I’ve not had a good walk for a couple of weeks so I woke up this morning feeling that I had to get out there, the weather was spot on as well with the snow. I was a little late setting off but once I did, the familiar feeling of excitement of a good walk soon came to me. Today’s plan was to walk up the canal to Slaithwaite, then to climb up past Slaithwaite Reservoir and into Merrydale to the old packhorse route that used to run from Halifax to Oldham. Anyway, I set off along the canal just before 11am and was again snapping away with my camera. I already have hundreds of pictures from the canal so I tried not get too many, I tried but failed because I already had taken 83 photographs by the time I reached Slaithwaite about an hour later.
The snow started coming down pretty thick as I passed through Slaithwaite and as I left the canal towpath and onto Nabbs Lane past the Silent Woman pub (used as The Skelthwaite Arms in ITV’s ‘Where the Heart Is’. I passed under the viaduct then left Holme Lane to walk across the reservoir wall and then joined the reservoir side path, stopping every few seconds to take in the fresh country air, the views and to take more pics, by now I must have taken at least 150. Towards the end of the reservoir, the path gets narrow and thicker with trees and bushes and here I left the path to walk a few yards to a waterfall and an old mill pond, I spent awhile here trying to get some good shots but I eventually had to get my feet wet and walk up the stream so I could get a few photographs without the trees in the way. As I ate a Kendal Mint Cake (MMmmm) I made my way back to the path and up to Clough House Lane and past a row of houses and then onto a bridge, and then I again left the road to join the path that leads up through the very beautiful Merrydale, now I had read about this place whilst planning this walk and just knew that I had to visit it and the things I read were spot on, it was so peaceful all I could hear were the birds and the water running down the stream that the path follows all the way up the valley, I can imagine this will be an amazing place in the summer months.
At the top of Merrydale, the path again enters a wood, and a bit of a climb up past Tyas Cottage onto Tyas Lane and the ancient Halifax to Oldham packhorse trail, stopping to take my pack off for a few minutes and to have a drink, I noticed a bloke walking down towards me wearing a red jacket, as he got closer I noticed he was a member of the local Mountain Rescue, he kept looking over the wall and then asked if I had seen anyone in a red jacket looking lost, I just said no and he carried on down the cobbled packhorse road, the same direction as I was due to walk. I just shrugged it off, got my pack back on and made my way down the cobbles in the same direction as the Mountain Rescue bloke when I was suddenly confronted by the noise of screaming then laughing, not wanting to end up in a horror film situation (it sounded like something from ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ I thought “sod that”, turned around and started to walk back up, looking at my map for an alternative route. I then came across some more Mountain Rescue folk, then found out that I had stumbled into an exercise they were doing. I then decided to give up the packhorse route as a bad job and to walk home another way, there is always another day I can do it. I also didn’t want to look a total idiot by slipping in front of them either!
I walked up Tyas Lane and onto Laund Road and the disappointment of missing out on the old packhorse route and bridge soon vanished as I saw some of the most amazing views, I could see all the way down the valley towards Slaithwaite and it looked like I had walked a thousand miles from Slawit. The snow again started falling, lightly but then thicker as did the snow on the ground, my excitement grew as I saw snowdrifts piled up against the old dry stone walls. I then saw a few horses in a field and just had to stop and look at them looking at me and then the camera came into use again as I noticed the views behind the horses, it was almost as if they were smiling at the camera, hell of a lot easier to photograph than some humans!
It felt like I had been walking on Laund Road all day (yes it really did feel like one of those never ending roads) but I was spoiled by the amazing views so that made up for it. I then crossed over onto Crimea Lane, passing the two transmitter towers before dipping down onto Mellor Brook then making my way up to Bolster Moor. By now the light was starting to fade and my feet were starting to hurt, I did think about catching the bus rest of the way home to Milnesbridge from Golcar but by the time I reached the village, I just decided to keep going. I walked past Golcar church hoping to get some more photographs over the Colne Valley but by now it was far too dark and I had got to the stage where I just wanted to get home.
Within half an hour I was home and climbing into an steaming hot bath with a well-deserved bottle of ice cold Budweiser, with a huge smile on my face and the photographs and the memory of another cracking walk….
I can’t wait until next time!!
I can’t wait until next time!!