Ride Guide: Mary Townley Loop
Words & Images: Phil Ingham
A challenging 47 mile "loophole" in the Pennine Bridleway, which like Everest demands to be tackled "because it's there!"
The Mary Townley Loop is named after the horse-rider who campaigned for both the Pennine Bridleway and the loop which now bears her name. The Pennine Bridleway runs roughly parallel to the famous Pennine Way footpath, whilst the Mary Townley Loop describes a rough circle to the West of the linear routes in the border country between Lancashire and Yorkshire.
A typical packhorse track descent near Bottomley
The Loop is approximately contained by the textile towns of Rochdale, Halifax and Burnley, but although close to the huge conurbations of Manchester, Bradford and Leeds, not to mention numerous towns and villages in this cradle of the industrial revolution, much of it crosses remote peat moorland at and above the 300 metre contour and it requires both navigational expertise and a degree of technical riding ability.
It's a fairly logical route, but although well waymarked, with distinctive pale blue on wood signposts, it's occasionally convoluted and carrying a good map of the area is recommended. And pay attention, a couple of the classic navigational traps on the route lead you down long descents in totally the wrong direction - beware and take your time when route picking!
When to Ride the Loop
It's a genuine all-year route in terms of its rideability underwheel. There are muddy sections, but nothing which could stop heavy winter tyres. However, the altitude it often reaches and the remoteness of much of the moorland means that you have to take notice of the weather and make all the usual precautions in terms of clothing, equipment, food, drink and letting people know where you're planning to ride. There's an annual challenge ride round the full loop run by Rossendale Harriers
How Long Will it Take?
Well, it's been done in just over 4 hours and a fit rider can get round in 6 to 7 hours in the summer. The classic challenge is to do it in one day, however slower riders and those tackling it in winter probably need to consider breaking the route up into sections over a weekend. There are lots of road or canal path options for cutting off corners and turning halves or even thirds of the ride into mini-versions of the loop.
What Type of Bike?
There's probably no stronger case for full suspension than the Mary Townley Loop. Although mostly well drained and in places it has been smoothed and graded extensively, its overriding quality is its unrelenting roughness.
The author on the route during the Rossendale Harriers event in 2007
Food, Drink, Bike Shops etc
Food, drink and accommodation are available in most of the many villages, hamlets and towns on the route. However, strangely, the route almost completely bypasses all of them, so plan to make a short detour if you want to break your ride. There are bike shops in Rawtenstall/Waterfoot, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Broadley.
For more info on the ride, including accommodation and other service listings, visit the www.nationaltrail.co.uk website or refer to the excellent leaflet and map on the Loop published by the Countryside Agency.
How to Get There
If you want to avoid using a car, the obvious alternative is to use the rail line through the Calder Valley, which connects Leeds and Manchester. The stations at Littleborough, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge are all within a couple of miles of the route and make ideal starting points.
Highlights
So, what's so special about this route? Well, the sheer range of panoramas alone makes the ride worth tackling: the views from the beautiful moorland above Widdop Reservoir really stand out for me. But as well, there's the way it utilises and stitches together a huge variety of old tracks of varied heritage/packhorse tracks, farm, reservoir and quarry roads and ancient routes across barren moorland, and sets them against a backdrop of the post-industrial landscapes of the South Pennines; the traffic free quality of the route, even the few road sections; the way the route stays away from civilisation. Some have criticised it as lacking technical bite and it's true that much of the bridleway used has been sanitised. However, the local climate ensures that it's never predictable. Happily, it's already showing signs of "weathering" nicely and given its length and general roughness, the mix is pretty much spot-on!
Route Guide
Traditionally ridden in a clockwise direction, many people start the Loop in Waterfoot near Rawtenstall and that's how we'll work our way round, though you can of course start anywhere and ride in either direction. The route crosses five distinct tracts of moorland, divided by deep, steep-sided valleys.
Part 1 - Waterfoot to Cliviger (6 miles)
This is a good warm-up for the route, if you're trying to do it in one day. A steady climb, it gradually works you onto to heights of Deerplay Moor, allowing you to warm up on some attractive tracks and singletrack, much of it embraced by stone walls. This is one of the muddier sections in wet weather, but like the majority of the route, it's only very rarely unrideable.
After the route crosses the A671, the first serious downhill looms, dropping you into the spectacular Cliviger Gorge, which is rightly famous for it's spectacular glacier cut profile and hanging walls. Despite this, the descent is actually pretty friendly and ridden with care is not in the least technical. It finally spits you out under the railway and down to the A646.
Part 2 - Cliviger to Callis Bridge (16 miles)
A monster section of spectacular and in places stunningly beautiful moorland, almost all of it above 300m and much of it significantly higher. It starts with a slogging climb up grassy tracks, including a few sapping sections of open pasture. Eventually it reaches a high moorland road, which links Burnley and Hebden Bridge, with one of the country's original windfarms to your right.
It's then onto a lengthy and undulating run through a landscape former by two contrasting industries: it begins with some rough but fun singletrack through a virtual moonscape of lime mining spoil heaps and exposed rock; before the theme changes to the grander tracks alongside a couple of the beautifully engineered reservoirs which dot this area.
The wild and beautiful Widdop Moor - the route passes over the highest hill on the right
Having passed Hurstwood Reservoir, you find yourself on a wide track which heads onward and upward on a consistently Eastward bearing. It's a tough slog and always rough enough to prevent you developing a rhythm, without distracting you with any outstanding challenges. The track finally tops out and there's a nice stretch over the high plateau above the twin Gorple reservoirs. The surrounding moorland here is wild, relatively unspoilt and very beautiful. Come at the right time of year and the call of the curlew will mingle with the gusting wind, a suitably untamed sound for one of the route's real highlight sections.
After topping out at a distinctive collection of stones, there's a fine descent to the shores of Widdop reservoir. Again, it's not too technical, but it's tricky to ride well at speed, with its loose corners and occasionally rocky surface.
Widdop Dam parapet on a misty autumn day
After crossing the parapet of the dam, a brief run down a minor road takes you to a deviation to the right and onto a concrete reservoir road. After another parapet - this time of the lower Gorple Reservoir - you veer right again through a distinctive iron gate and up over Heptonstall Moor.
The following 3-4 miles are arguably the hardest to navigate of all, with several changes of direction as the route works its way across a couple of small valleys, so keep your wits about you. There's one particular turning, just after you leave a brief section of road at Jack Bridge, which catches out many. As you turn off the road by the New Delight Inn, be prepared to look out for a poorly marked turn sharp right. Miss it and you'll end up a couple of miles off course, in Hebden Bridge, albeit by a very enjoyable downhill section.
Get it right and you're faced with a couple of hundred yards of very steep, but grippy climbing before you arrive in the amlet of Blackshawhead. A quick left onto the road and then right again back off road puts you at the top of one of the most technically challenging sections of the route. The drop into Callis Wood, in the bottom of the Calder Valley, begins innoucuously on farm tracks, but suddenly narrows into classic packhorse track and singletrack.
The view from the top of the descent to Callis Bridge, with Stoodley Pike in the background
It's a steep switchback, well drained but rocky and loose surfaced. There are numerous steps down, patches of exposed rock and the gradient is consistently steep. It's challenging as a descent for all but the most experienced. Ride it in the other direction and it makes a killer climb, verging on the impossible......but some have ridden it, so there's a challenge for the technically gifted and fit.
Callis Bridge is a relief in more ways than one, marking the end of the descent, the end of a very long, sustained moorland crossing and also marking the mid-point of the ride.
Part 3 - Callis Bridge to Bottomley (7 miles)
Callis Bridge is a spectacular crossing point, with A-Road (A646), Rochdale Canal, River Calder and Railway Line all coming together in a narrow valley bottom - you cross over or under all four inside a minute!
Climbing is back on the agenda as you make your way up a zig-zag climb before emerging above the tree line, in the shadow of the Stoodley Pike monument (built to commemorate various 19th century wars). The climb eventually slackens off and via some attractive new singletrack and narrow old packhorse tracks, you eventually reach the grandly named London Road, a broad, rough and old track running under the monument and into the hamlet of Mankinholes.
Nearing the top of the climb from Callis Bridge on a winter day
There's more tricky navigation here as you pass between Mankinholes and nearby Lumbutts, before climbing away from both for about a mile on the road. Then it's back onto rough tracks and a great two to three miles along the very edge of the moorland, high above the town of Todmorden. This is a favourite section of mine, fairly technical, narrow, dry in all weather and with an uncontrived feel to it. A series of narrow cobbles climbs and descents follows, taking you down to the valley bottom again at Bottomley, where you cross the canal again and then the A6033.
Part 4 - Bottomley to Broadley (10 miles)
This is a varied and enjoyable section, mixing a variety of going, including reservoir service roads, cobbles, farm tracks and moorland singletrack as it skirts to the North of the large Watergrove reservoir. However, before you tackle the undulations and folds of this large are of moorland edge, there's the most challenging climb of the clockwise route to tackle. It comes straight after crossing the A6033. A track works its way up a very steep hillside, doubling back on itself occasionally. Not particularly rough, it defeats most riders with sheer gradient, which renders the occasional technical corner extremely challenging as you try to balance exertion against forward motion.
Overall, this is section which requires some attention to navigation. It's east to miss a couple of significant turnings and end up in nearby Littleborough. Get it right and you'll enjoy the variety, even the slightly surreal section which skirts Whitworth Golf Club, before dropping down to the A671 at Broadley.
Part 5 - Broadley to Waterfoot (8 miles)
After crossing the road at Broadley there's a brief back and forth section of new paths which finally resolves itself with an atmospheric mile or so of old cobbled and brick surfaced farm and reservoir tracks. This no-man's land finally gives way to broad, rough old moorland roads and an abrupt right turn onto the infamous Rooley Moor Road.
This is an old route which served moortop stone quarries and at some point in the past must have been cobbled over its not inconsiderable length and width. However, the cobbled sections are now few and far between, and the surface of the road is rough, gravely, though well drained. The challenge is the sheer length and monotony of this section, which climbs for several very exposed miles. It's never steep, but if this is near the end of your ride and you're tired, it's a killer. It's uncompromising in every way and at the mercy of the weather. On a hardtail it can be torture.
Finally, the road crests the hill and there's a long flat section as it winds in and out of the numerous disused quarries above Waterfoot and Bacup. Eventually, the road splits, and soon after taking the left fork you find yourself at the top of the final plunge into Waterfoot. This is a fun descent, technical in places and steep. I've never climbed it, but it must surely rival the Callis Bridge climb for difficulty if you're doing the route anticlockwise
And so the route wraps up in Waterfoot, your starting point 47 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing earlier. If you've done it in one day, congratulations. But whatever your personal goals, it's great notch on your cycling bedpost - give it a try!
Mary Townley Loop Ride Guide
Location:
Distance: 7 Miles
Difficulty:
Beginner
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