25th September 2011 at 10am - The
Treesponsibility Trail Sponsored Walk.
The Treesponsibility Trail is a 16 mile walk from Hebden Bridge to Walsden, looking at the many new woodlands planted by Treesponsibility in the Upper Calder Valley over the past 13 years. There will also alternative end points at 3 and 7 miles, with public transport links. Sponsorship forms are available for participants who want to help fund the group's ongoing tree-planting programme.
Below is a copy of the walk route. To download a printable copy for yourself click here
There's also a sponsor form if you want to take part. To download a copy of the sponsor form click here
The 2011 Treesponsibility Sponsored Walk
Welcome
to the Treesponsibility guided walk. With one beginning and three ends,
depending on how far you want to go. Families with young children, or
those with other things to do may want to stop at Knott Wood, but if you
want to go further you can end up in Todmorden. For those who like a
challenge there is the approximately 16 mile walk which ends in Summit,
and you will be rewarded with views of Treesponsibility's largest and
most impressive sites.
We hope people will raise money in
sponsorship for us, but we invite anyone else to join us to. Feel free
to make a donation, we are looking to funds to continue our work. The
walk takes place on the 25th September 2011, and starts at 10am.
Part 1 - Hebden Bridge to Knott Wood
The
very first tree planted by Treesponsibility was always thought to be a
lilac tree, but we have recently decided it is some sort of ornamental
willow. It is in the playground of Riverside School in Hebden Bridge and
this is where we begin our walk. (Grid ref. SD991271 on OS map OL21)
Come out of the school, and get onto the canal towpath. Do not cross the bridge, but turn right and walk towards Todmorden.
At lock 11, on the far side of the canal there are some early Treesponsibility trees, just before the railway.
When
you get to the Stubbing Wharf Pub, leave the canal towpath and walk the
few metres to the main road. Turn left and take the first right up
Saville Road. Then take the first left onto Morningside. Head up to the
top, where you will find the car park for the bowling club.
This is where we begin many of our walks with school groups.
Take
the path opposite the point where you entered the car park into
Calderside woods. Follow along until you come to the far end of a newly
built dry stone wall. Take the right fork here, heading uphill.
When
you get to the stile you are entering Knott Wood. Below you, although
you can't quite see it is our lower orchard and above you is our Outdoor
Classroom.
Head along the track and look for the wooden steps on
the right. Follow this track up through the wall, up the steps and head
to the Stone Terrace.
This is the end of the short walk, feel
free to hang out and enjoy the woodlands. If you are going further then
carry on along the path.
Part 2 Knott Wood to Todmorden
The next field is our upper orchard, which as of 2011 has borne a little fruit.
Follow
the path through the orchard, down the steps and cross the path,
following the wooden arrow. This path leads to Turrett Hall Road, a
rough road that runs through Knott Wood.
When you reach the road, turn left to the sharp corner, and take the small footpath on the right.
The
temporary plastic fence above the path is to keep the deer off a
coppice fall, last cut in winter 2010/11. Look for the regrowth shoots
and layered hazel. We have seen lots of wild flowers in this area in
spring and summer.
When you get to the stone wall, you are
leaving Knott Wood. As you leave the trees behind, a sign post points
you upwards, but ignore it and continue along the contour. There is a
faint path visible.
When you reach the wall, take the steps down.
Take care on the steps, especially in wet conditions. They are uneven
and quite slippery. At the bottom you reach a track. Turn right and walk
to a stream. After crossing the stream, follow the steps leading up.
Almost immediately on the right is the Treesponsibility Millennium Peace Site, ten years on.
When
you reach the building, follow the path down hill to the main road,
again taking care of the slippery stones. Pass under the bridge and walk
to the road.
Across the road and to your left is Callis
Community Garden, with its ash and willow coppice, orchard, fruit bushes
and permaculture gardens.
Cross the road at the pedestrian
crossing. Take care here, as the traffic can be very fast on this
stretch. Keep walking straight ahead until you reach the canal. On
reaching the canal turn right onto the towpath. Walk under bridge 21 and
carry on until you reach bridge 22. Walk underneath, and then across
bridge 22, ignoring the Todmorden Centenary Way sign on the right. Our
path is the next one on the right, past the buildings. Follow the edge
of the woods for about 400m, then the track turns left. Follow this
track through several fields until you reach another track. Turning left
onto this you quickly come to Height Gate Barn, where we accommodate
many of our weekend planting groups.
Here you can see two
Treesponsibility sites, the young woodland below was planted about seven
years ago, and the very young patch, which still looks more like a
field of plastic tubes than a woodland is in it's third year. This patch
is intended to be a wood fuel coppice for Height Gate Camping Barn.
Leaving
the barn, head up and take the path through the newer gate on the
right. The path soon forks, and here take the lower path on the right
down to the bridge.
Cross over the bridge and stile. As you cross
the stile you can see the yellow post in the corner of the field ahead.
Head this way along the track.
Over the next stile you can head
straight up, but is it worth following the sheep tracks bearing right
and cutting a little corner off the route. When you reach the main path
head right and follow it all the way to Mankinholes, ignoring any side
turns.
Before you reach the end of the track there are three
sites visible, but they are young, far away and hard to spot. Heely Hill
site is at the bottom of the strange lump of hill, directly behind it
is Higher Horsewood, and two fields along, more easily visible is
another site, Middle Horsewood.
When you reach the road, you can
see the Heely Hill trees more clearly, some patches are doing well,
others are struggling. The steep ground, lack of soil, exposure and
plague of rabbits and hares have made this one of the more difficult
sites to get established. We tend to revisit this one every year to do
remedial work.
At the road, turn left, but not following the
road, take the footpath. Here we are heading around the top of the Heely
Hill site.
The trees at the bottom of the site by the wall were
planted at the same time as those on the slopes, you can see they are
growing much faster.
At the road, turn left, but not following
the road, take the footpath, and turn right taking another footpath
leading you back towards the road, along the edge of our Heeley Hill
planting site.
The trees at the bottom of the site by the wall
were planted at the same time as those on the slopes, you can see they
are growing much faster.
“Once you reach the road, turn
immediately left down another footpath, and when you reach the buildings
of Lee Farm, turn left again and follow the track as it bends right
towards Horsewood Farm.
There are two smallish Treesponsibility
planting sites in this area – Upper Horsewood, and Middle Horsewood.
We do no plan to extend either of these plantings, as there are twite in
the area (an endangered species, which thrives on moorland and hay
meadows.)
Follow on, keeping in the same direction, until you
join the road once more. Turn left, along the road for a short
distance, and then take the next footpath on your right. Follow the
track across the fields, and as it bears left notice Longfield Wood on
your right, which was planted by us in 2002. Follow the track round as
it leads down hill to the centre of Todmorden.
Part 3– Todmorden to Summit.
From
Tod Bus Station (SD937242), head along the main road towards Burnley
for about 1.4 Km, to MG Caravans. The best place to cross the road is at
the sports centre.
From the school onwards, you get a good view
on your left of the young trees at Dyke Green on the Horizon. This is
the next site we will visit.
Turn left up the footpath for 5 minutes, then right at the large metal grill (925251).
Following
the path up through the woods, the trees you can see on the horizon are
at Dyke Green. Follow the path up, passing through the gulley as it
bends to the left and then right and past the site. Watch out for wet
ditches when you get to the site gate.
The trees just above our
site were planted in 1989 by Pat, who lives nearby. This gives you an
idea of how our site will look soon.
Carry on up the path, over a
stile and a wooden walkway to the track. Straight ahead there is a
footpath heading NW (start 918251). Follow this to the top. Look out for
rabbit holes on this stretch.
If you climb up the bank on the
right of this last stretch, you can see another site, Wetshaw, a small
patchy field of mostly willow and alder. We struggled to establish this
very wet site at all.
From the top of this stretch you get your first view of Midgleden Pasture, over on the left.
You
come to a road, Tower Causeway, which you need to cross, and on the
right is the start of Flower Scar Road. Head along here for
approximately 400m, to the second track on the left. Look for the tall
signpost for the Todmorden Centenary Way (907249). Follow the blue
marked posts for about 1 Km.
Look out for the severely eroded gully, the result of over grazing by sheep farming.
The
path becomes indistinct, but you need to bear left towards the dry
stone wall that surrounds the observatory. There is a stile (901241)
100m west of a metal gate, between the last two pylons. Our path goes
this way.
Head down and right to the corner of the field. Over
the stile (mind the wire trip hazard) and follow the path round to the
gate (which is locked, but the broken fence can be crossed with care).
The
trees on the left here were planted by Treesponsibility at a “Pot Luck
Planting” in 1998. People were encouraged to bring along any old trees
they had growing in pots. The view of the Midgleden site is opening up
and you can see more and more little trees growing on the steep slopes.
The
owners of the land below the observatory approached us about more tree
planting here. They liked our work at Midgleden so much they re-named
their land Woodland View. With their help, we planted another hectare of
woodland last season, on what was severely degraded land. This land had
been the site of an old pipe factory, and we had to engage a contractor
to work about 400 tonnes of compost into the ground to make it
plantable. We've called this part of the site Midgledon Phase 2.
Follow
the path down to the road, cross and head downhill to the entrance of
Midgleden Pasture (898237). Through the gate, after 15-20 metres, look
for the path above to your left doubling back up the hill. Follow this
to the top gate. Follow the broken Wall along until it meets another.
You are now facing a wet reedy patch, but there is a path through, and
if you go round the rushes to the right you will find it. Head over to
the next broken down wall, and 20 metres beyond that is a path running
east to west, with a view of Gorpley Reservoir. Head left (west),
following the yellow markers.
When you come to the buildings,
exit the yard to the left, through the automatic closing gate. Follow
the lane down to the metalled road, and take the right, down to the
reservoir dam.
Cross the dam, and follow the wide path with yellow markers across Inchfield Pasture for about 1.3 Km.
At
Foul Clough Road turn left, and then right after 300m at the signpost
to Ragby Bridge and Long Causeway. We are now back on the Todmorden
Centenary Way, and will be for most of the rest of the walk. Follow this
path, going down a green lane, and down to Ragby Bridge.
Treesponsibility
planted a few of the younger trees on the left bank as you approach the
bridge, and the group on the right, 50 metres past the bridge.
Follow
the path along to the road, where you will find a four way signpost.
Take the route to White Slack, through Ramsden Farm. Look out for the
right turn to stay on the Todmorden Centenary Way . Follow on, to an old
ruin. There is a spring here if you need to re-fill your water bottles
(922202). The track runs down hill, and round Cranberry Dam reservoir,
and then along to our White Slack sites. Stay on the footpath and head
down until you come to Allescholes Road (935208).
At 10 hectares,
White Slack is our largest site, planted between 2006 and 2010. It is
on the periphery of degraded moorland, linking to ancient woodland in
Ramsden Clough. Bird issues were taken into account before the
planting, in consultation with the Upper Calder Valley Wildlife group.
Half of the site will be coppiced in rotation to provide a supply of
small roundwood, as a local firewood resource,
Turn right and
follow the road along, it climbs for 300 metres, then more or less
follows the contour. Follow along the edge of the hill, ignoring the
track on the right, until you can see the edge of the Steanor Bottom
site. Look for the Todmorden Centenary Way path on the left (940203).
Take care here, as the track is uneven and steep. Follow the track down,
above Steanor Bottom, and down to the closed road at the bottom.
Steanor
Bottom is our second largest site – 7 hectares. The once-wooded
hillside was clear felled in the 1840's during the construction of the
Summit Tunnel on the Manchester Leeds railway line. Nine workers dies
during the excavation, and spoil from digging the ventilation shafts is
strewn across the site.
Turn right and look for the footpath
sign 50 metres along on the left. Go down again until you reach the main
road. You can just see the Summit Pub on the other side of the road, to
the right (947188).
Head to the bar!
There is a bus stop
just outside the pub, with a half hourly service to Todmorden and
Littleborough (both with stations), and an hourly service through to
Hebden Bridge.