Head for the Border!

If you have a Metro Senior Permit you can use it to create some challenging walks well beyond the boundaries of West Yorkshire. Here are some walks I have enjoyed recently (with one exception you'll read about later!). Even when the universal free bus permit comes into operation in April 2008 you will still need to use the cross-border bus information to get the best out of concession transport. I assume that you will be starting from Leeds and describe the transport arrangements accordingly.

The secret to planning walks like these is to get hold of the Metro leaflet How far can I travel with my Senior, Disabled or Blind Person's permit? which gives details of many of the main cross-border bus services. (This does not appear to be downloadable from the WY Metro website, but can be collected from any office.) The map shows the bus numbers. It’s easiest to give an example of how I worked out one of the walks.

How I planned Holme Chapel to Todmorden

I wanted to walk in open country, near or on Access land, in the North West corner of West Yorkshire, starting somewhere along the Todmorden to Burnley road. As I live in Leeds, it was not a good idea to travel by bus the whole way as it would take me too long to reach my starting point, so I knew I would want to take the train to Todmorden. I saw that the Pennine Bridleway meets the Burnley road at Holme Chapel and this would get me up onto the ridge on the South side of the upper Calder valley with some good views across the valley and south towards Rochdale.

The map in CBX-005 told me that services 592 and 92 cover Todmorden to Burnley. I looked up the timetable for these services on the Metro website and saw that on the Friday I planned to walk there ought to be buses every half hour on the 92 route and every hour on the 592. I saw that the 592 service actually starts in Halifax, but I knew it would be faster to stay on the train to Todmorden. I also know that as I was walking back to Todmorden I would have an hourly train service for the homeward journey.

To sum up:

•Check the bus map to see where the cross border services start from;

•Check train and bus routes to see how to get from Leeds to the best point to catch the bus;

•Check the frequency of the service which crosses the border and look at the details of its route which will be listed in the Metro timetable.

Now click the Holme Chapel to Todmorden button below to find out the details of the walk.