Bank Holiday weekender day 1

Newhey to Todmorden
Distance 15 miles
Ascent 650m
Weather warm and sunny
Cow licks 1
Cow-y shoes 4
Buzzards, kestrel, greenfinch, skylarks, meadow pipits, bunnies

After eating too much breakfast and drinking too much coffee, we set off into the morning sunshine, up through the park and past angry dog farm, where angry dog was replaced by curious cat.

At the top of the hill we turned up Tunshill Lane and then down around under the motorway along the Rochdale Way. We had a little walk up Deep Lane for a nice view over Hollingworth Lake, not at all because we misread the map.

We called in at the cafe on the lake to use the facilities and have - expensive- posh ice creams. Then we walked around part of the lakeside, commenting on the black smoke visible over the hills that was coming from a tanker fire on the M62. We wiggled through town and up onto the fields hoping that the white powdery stuff covering them, and our shoes, wasn’t anything nasty. At the top of the field, a clamber over a stone stepped wall landed us into the open access land on the moors, where we walked / scrambled up and around hillocks to a flatter path along the hill summit. The tops are now covered with wind turbines and sheep and cows. We had lunch in the sunshine by the blanket bogs information board, overlooking the next valley. The path down was relatively dry, until we reached the gate at the bottom which was very cow-y indeed. Ew.

 

The afternoon was very warm, and there was quite a lot of ups and downs along the Calderdale Way around Todmorden Edge, including a lamb meet and greet, as for some reason lambs seem to love Rob, and then down to the Staff of Life inn at Eagle's Crag.