Home from Holme A 38km circular walk in the Holme Valley

‘The Accidental Tourist’ was a 1988 film release by Warner Brothers and starred William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.

I’ve never watched it. Maybe I will.

It was only after a Google search that I knew it even existed. 

I only mention it because I really like the title particularly as it seemed to neatly sum up my current situation. 

For the last 2 weeks my wife Nicky and I have been ‘accidental tourists!’

Having moved out of our long-standing family home 2 weeks ago we are currently holed up in a family owned  Airbnb above Holmfirth 

We are still awaiting a move into our ‘forever home’. In the next few weeks this will be our reality hopefully.

Having experienced the full range of house buying emotions over the previous 24 hours, I knew I needed some time out just to walk and to burn off some of the inherent emotional baggage that has been linked to this particular ‘pandemic house move’.

So it was that on Friday morning, 5 March, I stepped out of the garden gate……. and turned left. 

My plan was a simple one: to clamber through the unfamiliar hill country of ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ fame and eventually reach the mast at the top of the Woodhead Pass: on the long sweeping road that links deepest, darkest Derbyshire to ‘God’s Own County’ of Yorkshire. 

As I dropped down towards Brockholes I was immediately reminded that the terrain around these parts is deceptively tough. 

The hills of the Holme Valley are significantly steeper than those of Calderdale in my opinion. ‘Jelly legs’ is a frequent result as the walker rises from the valley onto ‘the tops’.

They have interesting names in these parts. 

We are actually staying in an area known as Upper Hagg. Apparently this refers to a spring wood or an area of wild broken ground, a common, or rocky moorland.

This area is riddled with steep inclines where looking up only ferments dismay at the remaining elevations ahead. However the rewards at the top of these steep ascents are phenomenal. On a clear day you can see for miles across the East and West Riding of Yorkshire.

So it was that Upper Hagg, led onto Brockholes, Thongsbridge, Netherthong and Upperthong. They clearly love their thongs in these parts.

It was cold: freezing actually! Apparently 4 degrees Celsius but with a ‘feels like’ temperature of about 1 degree. Brrrrr. 

Way too cold for thongs!

Surprisingly as I climbed I started to welcome the steep climbs. After all they do have the value of warming you up.

I saw the stabling for 2 animals called Elvis and Boris. What a hair styling combination those 2 would have made!

The recent dry weather had toned down the hues and colours of the local landscapes and this dryer perspective made it even more mesmerising in my view. 

My walk 10 days ago from Holmfirth to Halifax’ had been much wetter and brighter. On this walk the to Holme Moss the landscape had a ‘washed out’ feel. 

I marvelled at the tenacity of the snowdrops.

They have been my constant walking companions for at least a month now. The cold snap of the last fortnight had given them an extended lease of life and they were still in their full winter glory.

The daffodils on the other hand had stilted in their growth. Ever ready to burst forth, the cold weather had suppressed their bloom. Daffodils in full bloom were noticeably absent throughout my walk. 

They seemed to epitomise the Covid season of our current lives.

An easing of restrictions and Lockdowns is tantalisingly close, but we aren’t there yet. Just as we have had to wait for the daffodils to flower, so we still have to spend a couple more months at the ‘Covid-Grindstone’ before we can begin to hope and pray that our horizons will lift. 

The signposting in the hills above Holmfirth is often erratic and unreliable.

Many signs for the Kirklees Way and Holme Valley Circular Walk seemed faded: similar to the faded life that I saw in the villages and towns that I walked though. The essential component of village life was missing:

I saw very few people.

Sadly Holmfirth itself had resembled a ghost town earlier in the week, with Aldi, Lidl, the Post Office and Sainsbury’s, the only shops open. 

Passing the Holmfirth Picturedome was nostalgic.

Whilst it advertised no future gigs I remembered fondly visiting this venue in the recent past to see Hazel O’Connor. It was a brilliant gig. Hopefully the leading lights from the music industry will be back on stage later in the year. What a celebration that will be for lovers of this iconic indoor venue.

Throughout my walk I was struck by the Tolkienesque connections within this circular walk. Maybe it is just me and my walks, but Tolkien always seems to feature!

Just like in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ this walk was proving to have a ‘Two Towers’ influence on me, with the masts of Emley Moor and Holme Moss always visible on the horizon.

Later on I would see more hobbit reminders, but it was already clear that the Shire of ‘Lord of the Rings’ had an uncanny similarity to the ‘York-Shire’ of Compo, Clegg and Foggy.

The ‘Summer Wine’ country above Holmfirth is simply beautiful!

To the east the towering structure of Emley Moor mast was a reassuringly beacon and meant that even in the steepest of ravines I always had a visible target in my sights.

To the west stood the equally lofty Holme Moss transmission mast: my target destination that annoyingly never seemed to get nearer. 

After taking a couple of navigational errors I reached the hamlet of Fulstone situated some 2 miles south of the Penistone Road.  

The stocks in the village provided me some amusement. I immediately thought off one or two deserving characters for an hour of occupation, then dismissed the thought completely.

March 2021 within the Covid context has required us all to become a kinder version of ourselves.

In deference, my imagination decided that my tomatoes would be soft: very soft so that they didn’t hurt their recipients too much!

I had finally made the majority of my height and was relieved to join the contour hugging track that forms the Barnsley Boundary Walk and Holme Valley Circular Walk and started heading east to west and in the direction of Hade Edge. 

It was obviously the ‘spreading season’ and for 4 successive fields I had to stomp my way through some evil smelling and freshly laid manure. By the time I exited field 4 the soles of my boots were caked in the stuff. 

I walked past the deserted car park adjoining Boshaw Whams Reservoir, the home base for Huddersfield sailing club. It was shut and padlocked and its rusting padlock and chain prevented entry into the weed strewn car park.

As I reached the heights of the moor above Hade Edge, the mast at Holme Moss was at last within ‘easy’ reach. Or so I thought.

It had been on view for most of the previous 3+ hours but up to this point I had never felt that I was ever getting any closer. 

2 hours later as I finally stumbled into the hamlet of Holme I reminded myself to pay more attention to the contours on my map. What had seemed to be just 2-3 miles had been hundreds of feet of undulation away! 

A police car and officer lurked in the bus turning circle at the top of Holme village. It had no apparent connection to the constabulary of any shire.

Given the reputation of Derbyshire police for fining people making unnecessary journeys, I did suspect a few of the cars I saw were going to be stopped and questioned about the justification for their journey.

The police officer didn’t bother me: I just avoided his eye contact and accelerated away! 

The transmission mast still towered above me.

I did question the sense of trudging up the Woodhead Pass just for the sake of reaching the mast: but then reasoned that sense didn’t come into it. I had set my goal and was bloody minded enough to try the reach it. 

In fairness the last half hour steep trudge on tarmac was worth it.

Whilst the mast is tall: very tall, it is no thing of beauty. However looking back, the views over Kirklees with Calderdale in the far distance were stunning: especially spectacular when framed through the rusting steel artist’s easel sculpture based in the car park.

Given there wasn’t a soul to be seen it did give me a very special moment of ‘awe and wonder’. 

The tiresome trudge up to the mast from Holme village was subsequently rewarded with an off piste and steep descent back down to the 3 reservoirs of Yateholme, Ramsden and Brownhill which nestle deep in the valley below Holme Moss.

Feeling the start of weariness I then deliberately targeted a walk across easy footpaths and fields back to Holme. 

For the second time that afternoon I walked past the hobbit house that is called ‘Underhill’. It was a bizarre sight seeing the owner mowing its sedum covered roof.

From Holme to the dam wall at Digley Reservoir was easy and fabulously flat.

As ever on my long distance walks, I bumped into a familiar face as I met up with Dave our plumber from back when we owned a house near Halifax.

My 3 kids often joke that I always meet someone I know when out and about and I do like a chat! 

It was great to see him.

I learned a lot on this wonderful walk.

The value of good signposts and stiles when you see them always helps. reading a map carefully especially when you are tired is a good discipline.

I remembered the importance of ALWAYS strapping your precious camera around your neck. (last time I had accidentally dropped it when I tripped whilst climbing a very rickety stile and carrying it in my hand!). Thankfully it had landed in a splatt of soft mud.

Most of all I re-learned the value of the small things in life……. like a haircut!

Just 9 months ago I had ‘Braved the Shave’ in a school online assembly in Lockdown 1 and with fabulous community support from the school, family and friends managed to raise over £3,000 for ‘Smartmove’ the local homeless charity in Calderdale.

Fast forward 9 months and I’m now thinking of growing dreadlocks!

I need a haircut badly!

As for the daffodils? Hopefully they will make an appearance in the next week which could be nicely timed from a personal perspective.

This 56 year old has his first Covid jab booked for Monday 15 March.

My future’ your future is definitely bright.

Thanks for the read and best wishes to you and your family.

Martin x