Walking Holme

After 3 days of Christmas binge eating and drinking I was in desperate need to stretch the old legs and try and shift a few mince pies. I had been looking at the River Holme for a few weeks and trying to figure out a route to walk its full length of 8.6 miles from Digley Reservoir to Huddersfield.

I had 2 criteria for the route, the first was to try and stay as close to the course of the river as possible and the second was to try and keep off main roads. However there were sections where these 2 criteria conflicted with each other and I ended up taking a longer footpath route to keep away from the main roads, but a well established ‘Riverside Way’ would help me out most of the way.

I drove into an empty car park at Digley Reservoir, and walking on the dam wall to the start of the walk I knew it was going to be a special day. Armed with camera and long lens in my rucksack it wasn’t long before I was snapping away. Dropping down to the start of the River Holme from Bank Top I was surrounded by wildlife. Grey squirrel chasing each other on the trees, Robins, Blue Tits and Goldfinch fluttering around the tree tops. Soon the noise of the birds was drowned out by the sound of running water and I was finally walking alongside the river.

This first section was stunning, moss covered trees everywhere with the occasional flash of burnt orange from oak leafs that were too stubborn to fall, and old mill ponds just about visible in the undergrowth. After about 10 minutes I popped out of the woods at Holmebridge with the church looking stunning in the early morning light.

Here followed a short road section but the back roads rather than the main road, and after a while I was passing Hinchcliffe Mills which is one of 13 old mills that had existed between here and Digley Reservoir. A nearby sign was a reminder of a disastrous flood in 1852 that took out many mills and killed 81 people.

This next section was a very pleasant riverside walk to Holmfirth, passing a millpond supporting Mallard, and a Grey Heron. Further down river I spotted a Dipper which sat long enough for me to get the big lens out and grab a few photos, but eventually the Dipper caught sight of a ginger cat that was stalking it and it flew off up river before it became cat food.

Into the centre of Holmfirth I found some footpaths which kept me next to the river and took me away from the busy main roads. A short steep climb up a slippery woodland path and I was on an old railway embankment which took me onto Thongsbridge. After another elevated footpath overlooking the river and I eventually popped out at Mytholm Bridge and through the camp site at Brockholes with the new camping pods and duck pond.

Another riverside section followed here with the back end of some old mills on the opposite side of the river spoiling the atmosphere a bit. After about 20 minutes later I was crossing Woodhead Road to find another path away from the river and eventually dropping down into Honley, but only for a short road section before I found another footpath that took me to the other end of the official Riverside Way. From studying the map I knew that route finding from here was going to be lot more difficult, and straight away I was walking away from the river which I didn’t see for another half hour until I dropped down into Armitage Bridge and found another church that needed photographing.

I then found a route that took me within sight of the river and alongside Armitage Bridge Cricket Club and behind an industrial estate which eventually led me out onto Meltham Road for the longest road section of the walk. At Lockwood lights I turned right to find a footpath alongside the river which eventually led me to where the River Holme joined the River Colne and the end of today’s walk. From here the River Colne continues North East where it becomes the River Calder, The Calder eventually becomes the River Aire, the Aire becomes the River Ouze and the River Ouze becomes the River Humber.

Today’s walk was a total distance of 17 km (8.5 miles), with some very scenic river sections, there was plenty of wildlife about, some useful information boards on local history and the weather was especially kind to me. Yes there were some short road sections but the route in the main was stunning and a highly recommended walk. It is a linear walk so cars, lifts, buses will need to be planned prior to setting off. For a full detailed description of the route click here.