May 19, 2022
Day 3
After finishing our breakfast it took a little while to check out. Our hostess Susan didn’t think our tab would include Suet Rag Pudding, but Paul confirmed that he had indeed ordered it. Then she drove us up the hill to the car park at Brun Clough Reservoir. Here we met up with Kevin and Jill and Stan, who were also getting dropped off from their B&Bs. We started on the trail at 8:50 am; we toddled up at our pace and the others soon disappeared out of sight.
The going on Marsden Moor was quite easy, with no rocks to walk around and very few fences to cross. There were a lot of skylarks singing but not many other birds. We crossed the A640 and then the A672, where there was a chippy in a green shipping container. But as it was only 10:45 am we carried on. The next highway to cross was the M62, which luckily for all Pennine Way walkers has an elegant footbridge spanning it courtesy of Transport Minister Ernest Marples, who was a keen walker.
Continuing up the slope we reached Blackstone Edge at 11:45 am, then started downhill following a drainage canal. Soon we reached the White House, a moorland pub on the A58. By now it was 12:30 pm and the pub had picnic tables at the back, so it was a good lunch stop. Paul went in to buy some tea and found Kevin and Jill inside having lunch, but we had bacon butties made from the morning’s Full English Breakfasts.
The weather, which up till now had been cloudy and windy, became sunny with lovely blue sky. The trail was now level and took us past a number of reservoirs. There was a sign by one of them saying that people were working on improving the area for ground-nesting birds like Dunlin and Twite, but we didn’t see any of those birds. We made good time and could see the peculiar tower at Stoodley Pike in the distance. We walked for a while with a man who was working on a rewrite of the Trailblazer guide, and he quizzed us about the places where we had stayed.
At Stoodley Pike tower, built in 1845, we stopped for a snack before plunging downhill through Callis Wood. The walk through the wood was very pleasant with bluebells just starting to open, and every so often you could get a whiff of their perfume.
Finally we reached the bottom of the hill and followed a rather tedious towpath for about 2.5 km until we reached the centre of Hebden Bridge. We needed to check the map to find our hotel, the White Lion, but it was just a bit up the hill.
Once in our room we reviewed the local dinner options, of which there were several, and settled on Il Mulino, an Italian restaurant which was just next door. Our meal was really good, starting with bruschetta and followed by tagliatelle for Paul and tagliatelle with chicken and mushrooms for Rosemary.
Next: Hebden Bridge to Haworth
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