Bimbling along Todmorden and Hebden Bridge

Hi. This is the last day of my four day cheapie break. The hostel cost me £33 for three nights, and I thought you might like to see where I stayed, so here is a little film. Won't you join me on this guided tour.



All packed up and ready to go. I decided to drive to Todmorden, park there, then walk along the towpath of the Rochdale Canal, to Hebden Bridge. First a bimble around Todmorden. It was market day, some stalls outside and the rest inside. It was quite busy, lots of shoppers about.

This is an amazing stall, loads of exotic spices and healthy food stuffs.

Here you can buy your beer and look at the art gallery.

Or have a tipple at the Polished Knob.

Alongside the canal is this art feature, stainless steel fish and suchlike, on a wall of stone chips enclosed in square baskets.

There is a scheme in Todmorden called Incredible Edible. Public spaces are planted up with fruit, vegetables, and herbs, anyone can pick them and take them home, with no charge. There are big planters like this one, borders around car parks are used, and alongside the canal, in fact you can find food growing everywhere. This is their web site
http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/

High up on a hill is the Unitarian Church....

...giving good views over the town.

This is the lock next to the town bridge. A boat enters the lock and the guillotine type gates at the other end lift up to enable the boat to pass under the road.

More Incredible Edibles planted up along the canal.

I pinched a few strawberries.

It was a very pleasant walk along the canal, it's interesting to see what people have done with their back gardens along the waters edge. Here the ducks seem to have adopted these two gardens for their own. The property owners have encouraged them by leaving food out.

Here are some more ducks, or are they geese, ha ha. Floating by in a convoy, very serene very gentle, I don't think they were paddling at all, just drifting.

A week ago there was massive flash floods in this area, tons of rain fell in a short time and washed a lot of the paths away. There were notices along the towpath saying it was closed due to damage, I ignored them and carried on, a few rocks strewn about don't bother me. This was the worst section, looks like someone from the Waterways Department is assessing the situation, he was taking photographs.

I arrived in Hebden Bridge, this is a town which is in a very deep gulley, they took the full force of the floods here. I saw skips full of damaged possessions all over the place as people were emptying their homes and shops. Many shops were empty and closed, it will take a while before they are up and running again. I went in the Co op and found all the fridges were empty and whole aisles of the shop out of bounds where they had nothing to sell.

I climbed a steep hill to take some photographs.

This is Hebden Bridge Hostel, it's not part of the YHA, it's an independant hostel. Looks a good place to stay if I come again.

Some more views.

I had planned on walking the five miles back to my car, but I had dillydallied that much and time was getting on, so I got the bus back. I set off for home at 5pm after having a bit to eat. I love this area, must come back again.