I might make my way down the Calder Valley in a few days time, as I'm on day-off that Saturda, & quite fancy this race
http://www.todharriers.co.uk/shepherds_skyline.htm
See '
Course Sketch-Map' under the 'Location' heading
It's a lot easier to get there on a Saturday, than it would be mid-week for their 'Stoodly Pike' race, given the nature of the M62 at tea-time (not even mentioning the drive via Sowerby Bridge. Damn!, I just have)
I know what you mean; it has a unique quaintness about it that I've never found anywhere else. Do you know that HB is on a major packhorse trunk route and that the bridge, first built out of wood then stone in 1510, was the first structure there? People don't realise that it was packhorses, charging around the hills like the equivalent of today's white vans, that shaped our landscape. Mytholmroyd was the original settlement and the packhorses needed to cross the river, hence the need for the bridge
A bit further east, at Halifax, the Magna Via was the medieval highway to the Manorial Courts at Wakefield.
The stones are still there on the climb, some on edge, so the ponies & horses can grip
The continuation (Dark Lane????) is also partially flagged/cobbled, at the other side of Beacon Hill