Harden Hill Holmbridge RFM Blue Line walking with Max
Harden Hill Holmbridge
RFM Blue Line
Walking with Max
02/04/26
I have to apologise to my brother Peter because I had got mixed up reference our walk and he had to walk on his own. Double booking walks in not good. From now on I will confirm every walk with the invitees the night before so this does not happen again.
Any way, back to this walk it was designed to get at least 2000 foot of ascent over around 9 miles. A tough task and Max was up for it.
The day started bright and sunny and continued the same for the whole walk. It wasn't hot but pleasantly warm.
Straight up to Upper Stubbin from the main road was a steep hill to start with. Halfway up we could see one of the remaining mill chimneys.
The ascent was very quick and the views were good from very early on. The lake on the right looked close on the map but we were high up the slope so it was well below us.
This was a lovely path but very steep in places. It was still good to get high up so quickly.
We paused below the old school building now residential at Carr Green to ponder the walls in the location but we couldn't work out why they were where they were. I bet the kids hated this school if they had to climb the hill we had just climbed every school day.
We paused often on the way to Cliff Road as this hill was hard and it was the first one of 5 for the day.
This panoramic view explains why I love this area. Its hilly and green ...what more could you want?
Higher and higher we climbed past an outdoor museum or was it a farm dump.
Even higher we followed the road around Broadhead Edge passing long views of Huddersfield.
The first and longest hill completed, and what a tough hill it was, we dropped down via the road to Digley Reservoir. The beauty of the spot was breathtaking. Last summer Peter and I had walked past this res and it was nearly empty, such a contrast.
The hills... the res.... the weather ....bliss.
An oyster catcher was a great bird to spot. We had passed a few dog walkers and exchanged friendly hellos.
The path descended through a wonderful winter wood and onto the old lane next to the river. The light was awesome and the moss on the walls so atmospheric. The bottom of the first hill.
Then it was on to the next hill which was mainly on tarmac.
We decided to do the hill up to Austonley in one go as it was on tarmac. It was hard but we both made it to the top of our hill 2 without stopping. We paused at a gate to catch our breath and enjoy the view and the ponies decided we were there for them so we were forced to stroke them for a few minutes. They were so friendly and cool, it was a pleasure to oblige.
We followed the HVC walk, I assume that stands for Holme Valley Circular, across the hillside and then descended again into Holmbridge.
I've watched JP play cricket here a few times.
Max had forgotten his water and had already drank all mine so we needed more. A chap in the churchyard pointed us to a tap and the water bottle was refilled. What luck as that could have been the end of this walk.
We crossed the River Holme and set off up hill number 3.
We kind of walked through someone's garden to start up the valley towards Crow Hill. I thought Max was slowing down as he was lagging a bit.
This was a great valley with a deep ravine with stream and open woodland with lots of little birds singing away. The home made sign made me chuckle basically the depiction of a sheep.
The path went near the ravine's edge and was, let us say, interesting to follow. This ravine is so steep and so long, it was really hard.
We finally reached a stile at the top of our hill 3. We rested for a while.
In the distance we could see Castle Hill near Huddersfield. Then it was down the hill past these wonderful woolly sheep who also wanted a stroke. The animals around here are so friendly. The wool on these sheep was so soft it was amazing.
We passed a Song Thrush as we followed this sunken wet lane down to Brownhills Reservoir.
It was a long beautiful gentle slope down towards the road. A good recovery portion of the route for our legs.
We passed Alpacas always nice to see. There must be more Alpacas in Yorkshire than in Peru.
We followed the road to Ramsden Reservoir before starting hill number 4.
The start of this hill was a steep green wooded lane. This would be a long hill and the bottom part was tough.
We crossed the hillside and reached another green lane with broken down walls. We had our lunch on the stile we had paused at early when we climbed to the top of hill 3.
We followed Moss Edge slowly climbing, until we got to the road and the top of hill 4. This was the easiest part of the walk but the drop to our left in places was vertiguous.
It was a slow slight slope down White Gate Road until we came to Upper Woodhouse.
Then the road dropped madly down to the valley below. This was steeper than steep. Just as we entered Holmbridge we spotted this Rookery close to the road. What a treat?
We knew hill 5 would be steep just by the hill graph and the start was this flight of steps. It did not get any easier. The cow and rook look happy and almost symbolic (happy, friendly Holme Valley animals.)
The path reached Waterside but this was not the end just the start.
Max was really struggling and I was worried he might not complete.
But then he got a final wind and the last few ascents he was stronger than me. This hill after 9 miles of other hills was vicious. What a great effort Max, I was really impressed.
This was the view we wanted to see the final descent back into the valley below. It was a very quick descent because it was very steep. This mill is being redeveloped. I love it when they re-purpose these old buildings rather than demolish them.
The question was did we achieve 2000 feet. Answer below. Max did really well as did I. This is a tough walk and we both felt an elation completing it.
10 miles and 2169 feet, Wow. Over 41/2 hours walking time. I did feel quite good physically at the end and writing this a couple of hours later I still feel pretty good. I must be getting fitter.
OS Map
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/31279227/harden-hill-rfm-blue-line-?lat=53.55622&lon=-1.80929&zoom=14.7803&overlays=os-obstacles-layer&style=TopoAuto&type=2d
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