There was lots of canalside interest with refreshment opportunities towards Hebden Bridge, and plentiful facilities at both ends of this lovely route....

Mary Oz

The route started from Cliviger with 1.1m/1.8k along the pavement of the main road. The route through the woods and down over a footbridge was slightly difficult to find through long grass at some points, but it was waymarked. Then approaching the substation for the wind turbines, there was an obvious wall to follow, and the path started to become much clearer. Eventually I started the descent past some farm buildings, and then along a well signposted and well trodden path through the grass, and steeply down to some houses at Portsmouth....

Mary Oz

It is a beautiful walk if you are well shod and prepared for a very steep incline from Hebden Bridge that seems to go on for ever .....

Alison Andrews

If you’re not daunted by sketchy paths, it’s well worth the effort, with farm buildings and cattle ponds serving as useful landmarks. There are also spots where the Slow Ways path diverges from more established routes, and it’s often better, or necessary, to stick to the more well-trodden paths and red marked paths....

Alison Andrews

There are a couple of places where the path gets lost in the bog - there are some blue signs but basically the path is sketchy and you have to orient towards the farm building and wade through. There are also a couple of points the Slow Ways path tries to cut off the established paths and it is better or necessary to stick to them - see photos. One where you need to stay lower down than the SW path shows, and on the red marked path, and one (photo '2') where you need to follow the red path and can go back up Clough Road, or stick on the red path until it joins the SW again....

Kristin

It's a climb and a half out of Hebden Bridge, more challenging than the other climbs out of the towns and into the hills on this slo way from Leeds to Manchester....

Maria Andrews

After the canal, it's a steep start up through woodland, with roots and rocks to navigate underfoot and views back over Hebden, then steep up through fields....

Kristin

We found it hard to find the path onto the moor and once on it, a challenge finding a path to tally with the way to hook up with the track down to Whitworth....

Maria Andrews

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....

RGW

Recommend combining with "Blaheb One" to make a scenic high-level route between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge with great views of Calderdale and the surrounding hills....

RGW

We walked about 60% of this route, starting from Todmorden, before giving up, partly due to the extreme heat that day, but also because we were encountering difficulties in the track by this stage. We ended up backtracking and climbing over a gate into a field where we followed what looked like a fairly well-used bit of footpath nearer to the railway line, until we rejoined the plotted route soon after. It was at this point, with the prospect of more steep, rough climbing, in the extreme heat, that we called it a day....

Mary Oz

Moderately strenuous climbs both ends quite steep , but short , the climb out of Hebden has alternate easier routes using bridleways. Great views most of the way at first the Hebden bridge and Heptonstall towns then after Studley pike views of Todmordon and the Pennines....

Dave Powell

There is much of the area's former industrial heritage too to be seen around Lambutts, with four small dams and a delightful piece of woodland - and a fine pub, the 'Top Brink', very well worth seeking out just off the route in the village. After leaving Todmorden and crossing over the Rochdale canal, continue up Kilnhurst Road to regain the route above the new housing estate (still under construction at the time of writing) which, for the time being at least, has obliterated the right of way on the footpath shown on the OS map and also suggested by the Slow Ways map online. For those walking east to west, on passing the third of the dams before coming to the road in Lambutts, the footpath shown on the maps (i.e. a right on to the road, and then almost immediately left alongside the stream through the clough) is nonexistent, and probably has been so having been eroded away for years....

Sneil68

If you asked most local people which route they would chose to walk between Tod & Hebden Bridge (for typical Slow Ways purposes, e.g. to walk to work, school or the shops or something) most would say, just follow the canal towpath....

Sneil68

There are some quite steep but short sections (but you can't really walk anywhere in these parts and avoid these if you want to escape from the valley bottom!), and one or two muddy bits in wet weather, but the reward is that on this route you really get to sample much of the best that a walk in the South Pennines has to offer....

Sneil68

The views, looking back as you climb out of the Calder Valley, are fine but thereafter the route gets worse:1...

Sneil68

I've walked between the 2 towns quite a few times but this was a new route to me and I'm v glad I walked it....

fruitbat

The most important comment to make is that an early part of the route marked here (from the edge of Bacup town to the moorland at Reaps Moss) is NOT a public footpath and cannot be accessed (the track to Tong Farm, near the school, where the contour is marked 334 on the map, has a private property sign and leads to a quarry)....

fruitbat

The first half of the route is easy to follow but the Rochdale Way section (Warland to Littleborough) is very tricky - there's no marked route on the ground and so many sheep tracks that it's very difficult to know where to go unless you constantly check the map....

fruitbat

Certainly walking from Hebden to Tod, if the weather is good, many will prefer to climb the extra 200' and follow the Pennine Way to take in the iconic Stoodley Pike, but in fact the Pennine Bridleway on this Slow Ways route provides a gently descending, less exposed and very clear path below the Pike, and passes a good pub too by way of compensation! The c.150 steps up from Tod through modern housing estates are a bit of a killer, but the views along the rest of the route more than make up for this slightly grotty start/finish....

Sneil68

However, the diversion up through Horsehold Wood is an unnecessary complication, and the route can be improved by following the recently upgraded canal towpath throughout. With this tweak made, this would be an excellent Slow Way. For those able to navigate a steep cobbled section of towpath, suggest a small diversion using the tunnel under the main road in Todmorden, avoiding the need to cross the traffic to get to/from the station....

WalkyFeet