Todlit two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Todlit here.

This was a lovely route, almost entirely along the Rochdale Canal, including its summit as it crossed the Pennines. There was one tricky bit of towpath under the bridge of the A58 Halifax Road, and up the side of Durn Lock, on a cambered, sloping, cobbled towpath (see photo).
The scenery was very pretty, in a bleak Pennines sort of way, with lovely Millstone Grit bridges and lock walls. There were a few waterfalls tumbling down the hills on either side of the canal. The towpath had quite a lot of puddles, but wasn’t too muddy. There were also a couple of cobbled overflows with plank paths alongside – not easy for wheels.
For some unexplained reason the route crossed to the non-towpath side at Calderbrook, although I notice that cycle route 66 also does this. It was unnecessary as the towpath was fine, but I walked past the old factories as suggested. The Summit Inn was at about a third of the way along the route.
I was joined for most of the walk by my niece and her 1-year-old daughter (in a backpack baby carrier) who live in the vicinity, as we passed the last “up” lock, and then walked on to the first “down” lock. My niece pointed out one of the air-vents for the railway Summit Tunnel, and told me about a very dramatic fire incident which happened in 1984, well described here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Tunnel_fire
It was beginning to get dark as we crossed under the railway between Walsden and Todmorden, and we could just about see as we negotiated the wooded “cycle track” final section to Todmorden Station, which was quite muddy, with planks across it in places.
Great route, although I would have used the canal towpath the entire way, including not leaving it until it was crossed by Rochdale Road, at the fascinating guillotine lock.

Lovely canal walk from Littleborough in Greater Manchester, crossing the border into West Yorkshire. This route is also part of the national cycle network. Note that the point where the cycle route leaves the tow path at the Todmorden end didn't seem to be signposted however this is simply the most direct route to the end point at the station.

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