Distance: 9.5 miles
Ascent: 927 ft
Walking: Andrew, Tim & Mark
Weather: Sunny, warm
OS Map: OL21 South Pennines
Parking: Ogden Water, Ogden Lane HX2 8XZ
Slab corned beef pie: B&M Collins butchers, Cleckheaton
Photography: Andrew using Nikon D610 / Sigma 10-20 mm f4-5.6
This is a moderate 9.5 mile walk over open moorland with spectacular views over the Worth Valley and Halifax.
Setting off through the wood from the car park at Ogden Water, having arrived early to ensure we got parking spaces, we were soon following the stream up Great Scar that feeds brown peat-stained water (which looks very much like Timothy Taylor's Boltmaker) into the reservoir from the moors above, eventually emerging onto Thornton Moor.
The heather was still in full bloom, despite the heavy rain of the previous day and night, and it framed the view of the wind farm over on Ovenden Moor perfectly.
From the top of the moor, the views over Thornton Moor Reservoir towards Bradford are great but as we dropped down the track known as Hambleton Lane, the ones over towards Bronte Country - Leeming, Oxenhope, Haworth and Oakworth - were even better.
Turning off the lane, we headed up Hambleton Top past a vast area of disused stone quarries (delphs) with more incredible views over Bronte Country, until we reached a collection of impressive cairns on Nab Hill.
Continuing on through more quarries, we dropped down to Warley Moor Reservoir, where the monument at Stoodley Pike can be clearly seen in the distance.
Walking along the road for a short distance, we made a detour up an old access road to another abandoned quarry and the trig point at the top of Hollin Hill, close to the huge wind turbines, before doubling back to the road to continue up past the wind farm.
Turning off the road, we made our way down a track past an old farm in the early stages of being renovated. It will be amazing when it's done and I can't wait to see if they do something with the beautiful ruined barn next to it. Although there were open views towards the hills around Sowerby Bridge, a welcome pie stop and another reservoir, this part of the walk wasn't really in the same league as the first section and walking on tarmac can be quite tiring.
On reaching Moorfield at the bottom of the valley, we joined the Calderdale Way and began to climb again to the top of Hunter Hill and more disused quarries, along with some great views over to Halifax and Queensbury.
The final leg of the walk took us up Hebble Brook and through Stod Fold and Halifax Golf Club, up another steep hill back to Ogden.
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