Colne-Rowsley route finding

Please could anyone offer advice on the Colne-Rowsley route between Colne and Todmorden? I've sussed everything south of Tod but there's several choices available to get me down from Gorple to Tod before starting the re-ascent up to Warland and I've not got the LK to judge what's best....

Any ideas? If any locals are out on the afternoon/evening of Tues 7th July then give me a wave and point me in the right direction!....I'll be picking up my only pacer in Tod to accompany me to Marsden in the dark (full moon) so I'll get sunrise coming past Holme Moss. Possibly :-)

Just by chance ged cudahy and myself [mark cudahy] ran it last sunday.we followed my fathers route who incidentally holds the record 11.45min.We started from train station followed road that ultimately tops out between boulsworth hill and black hameldon,head towards hare stones then over black hameldon,its rough at first but improves.we did just over 16 hours very warm and did not always get the best lines.hope this helps.

Mark, thanks a lot for that, Andy Howie was going to put me in touch with you as he said that you were going to do it sometime this summer. Well done on the time. I'm also starting from the station and Andy has just indicated the line up Boulsworth Hill which seems to be the most logical.....and thanks for the info about Black Hameldon, I've not run over there so I _was_ wondering.

...out of interest, what food did you take? I guess you didn't have support if you were running as a pair.

We did have support which supplied us with cups of tea,rice puddin,meat pies and custard .Electrolyte drinks also as it was so warm.You mention Marsden which is not on the route instead you stay on pennine way until Black hill summit then you head towards Holme moss summit and pick up the Britland edges.Also the route through tod is highly intricate.Broadly speaking you follow current wuthering hike route and cut down at hole bottom/delph through town over canal turn left and up ginnel steps [complicated] until you reach open country heading for pennine way and white house pub.Hope this helps.

Good to hear there is still interest in classic routes like these. I hope it all goes well!

Caught my eye cos I'm from up that neck of the woods and now live at the Rowsley end. What's the history, where's the route description, etc.

Any help appreciated, me and the wife have been threatening to run up to visit our pals in Cowling (Colne plus 4 miles) from the Peak for ages

It's a Rucksack Club classic "long walk"...more info on such stuff on their website. The route is Colne, Todmorden, Warland Resers., Blackstone Edge, M62, Holme Moss (originally via Marsden back in the day), Woodhead Pass, Derwent Edges, Stanage, Baslow, Chatsworth, Rowsley. Although it's 72 miles, there's actually relatively little climbing although I'll comment further on how much "relatively" is when I've done it all in a oner.

I'm planning to run Colne-Rowsley in a couple of weeks so thought I'd reignite this old thread. I read Mike Cudahy's book recently and was inspired to give it a go, it starts close to home and looks like a classic route down the spine of the South Pennines/Dark Peaks. Both this thread and Mike's book have been very helpful and I've reccied the first half, however any further advice would be very gratefully received!

Hopefully the current dry weather is making the peat a lot drier than it was when I was out last week!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peakplodder

...we followed my fathers route who incidentally holds the record 11.45min.

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I'm aware this is an old post, but if you're still around Mark, please let your father know I found his book incredibly interesting.

I had a fantastic day yesterday running Colne-Rowsley in a very satisfying 11.49, just 5 minutes off Mike Cudahy's long-standing record. Mike's book is a truly inspirational read of his ultra-running exploits, and I'd been wanting to have a crack at this route ever since I first read his account 18 months ago.

It's a great route across the South Pennines & Dark Peak, although being point-to-point does pose some logistical challenges! The bogs were pretty dry after the last few days of good weather, however the strong easterly wind wasn't much fun. I was lucky enough to have fantastic support for the first and final third of the route (many thanks to Paul, James, Ian, Holly, Roms, Mark, Dave, Martin & Chris), with a solo stretch in the middle.

Hopefully this will encourage a few others to give it a go.