University of Manchester Hiking Club

From UMHC Hiking Guide

A wooded valley near Hebden Bridge

Hebden Bridge is a small town in the Pennine hills in southern Yorkshire. It is very easy to reach from Manchester, with the train from Victoria station taking a little over half an hour. The valleys around here are more populous and industrial compared with those in the Peak District but despite this, it is still easy to find wide open spaces. The club usually runs a train hike to this location once a year.

There is rolling moorland aplenty and wooded valleys to scamper about in. Another highlight is Stoodley Pike Monument - a huge tower that is synonymous with this entire area.

The Six Trigs Walk

A classic walk to do in the area is the six trigs walk. This follows the Watershed of Hebden Water and Crimsworth Dean Beck - a distance of ~35km. The walk took the editor 10 hours to do and so an early train (start walking at 7.20am) is needed for this walk. The watershed follows a great arc north of Hebden Bridge and takes in highlights such as Bride Stones Moor and Boulsworth Hill.

The main highlights of the walk lie on the western half of the walk in which sights such as Pendle Hill, Widdop and Gorple Upper Reservoir as well as a few tors liven up otherwise very empty moors. The eastern half of the walk is bleaker with no tors, or reservoirs as such.

There is generally no path to follow and it's generally rough going through grass and heather - often very wet. Currently access on Boulsworth Hill has been problematic with a landowner who doesn't tolerate walkers (or indeed anyone) on his land. The editor found no such problems when walking there and it's unlikely that anyone will be confronted with such a problem.

Trivia

Hebden Bridge is the self-proclaimed Lesbian Capital of Britain.

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