Julie and I will be hiking from John O’Groats to Land’s End in the UK during the northern summer of 2022. The journey of nearly 2,000 kilometres will take about two and a half months, a week or two longer than when I hiked the other direction in 2010. We will stay in B&B’s, hostels and pubs, so will not be carrying camping gear, though we will each have an emergency bivvy sack just in case we can’t find somewhere to stay.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 036 - Hebden Bridge to Holmfirth

Day: 036

Date: Wednesday, 06 July 2022

Start:  Hebden Bridge

Finish:  Holmfirth

Daily Kilometres:  33

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1061

Weather:  Cool, overcast and breezy with occasional very light drizzle.

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pastries

  Lunch:  Egg & cress sandwich/BLT sandwich

  Dinner:  Kebab & chips, donuts

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles.  Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Seeing some of the old industrial mills that fuelled the19th century Industrial Revolution in England - some derelict, some renovated - in the villages and towns we passed through, or near, on our walk today.  You could almost sense the entrepreneurial energy that must have existed in those times.

Lowlight:  Still no English summer.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Our route today was somewhat determined by where we could get accommodation for tonight.  Adhering to the guidebook route didn’t give us any easy options, so we booked a hotel in the village of Holmfirth and, rather than follow the longer guide-book route to get there, we used our navigation app to find another, shorter, route.


We left the hostel in Hebden Bridge at 7:00am and followed the Rochdale Canal to the south-east on its towpath.  The scenery was a real mix, with some parts full of moored longboats, used as homes, other parts park-like, and other parts passing by old mills and new housing developments (done in sympathetic traditional industrial style).  It was very interesting and the towpath had varying surfaces which made it easier on the feet.


We stopped at the village of Sowerby Bridge around 9:00am for breakfast, bought at a nearby supermarket, and watched the locals begin their working day from our bench.  Always fun.


After breakfast, we had a bit more canal towpath walking before leaving the canal at North Dean Wood where we encountered our first hills of the day.  There were plenty more as we seemed to go from valley to valley and village to village for the rest of the day.


We were constantly transitioning from village to woodland to farmland, not necessarily in that order, on a mix of streets, country lanes and rural footpaths.  It was interesting, if tiring, and there were good views in many places and history all around.


Around 4:00pm we reached the busy village of Holmfirth, found our accommodation, and checked, glad of an early finish after yesterday.  Later, Julie ventured into town to buy supplies for tomorrow and dinner tonight.
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