296 Saturday 13th December 2025 The Calder and Hebble Canal: Mirfield to Dewsbury

This  was  my  choice  to  continue along the Calder  and  Hebble Navigation  to Double Lock Bottom and then follow  the  Dewsbury arm into the town centre. We  drove  into Todmorden. We  had  the  best part of an hour before  the  train to Mirfield so we went to the  record  shop  and  then the  cafe opposite  the  market (not that great ). 

We  caught  the  train  to  Mirfield  and  quickly found the canal. We spotted this  community boat  offloading  some customers. Simon asked the boatman some  questions. The bloke instantly assumed Simon was trying to gatecrash the  party and wasn't very friendly.


We  soon passed the  remains  of  a  viaduct  carrying  the  old  Mirfield to Cleckheaton railway.


We  soon reached  the  Shepley Bridge  marina.


Just  beyond  this , the canal merged  with  the  Calder  again.


This  time  there  was  a  decent  path to  follow to  Ravensthorpe. We spotted  a  lone  barge on the river.


At  Ravensthorpe  we  had  to  cross  a  bridge  and  pick  up  a  rather  muddy  path on  the  other  side of  the  river. This  soon  led to  the  junction  where  the  canal  diverged from the river  once  more.

On  this  section,  the  works  to  upgrade  the  railway  line were  very  much  in  evidence. We  passed  under  the  current  Baker  viaduct.


It looks very  much  like  another  crossing  is  planned.


A  quiet  section  followed.


We  then passed under the Savile  Town viaduct which carried a goods only line between Royston Junction and Dewsbury between 1906 and 1950


Soon after we reached Double Lock Bottom  where  the  Dewsbury arm  branches off.


We  passed  under  the  current Huddersfield -Wakefield railway.


We  admired the  little  arch  under the  bridge  at Bretton/


We  liked  the mural on this gable  end. Shoddy and Mungo are  types of  wool apparently.


This  bridge  carried  another goods line  to  a  yard in Dewsbury.


Shortly  afterwards we came to the  marina  at the end of the Dewsbury arm


We  went  in  The  Leggings  pub for a drink  then walked into the town centre. We  crossed the  bridge over the Calder.


We  were looking for somewhere to eat in Dewsbury but  nowhere caught  our  eye. We  decided to catch the imminent train to Todmorden  and  eat  there.


We  went  to  The  Golden Lion where  we  had  an  excellent Thai meal. We  then popped into a shop called Pennine Guitars. Simon's  percussion skills impressed the  owner and  I  filmed a short jam session for  his  Facebook page.See them in action below

https://fb.watch/EcUe6EXAtI/

We  then drove home.


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