West Yorkshire outwith Calderdale and Bingley

The publication of Benji Howarth's new guidebook inspired us to find some West Yorkshire routes other than around Hebden Bridge and Bingley.  These are some of the best legal bits.   (There were some footpaths, and some dull bits too.....)

The Pennine Way from Wessenden Head (0700073) down to Wesseden Reservoir (057088) above Marsden is a lovely long singletrack descent with nothing too challenging on it but good views.

The descents into Newsholme Dean (019405) both from Newsholme (019400) and Todley Hill (013410).   Both narrow, little used tracks and quite tech.   Needs to be dry.

On Ringstone Edge Moor (038187) a short little section of Packhorse slabs.   There were other bits round Rishworth but no bridleways worth a special trip.

Stainburn

Just realised I've not posted about Stainburn at all. There are three short trails at Stainburn.

The red is nice and varied, nothing especially to comment on - only 2km or so.

The "descent line" seems to be graded blue on the map above but is definitley harder than the red. You can reach it from the top of the red climb or by riding along the road. Again lot of obstacles and small berms etc. The push back up to the car from the bottom is particuallry brutal however and always demotivates us for repeat attempts.

The Black is totally mental and on a par with the blacks and Golspie and Laggan. Expect lots of hard obstacles, inspection, wishing you had more armour/bravado etc. That applies for both the climbs and descents! Having said that it's usually quite quiet as it's too fiddly for the downhill boys and probably beyond the average XC rider. So you can session stuff without worrying about being mown down.

Bingley Bash

Mountain bike circuits don't often get names but everyone seems to refer to this one as the Bingley Bash. We did the version from Singletrack (can't work out which issue). We found a surprising amount of singletrack on the route including north of Wilsden (093368 to 095371) west of Cottingley (100370 to 107372) across Harden Moor (082393 to 078391, this bit even had a technical step in it), south of Barcroft (047375), across Hallas Rough Park (054355 to 058353), south of Cullingworth (963355 to 071363, with suprsingly large drop offs), into Harden Beck (075365 to 077365, actually this was doubletrack but with rideable steps down the side) and west of Wilsden (081363 to 085366). We were surprised by the amount of singletrack in this urban settign - there is probably more if you explore soem of the footpaths too. Not very technical, but all good fun.

Hedben Bridge descents

The snow confined us to low altitudes for yet another weekend, so we decided to go and re-explore all the descents in Hebden Bridge. We were hoping to find some new ones, but the only one we found is the Pennine Bridleway from Blackshaw Head (SD275965) into the west end of Hebden Bridge (SD279953) although only a short section of this is any fun, and it's not that tricky.

Of the ones we'd done previously, the Colden zig zags (SD975283 to 977283) have been "improved" by the council, removing all the interesting features, so they are no longer worthwhile.

We also realised that the first part of the descent from Heptonstall (SD988282) to Midgehole (SD988290) is quite dull, so if climbing from Hebden Bridge and trying to cut to Mideghole, you'd be better off sticking on the main road for longer (it's not too busy) and not going all the way up to Heptonstall. You then start the descent from SD989285. It's marked as footpath on the map but Bridleway on the ground.

Finally the descent from Peckett Well (SD996293) to New Bridge(SD989291) remains worthwhile. though muddier than we expected.

Thus the top three descents into Hebden Bridge are now:
1. Heptonstall (SD989285) to Midgehole (SD988290)
2. Peckett Well (SD996293) to New Bridge(SD989291)
3. The descent into Todmorden (SD958247) from high on the moor (SD915274).

Hebden Bridge and the rest of West Yorkshire

This is a valley full of surprises. To the uninformed visitor, it seems like another grim northern valley full of Daily Mail reading Tory voters and no distinguishing features. However, not only was it the first fairtrade town in Britain, banning all chain stores form its high street, its industrial legacy comes in the form of a series of packhorse trails which make awesome descents. Our favorites would have to be:
1. The Colden zig zags (SD975283 to 977283),
2. Heptonstall (SD988292) to Midgehole (SD990297)
3. Peckett Well (SD996293) to New Bridge(SD989291)
4. The descent into Todmorden (SD958247) from high on the moor (SD915274).

The surrounding moors are mostly rocky, all weather double track. Two further exceptional bits of trail are following Catchwater Drain from Warley Moor Reservoir (SE026320 to SE013300) – not a massively technical challenge, but requiring good balance and a satisfyingly solid way of crossing a boggy looking bit of moor. The other is the Hambleton Lane from Thornton Moor Reservoir (SE047334) to Ogden Reservoir (SE069309). This starts unpromisingly, with a bit of upgraded doubletrack. However, the upgrading soon runs out and it becomes an awesome, slightly down hill bit of singletrack, with loads of route choice fun. The only other piece of advice for Hebden Bridge is Stairs Lane – best done south to north as the track is tarmacked nearly to the top on the southern side (from Grainwater Bridge (SD996325) to Leeshaw Reservoir (SE016351)) .

Stainburn is the only other worthwhile riding in West Yorkshire. It’s very short – just 3km, but very technical and weather resistant. We still haven’t dared do the black here, or indeed style the red. Its major drawback is its short length which makes it hard to spend more than a couple, of hours unless you’re really motivated to session stuff. The rumoured trails over the road seem non-existent.