Stanza Stones Walk: Stage One Leg Two

Marsden to Mytholmroyd: Leg Two
After visiting the Rain Stone, walk in a north westerly direction to skirt the shallow depression on your right and aim for the left hand side of the electricity pylon in front of you. Take the gravel track which passes the pylon on the left hand side and head in the direction of White Holme Reservoir. Remain faithful to the permissive path which skirts White Holme Reservoir and follow the path alongside White Holme Drain until it begins to turn in a Westerly direction just before reaching the Cloven Stone. Follow the northern edge of the path round the curve and watch out for a very feint path going in the direction of “Two Lads” cairns, north East Bearing 041°M. Cross this boggy ground and upon reaching the cairns change the Bearing to 117°M and aim for the shooting box about half a mile away to the south East. From this newly restored shooting box follow the feint path in a north Easterly direction to Cove Hill to reach a step stile and a gate. Cross the stile and walk towards the farm building ahead but don’t go through the gate into the yard. Instead, as you reach a wall corner on your right look to the right for a narrow path which descends the steep hillside on some old stone steps arriving at the stream in Turvin Clough.
This is a lovely little stop and a nice place for a break. Follow the stream down Turvin Clough taking the uphill path left at the first stile. Soon the path develops into a wider track which can be muddy after rain. The path now is high above the stream until you emerge on a narrow metalled lane. Keep to the lane turning right to pass the Hinchcliffe Arms pub and you arrive at the church in Cragg Vale, St John the Baptist in the Wilderness. Turn left here where it states private road “Public footpath” and follow the Elphin Brook on occasion using permissive paths, down the valley toward Mytholmroyd.

After walking beside the river through two fields the path reaches a narrow lane on a bridge. Turn right and then keep straight ahead down this narrow tarmac lane (Castle Gate) running parallel alongside the B6138. Watch out for an indistinct turning left into a house garden, which is in fact part of the old paper mill. The path descends through the garden and crosses the stream via Paper Mill Bridge to follow the left hand side through Paper Mill Wood high above the stream once more. Before beginning your climb uphill into Paper Mill Woods take time to take a look over both sides of Paper Mill Bridge to see the old abandoned buildings of the paper mill and the wooden water wheel below you in the river. The path now is high above the stream, which at this point is called Cragg Brook and there is a steep drop into the valley on the right. At a fork in the path take the right hand branch which drops down once more to stream level and enters a paddock.
Emerge from the paddock onto a lane which drops down to cross a bridge (Spa Bridge) The Bridge is named after a small spring (Cragg Spa) which is sited just before the bridge on the right. In the nineteenth century the Spa was a minor visitor attraction as the water was considered to have health giving properties. Local histories describe the spa as being ‘dressed’ each May. The area was restored in 2010 by Calderdale Countryside volunteers and there are now steps down to the sulphur spring and a seat to rest on. At the next bridge ‘Clough Foot’ turn left before the bridge and look for a gate on the right leading into a small pasture. Once again our way forward continues on concessionary paths before reaching a metalled farm lane beside a caravan park. Follow the lane to the right to arrive at the main B6138 at Dauber Bridge. Cross Cragg Road at Dauber Bridge and walk about 70 yards uphill, locate a set of steep stone steps climbing the hillside on the left hand side of the road. At the top of these steps as you emerge into a field, the path turns left and goes along the top of the wood on the eastern side of the valley down into Mytholmroyd the birthplace of the poet Ted Hughes.
Back to Walk One Start
Walk Two Mytholmroyd to Haworth