It was a nice sunny day and Lisa and I had a few hours free this afternoon, so we put our walking shoes on (in Lisa’s case, her walking sandals) and we set off to do one of our favourite little local walks – to Jumble Hole Clough. This walk has a nice gentle warm up, followed by a steepish ascent, then a high level stroll nearly 600 feet above the valley bottom, and finally a steep descent back into town. Total distance: just short of 5 miles.
To start with, we head west out of town on the Rochdale canal towpath. There were quite a few people about close to Hebden Bridge but after a mile or so it quietened down.
Narrow boats on the Rochdale canal
Our destination was the hillside above the woods in the centre of the picture. To get there, we walk 1.7 miles along the towpath, cross the busy A646 at Callis Bridge then climb up through the woods to Jumble Hole Clough.
Once across the road, it didn’t take long for the roar of traffic to recede into the background as we began to climb up the hill. Initially we are on a little lane up into the woods. It is part of the Mary Towneley Loop, a fantastic 47 mile circuit over the local hills for mountain bikers, equestrians and hikers.
An attractive little stream flows down through the woods to the left of us. The remains of old mill buildings are dotted around the woods, slowly crumbling away and gradually being absorbed back into their environment. Mature trees are growing out of the stone work in several places.
Babbling brook, Jumble Hole Clough
There is a path up the western side of that valley which we must explore some time, but today we stuck to our usual path which eventually leaves the bridleway, and climbs though the woods on the eastern side.
It isn’t long before the path emerges back into the sunlight, and there are magnificent views across the two valleys which intersect below us at right-angles to each other. The old monument of Stoodley Pike stands proud on the distant hilltop. Lisa stopped to take a photograph of the view and I stopped to take a picture of her doing that! I wanted a picture of her in her walking sandals. With her, it is sandals for warm sunny walks, hiking boots for less pleasant conditions. I don’t like the risk of getting gravel in my footwear so I put up with shoes and sweaty feet in hot conditions.
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Women's walking sandals in action, Jumble Hole Clough
The path then takes us back into the woods as we continue to climb.
Woodland footpath, Jumble Hole Clough
The stone characteristic of this area is known as Millstone Grit and we passed some impressive outcrops of it on our walk through the woods.
Millstone Grit, Jumble Hole Clough
Eventually, the path comes to a step up onto a big slab of stone and I was a bit too nonchalant as I approached it, given that there is quite a big drop to the left hand side of the path just there. My foot was too close to the edge of the path and a big clump of soil broke away and almost toppled me off the side of the hill – yikes! 
Once again, the path emerges into a clearing and it is one of our favourite spots. The views are great from up there and it is a really peaceful spot. We usually stop and have a drink and something to eat, just chilling out and resting our legs a while. It is hard to believe that it is only a mile from a busy road because you can neither see it, nor hear the traffic on it. Lovely!
Eventually it was time to be on the move again. The path does continue on ahead, but we turn back up to the right towards a couple of cottages. Here’s a photograph Lisa took last year from this spot, just before we crest the hill and the cottages come into view…
Blue sky, Jumble Hole Clough
As we passed the cottages, next to the path we found a little table upon which there was home-made blackberry jam for sale, only £1 a jar so we bought one of those. I’ve yet to have a taste of it, but Lisa assures me that it is very tasty!
The next mile or so is an easy level walk, passing farms and cottages, and with great views across the valley. Here’s a picture of the tiny hamlet of Horsehold, situated on the hillside above Hebden Bridge…
Horsehold from Lower Rawtonstall
Soon, we descended a bridleway to Rawtonstall Bank at the foot of ‘Mytholm Steeps’, a 25% ‘wall’ of a road leading up to the village of Blackshaw Head above us. Fortunately, we were walking down the hill! There are woodland footpath options for this part of the walk, but we were in a hurry to get back and took the quick route – straight down the road to the A646, and then back along the canal towpath to get us away from the noise and fumes of the traffic.
It was another lovely Yorkshire walk. I’ll be reporting on other walks round here over coming months, so even if you don’t want to buy any walking shoes off me, please call back from time to time.
If you do want to buy some women’s hiking shoes, be my guest and click that link! (Or men’s hiking shoes, if that’s what you are looking for.)
Hi there,
I have been reading about your interesting walks in and around horsehold. Could you please tell me whether there are many bridleways around this area and what the riding would be like as I am a keen horse rider!
Many thanks
Lyndon
Hi Lyndon.
There is a very good network of bridleways around here. If you want to ride a horse in this area I suggest that you take a look at the Mary Towneley Loop which is a circular ride covering about 47 miles, all but a couple of miles of which are on bridleways. I’ve ridden it on my mountain bike and it covers some interesting but challenging terrain. There are a couple of sections which are very steep so you would probably need a confident horse and walk with it on those. Here are a couple of photos taken on one of my mountain bike rides …!