Cross Hebden Water, then keep straight on up the hill: the old lane soon narrows to a footpath and climbs on to meet a track where you turn right.
Passing above Hawdon Hall, you continue through beech woods, with glimpses of Keppit Holme Dam far below, then the track ends at Hebden Hey Centre, owned by Halifax District Scouts.
Walk straight on and climb the steps then turn left and immediately right. A cobbled packhorse way leads steeply uphill until, bending left, it slants across the hillside to emerge on the valley rim.
Now follow the walled green lane, known as Bobby's Lane. This heads across the fields, with lovely views back over Hebden Dale, and masses of yellow loosestrife as you join the road in the hamlet of Slack.
Bicentenary
Turn right and follow Burnley Road past the old milestone at the end of Widdop Road, then go left along the edge of Popples Common. Slack Baptist Chapel, now a community centre and hostel, has just celebrated its bicentenary.
Keep straight on past the houses at Popples Side and Black Dyke then, crossing a couple of tracks, continue up over the grassy common and past the cottages at Sunny Bank.
Cross the road and take the track which curves left across the common, past an old railway wagon. Reaching a junction fork left and, crossing a cattle grid, follow Back Lane across the fields.
Looking left, you can pick out Heptonstall Church. Nearing Long High Top Farm, you leave the track and follow the old sunken way onto Heptonstall Moor. Turn right along the Pennine Way, with extensive views across the Hebden Valley. The path follows the wall down to Mount Pleasant Farm then veers left through the heather.
It's about half a mile across the moor until, meeting the wall, you turn right over a wooden stile. The path goes behind Clough Head House, which is being restored, and through a wicket gate.
Pretty
Follow the wall down to a DIY gate and slim squeezer stile then continue down by the wall to a wooden kissing gate and join the Clough House Farm track, which leads down to Widdop Road.
To the right of Clough Hole car park, an old trackway, used by packhorses and carts in the 18th century, heads down into Hebden Dale.
Stay on the higher track, which goes gently down through the trees beneath outcropping gritstone boulders, then doubles back into the valley bottom to arrive at the composting toilets of Gibson Mill.
Cross the stone bridge to the mill, which was converted to steam in the 1860s and given to the National Trust in 1956.
Now head downstream and walk beside the river, past stepping stones known locally as Hippins. It is a 1.5-mile stroll back to the car park and the path wanders through woodland that looks very natural, though the trees were actually planted in the late 19th century.
The path occasionally goes up and down steps, but stay near Hebden Water for the prettiest route.
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