PENNINE WAY AT CALLIS WOOD

 A short foot path cuts the corner of the track up through Callis Wood. The path is on a slope, which was manageable until the Montane Spine race went along in a wet January when the path was trashed into a muddy slide. 

The task for Ian, Steve, Jan and Rich was to put in two flights of steps in order to prevent further erosion. This work was funded by a partnership between Calderdale Council Highways and Natural England (not the race organisers).

 The few existing steps at the top of the slope were repaired, followed by a new set of edged steps to reduce the incline. A new drain was added to prevent further water erosion. 

Laying out and fixing the edges

Securing the frame with hex screws

 

A couple of walkers tested the work to their satisfaction

 

Meanwhile further down the path a short steep slope was dealt with.

 Thanks to the landowner for providing access to the path. 

TODMORDEN - Cutting back

 On a day of sunshine and showers, Kasher and RJ were tasked with cutting back a number of bridleways and footpaths in the Todmorden area.

CROWS have been contracted to cut back a number of sections of the Pennine Bridleway (PBW) so today we tackled Tod BW 215 and Tod BW 143 from the main road just out of Walsden towards the Summit ventilation shafts. We then cutback a really useful but slippery, path Tod FP143. Please walk this path to keep it open! 

We will try to come back in a month or two to cut back some of the overhanging trees which may help the path to dry out.

We then cut back the path from Broadstone Street to Millwood Lane. Again, this is a useful path within Todmorden. Once the cut vegetation has dried this path will be "open for business" again. This path will be cut again later in the season.

Funding for today's task has come partly from Lancashire County Council. Many thanks to the Pennine Bridleway team for their support of CROWS and our interest in keeping paths open for all users. Funding for the cutting back of the path in Todmorden is from Todmorden Town Council. Many thanks.

The blue "pin" marks the intersection of the paths cut back today (10/6/26).

The blue "pin" marks the path cut back.

PBW section - before.

PBW section - after.

One of the stumps near the ventilation shaft.

Summit tunnel ventilation shaft.

Waymarker for the Pennine Bridleway.

The path below Broadstone Street after it was cut back.

Ryburn - Visit from the "We In Front" walking group.

On a slightly different day from the norm, starting at 8am, Jerry, Rich and Angus tackled the next section of backfilling along the footpath from East Longley towards Sowerby Bridge. Again, we are indebted to Ian Mathews for supplying yet another bag of woodchip for this work which has been funded by a number of donations to CROWS. A big 'thank you' to Ian and to those who have donated. It will require one more day of levelling and strimming to complete the last section of this path.

Before and after image of the next section of the backfilling work.

We then met Jak, Linda, Lynda and Graham at the Outhouse Café, below Norland Moor, along with 13 members of the "We In Front" walking group from Huddersfield. This diverse group of walkers was formed during Covid. Their story makes interesting reading which you can follow via their website, https://www.weinfront.co.uk/ .

"We In Front" and CROWS out on an adventure.

The route of today's walk shown in blue.

From previous walking visits to the area, they were interested in meeting the people behind CROWS and understanding how it operates. 

Rather than standing in a carpark and chatting about CROWS, we took them on a walk which took in several recent projects. This gave both parties a chance to chat and get to know each other, while seeing some CROWS work.

Heading up onto Norland Moor.

Photo opportunity atop Ladstone Rock

The plan was to follow the Calderdale Way to the footpath below Highlee Flat, then head off into Rough Hey Wood where there was plenty opportunity to view examples of CROWS work. 

Richard gave an excellent overview on the background to CROWS and some of the challenges that we face. We made our way along the path to various stiles, revetment work and boardwalks and showed them some "before" images of the site and explained how/why the work had been done and the problems faced.

Richard explaining the finer points of CROWS.

As we made our way along the path, we were treated to some rousing singing from Errol, the founder of the "We In Front" group. A larger-than-life character whose love of walking started from getting out of the house for 60 minutes exercise during the lockdown. Despite several personal challenges, he's never looked back and is a true inspiration to all of us.

Errol in full voice negotiating a stile below Toad Hall. The man's a legend!

Arriving back at the Outhouse Café, where they tucked in to excellent coffee and cakes, we reviewed the walk and said our goodbyes. They hope to visit some other locations and may well team up with the groups at Todmorden and Mytholmroyd to undertake a similar trek.

Doing something a bit different with a diverse and interesting group of people who enjoy the outdoors, was a breath of fresh air. Their appreciation of CROWS was most welcome. We wish them 'all the best' in their future adventures and hope to see them again soon. 

 

TODMORDEN - Various

 There were three pairs out from Todmorden today:

Team 1: David and Neil Mc: completing the steps near the stile into Golden Stones (off Windy Harbour Lane) and in-filling steps going into Bridestones Moor.

Team 2: Andrew and Catherine: fettling up another open access stile into Golden Stones.

Team 3: Kasher and Ken: initially helping Team 2 with the carrying of tools and timber to the worksite and then adding in marker posts and waymarkers, and visiting landowners to agree future work.

Many thanks to the residents of Bridestones Farm for allowing the team to park in their yard thus minimising the distance we had to carry tools and timber to the worksite.

Today's work has been funded by Todmorden Town Council (Team 3) and, for Teams 1 and 2, by Todmorden Wind Farm via CFFC (Community Foundation for Calderdale).

Team 1:

The blue "pin" is the location of the open access stile on Windy Harbour Lane.

The stile and access - before.

David sorting out the final box step to improve
access to the stile.

Neil topping up the box steps, lined with a geo-textile, with MOT.

The stile and access - after.

Team 2:

The location of today's open access stile into Golden Stones.

The stile - before. Both uprights need replacing. One of the step legs
is rotten and both treadboards need replacing.
Question: Why was that upright so tall??

Andrew and Ken with the stile dismantled and in the process
of being rebuilt.

The new uprights now in position. Ken and Andrew: June in the
South Pennines!

The stile - after.

Team 3:

Ken checking one of today's new marker posts
below Bridestones.

Ken . . .  and the completely blank waymarks!

Sorting out a post to replace a "flag".

RYBURN - Riverside path and Greave Road

Jerry and Jak set out to reinstate a waymark post that had been put into the river. The post had been  recovered earlier this week and given some time to dry out.

The post had been in quite a shallow hole previously because of the large amount of stone below the surface. This time we were going to make sure that the hole was deep enough and we took some other measures to prevent vandalism.

The actual hole took a long time to dig because of the quantity of large and stubborn rock that had to be moved. The hole ended up being almost four times the size of the post!

Jerry in the hole

"Deadmen" were added to the post. Normally these are something that we curse at when trying to get old posts out of the ground. They were added to posts to anchor them very tightly in the ground. In this instance a speedy technique was adopted.

"Deadmen" at bottom of post

The hole was then filled in using donated 'postcrete' or 'postfix'. 

Post-crete in

Back filling

Post in place to guide walkers along the path

Hopefully the post will stay in place for a longer time.

The team moved onto Greave Road. A stile had been installed near this location in early May. This return visit was to reinstate a damaged signpost. This post was repaired by Angus earlier in the week.

For this hole, the ground was thankfully much kinder and the job was quickly completed.

Signpost back in place

Lovely views in this spot

This work was funded by donations in kind and donations to CROWS. Many thanks all.