A short walk to Gibson Mill and Hardcastle Crags

The National Trust’s Hardcastle Crags estate offers miles of stunning walks in a beautifully secluded steep-sided, thickly wooded valley just outside Hebden Bridge. Hebden Water flows along the bottom of the valley and if you follow it upstream for about a mile or so, you come to Gibson Mill, an 18th century cotton mill, which now houses a museum and cafe. The view of the mill across the mill pond has been photographed thousands of times but it’s hard to resist, particularly when the water is perfectly still and creating mirror-like reflections.

Just over the old stone bridge from the mill is a stunning waterfall made up of a long series of relatively small drops which, on a day like last Saturday when there had been a lot of overnight rain, can be pretty impressive. I decided to proceed cautiously up the adjacent slope, having slipped recently on some wet flagstones and been very lucky to avoid injury or a smashed camera. I only made it less than halfway up but I got the shot I was after.

From there I continued up the path to Hardcastle Crags, a series of tall rocky outcrops, as the name suggests, to wait for the sun to rise over the surrounding hills. I didn’t explore much up there, though, because a recent bout of Covid was still having some effect on my energy levels. Once the sun had risen, I set off back to the car through the woods.

I stopped off, as is customary, at Pecket Well, a picturesque hillside village overlooking Crimsworth Dean and the woods where I’d just been, as well as Heptonstall and Stoodley Pike Monument. Always good for a quick photo any time of year.