C-Walking: Ogden Ogler

Today’s walk (Sunday, 4th October) was the second of two walking expeditions undertaken during our weekend at Haworth Youth Hostel. Our route took us from Ogden Water over Ovenden Moor to Leeming Reservoir and then back to the hostel via Oxenhope and Brow Moor.

We used our coach in order to get to the starting point for the walks {SE 070 309}. We set off from our drop-off point on the A629 (near the Causeway Foot Inn) at about 10.00 am. There were eleven people in the group: BB, DB, PB, SB, CG, KaH, DK, PL, JM, JR and PR. PB led the walk.


From the A629 road we set off in a westerly direction along Ogden Lane in order to reach the Visitors’ Centre at Ogden reservoir. After crossing the dam (see picture above), we followed a good uphill track onto Round Hill - passing Halifax Golf Course on our left. At {SE 048 308} we turned right and crossed Ovenden Moor in a north-easterly direction - passing a very impressive wind farm on our left¹ - see the picture below. As we crossed the moor, we passed over an interesting bridge at {SE 049 311} and another at {SE 054 318}. The latter appeared to be an old dam that bridged the valley near a disused quarry. Just after this bridge we found a sunny sheltered (from the wind) spot {SE 052 320} where we took our early-morning coffee break. PL distributed samples of her home-made sloe-gin.


After a good break, we continued our trek on a north-westerly direction across Thornton Moor. There were some good views of Thornton Reservoir (on our right) as we made our way to Hambleton Lane. We followed this to {SE 046 334} where we joined the route of the Bronte Way (BW) - which we followed to {SE 041 339}. We now made a slight deviation to the original route² by making for and following a footpath that would take us around the southern edge of Leeming Reservoir (see the picture below). Because the reservoir was so picturesque, we decided to take our lunch break here at {SE 041 340}.


Following our lunch stop, we continued our trek along the perimeter path of the reservoir in order to re-join the BW at the dam {SE 037 343}. We now made a steep descent to Back Leeming. Our route now skirted around the eastern side of Oxenhope and passed by Oxenhope railway station³. Just after the station, at {SE 035 356}, we joined the Worth Way (WW). We followed this in a northerly direction until we reached a path junction at {SE 037 362}. At this point we introduced a deviation to the originally planned route⁴. Instead of continuing along the WW, we took a north-easterly path uphill onto Hebden Road (the A6033). From here we climbed up to a minor road at {SE 040 364} - just to the south of a prominent wind turbine. Following the road for about 130 yards in an easterly direction, we joined the WW (again) and followed this across Brow Moor. At {SE 044 366} (just west of Laveroc Hall Farm) we found a sheltered spot where we had a short tea-stop - PL again distributed small measures of her sloe-gin.

From our tea-stop location we continued along the WW, crossing the B6144 road at {SE 047 369}, and joined the A629 at {SE 047 375}. Turning left, we followed the A629 to its junction with the A6033 at {SE 046 377}. We followed the A6033 in a westerly direction to its junction with the B6142. From here we made our way back to the youth hostel at {SE 039 378}.

In contrast to yesterday’s weather, the conditions today were much calmer. Although we had an occasional shower of rain, there was plenty of sunshine and lots of blue sky.

Use the buttons below to see where we went, how we did and some of the things we saw.

  

Notes

¹ When we were walking on Penistone Hill yesterday, we noticed that none of the wind turbines were working. We thought this was rather ironic - lots of wind and the turbines were not making use of it! However, a conversation with one of the wardens at Ogden Visitors’ Centre revealed the reason why they were not working. Apparently, if the wind speed gets above 65 mph, the turbines are turned off for safety reasons.

² The original route at this point would have continued along the Bronte Way.

³ Oxenhope railway station is the southern terminus of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway which is a privately owned railway company that is run by a preservationists' society. Further details of the railway can be found by following this link. At this site there is an interesting timelapse video of an engine driver's view of a trip from Keighley to Oxenhope (in 23 just seconds).

⁴ At this point the original route would have continued in a northerly direction along the route of the Worth Way (following the course of Bridgehouse Beck) into Haworth.

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