Nice post, Otley.
As a child I lived at Sharneyford, which is on this route on the moors above Todmorden. Obviously there was no such thing as mtb’s then. We made what we called Scrambling Tracks over the moors, using all manner of shoddy bikes.
There was a coal mine which was recently shut in a desolate spot over those moors, with only a rough track as access. This track was great for kids on bikes, but it was a very desolate spot. The spoil heaps were also great for riding on, and you could find loads of stones with great fossils in them, from the waste which had been dug out of the mines.
The road from Todmorden to Sharneyford was (is) a hill of about 3 miles in length. There used to be (now long shut) 3 pipe manufacturing companies on the side of the hill, top, middle and bottom shop. When I say pipe, I mean big , heavy clay pipes used in the drainage and sewage industries. The wagons used to ship these pipes around the country were really slow. After school we would lay in wait for one, and as it went past you could run and grab hold of the back and climb on, preferably without the driver noticing because they used to get angry, and then jump off nearer home. Years later wagons got faster and we kids got older, then we used to chase them on bikes and ride uphill in the slipstream at around 20mph.
