder Valley was largely undrained. The teams of packhorse ponies, laden with pannier bags, would keep to the drier high ground, only descending into the valleys to cross rivers on the narrow stone bridges that are so typical of the area. Most of these causeways (or 'causeys') were paved with stones. More than three centuries after they were laid, these stones still fit snugly together as the pieces of a jigsaw. To judge from the way they are deeply 'dished', the stones have seen heavy use by countless horses' hooves.
Gritstone rocks and outcrops are familiar features throughout the South Pennines. The Basin Stone, an oddly-shaped rock looks - from one viewpoint, at least - like a fish-tail. It is a prominent landmark high on Walsden Moor and was one of the many sites, well away from the watchful eyes of the authorities, used by travelling Methodist preachers when they delivered their open-air sermons.
Like many of the reservoirs you will encounter whilst walking in the South Pennines, the trio you see from this walk - Warland, Light Hazzles and White Holme - were built to supply water for a canal. The Rochdale Canal was built to link Manchester to the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Sowerby Bridge. By the 1920s there was very little commercial traffic still using it, so the reservoirs were converted to an alternative use and joined the complex of water supply systems built to slake the thirst of East Lancashire's mill towns.
Your one source of refreshment on this walk is the Bird i' th' Hand pub, where you park your car. It was built around 1825 to exploit the traffic using the turnpike road that had been opened just four years earlier. It's a homely, unpretentious locals' pub with a wide choice of lunchtime food, and is, of course, worth two in the bush...
Steanor Bottom tollhouse is a small hexagonal building dating from the 1820s. You will find it on the main A6033 road, at a junction with a minor road, to the south of the Bird i' th' Hand pub. Tolls were collected here from any travellers wishing to use the new turnpike road. The tollhouse has been restored and retains its notice board presenting the tariff for all the different kinds of traffic, from sheep to carts.
South-east of Walsden, just off the A68 is a short, steep track over the Pennine watershed of Blackstone Edge. This elaborately paved path, about 13ft (4m) wide and with a stone channel down the middle, is marked on the Ordnance Survey map as a Roman road, but opinions about its origins are divided. It doesn't resemble other known roads of that period. Nor, however, is it like the paved packhorse causeways that criss-cross the South Pennines. One thing is sure: if it is Roman, it's one of the best-preserved examples in the country.
(1 user review)Write a review and share your thoughts with other users.
two old ladies and a dog did this walk. the weather got steadily worse, drizzle becoming relentless rain and the mist came down. unfortunately this meant we did not see the 'terrific views over calderdale', but the walk was enjoyable and will certainly do it again in the summer!! the steep beginning of the walk got the heart beating but was worth the effort.
Reviewer: old lady, rochdale
Visited: 06 January 2007
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