Recommend combining with "Blaheb One" to make a scenic high-level route between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge with great views of Calderdale and the surrounding hills....

RGW

We walked about 60% of this route, starting from Todmorden, before giving up, partly due to the extreme heat that day, but also because we were encountering difficulties in the track by this stage. We ended up backtracking and climbing over a gate into a field where we followed what looked like a fairly well-used bit of footpath nearer to the railway line, until we rejoined the plotted route soon after. It was at this point, with the prospect of more steep, rough climbing, in the extreme heat, that we called it a day....

Mary Oz

Moderately strenuous climbs both ends quite steep , but short , the climb out of Hebden has alternate easier routes using bridleways. Great views most of the way at first the Hebden bridge and Heptonstall towns then after Studley pike views of Todmordon and the Pennines....

Dave Powell

There is much of the area's former industrial heritage too to be seen around Lambutts, with four small dams and a delightful piece of woodland - and a fine pub, the 'Top Brink', very well worth seeking out just off the route in the village. After leaving Todmorden and crossing over the Rochdale canal, continue up Kilnhurst Road to regain the route above the new housing estate (still under construction at the time of writing) which, for the time being at least, has obliterated the right of way on the footpath shown on the OS map and also suggested by the Slow Ways map online. For those walking east to west, on passing the third of the dams before coming to the road in Lambutts, the footpath shown on the maps (i.e. a right on to the road, and then almost immediately left alongside the stream through the clough) is nonexistent, and probably has been so having been eroded away for years....

Sneil68

If you asked most local people which route they would chose to walk between Tod & Hebden Bridge (for typical Slow Ways purposes, e.g. to walk to work, school or the shops or something) most would say, just follow the canal towpath....

Sneil68

There are some quite steep but short sections (but you can't really walk anywhere in these parts and avoid these if you want to escape from the valley bottom!), and one or two muddy bits in wet weather, but the reward is that on this route you really get to sample much of the best that a walk in the South Pennines has to offer....

Sneil68

The views, looking back as you climb out of the Calder Valley, are fine but thereafter the route gets worse:1...

Sneil68

I've walked between the 2 towns quite a few times but this was a new route to me and I'm v glad I walked it....

fruitbat

The most important comment to make is that an early part of the route marked here (from the edge of Bacup town to the moorland at Reaps Moss) is NOT a public footpath and cannot be accessed (the track to Tong Farm, near the school, where the contour is marked 334 on the map, has a private property sign and leads to a quarry)....

fruitbat

The first half of the route is easy to follow but the Rochdale Way section (Warland to Littleborough) is very tricky - there's no marked route on the ground and so many sheep tracks that it's very difficult to know where to go unless you constantly check the map....

fruitbat

Certainly walking from Hebden to Tod, if the weather is good, many will prefer to climb the extra 200' and follow the Pennine Way to take in the iconic Stoodley Pike, but in fact the Pennine Bridleway on this Slow Ways route provides a gently descending, less exposed and very clear path below the Pike, and passes a good pub too by way of compensation! The c.150 steps up from Tod through modern housing estates are a bit of a killer, but the views along the rest of the route more than make up for this slightly grotty start/finish....

Sneil68

However, the diversion up through Horsehold Wood is an unnecessary complication, and the route can be improved by following the recently upgraded canal towpath throughout. With this tweak made, this would be an excellent Slow Way. For those able to navigate a steep cobbled section of towpath, suggest a small diversion using the tunnel under the main road in Todmorden, avoiding the need to cross the traffic to get to/from the station....

WalkyFeet