A late autumn walk - Horsehold

Looking down on Hebden Bridge from near the top of Horsehold Road

Late autumn came early this year, usually the first two weeks of November see the colours peak according to my catalogue of images since 2014, and peak autumn can roll on into late November. Last year autumn wasn't a wash out, it hardly rained, it was more of a grey out, with very few sunny days. This year was better but it started and finished earlier, possibly due to the summer drought. The trees are shedding leaves fast, but we still have the rich autumnal hues — a tapestry of russet, bronze, copper and rich chestnut brown with some outlyers like alder and younger beech trees still showing tinges of green and yellow and orange. It's forecast to get down to -3 C tonight, with the possibilty of snow soon. Who knows what our increasingly unpredictable climate has in store, with global warming amplifying El Niño and a restless polar vortex threatening to throw our familiar weather patterns into disarray?

The walk in red. Either walk up from Hebden Bridge or there is limited parking on Horsehold road.

One of my favourite short walks (it's a couple of miles max) at this time of year traverses Horsehold wood, and visits a beautiful and significant stand of beeches, then over Beaumont Clough by some stepping stones into Callis woods to join the Pennine Way track in Callis, then back across the clough and back to Horsehold road at the beautiful section of stone setts. Along the way, the views down into the valley are spectacular - you don't need a drone in the Upper calder valley for photography. Here are some of the photographs I took.

Above and below: The stand of mature and spooky beech trees in Horsehold woods.

On the way back to the road above Horsehold Woods.

The setts at the top of Horsehold with Heptonstall in the background.

From Horsehold road, Mytholm in the valley with Heptonstall above.

Back to Hebden and the canal and Holme chimney, the major landmark of Hebden Bridge.