Stanza Stones Trail
A 45-mile long-distance path, much of it across the Pennine hills of West Yorkshire. The Stanza Stones Trail features six poems by Simon Armitage, each carved by Pip Hall into stone sited in six dramatic locations along the trail, which begins in Marsden and ends in Ilkley. With map, statistics, and GPX route file.
Statistics and Files
Grid Ref: SE 046 118
Distance: 45 miles (72 km)
Time: 20–23 hours
Duration: 3–5 days
Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps (1:25,000):
OL1 The Peak District – Dark Peak Area
OL21 South Pennines – Burnley, Hebden Bridge, Keighley and Todmorden
288 Bradford, Huddersfield and East Calderdale
297 Lower Wharfedale and Washburn Valley
Summary
The Stanza Stones Trail is a themed long-distance walk crossing high Pennine moorland and wooded valleys on a route from Marsden to Ilkley via Hebden Bridge, Oxenhope, and Bingley. The trail features six poems by Simon Armitage, each carved by Pip Hall into six dramatic locations along the route. Each poem represents a weather or landform feature walkers may encounter on the trail: Snow, Rain, Mist, Dew, Puddle, and Beck (encountered in that order).
The route is set mostly within the historic ridings of Yorkshire, crossing into the higher moorlands of Greater Manchester in its early stages. From Marsden, the trail makes its way to Ilkley via Pule Holes, Thieves Clough Bridge, Standedge, Haigh Gutter, White Hill, Blackstone Edge, White Holme Moss, Warland Reservoir, Langfield Common, Coldwell Hill, Bald Scout Hill, Stoodley Pike, Hebden Bridge, Chiserley, Wadsworth Moor, Warley Moor, Ovenden Moor, Cullingworth, Goitstock Wood, Bingley, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Crossflatts, Riddlesden), Rombalds Moor, Addingham High Moor, and Ilkley Moor.
The walk also uses and intersects with other paths, including the Oldham Way, Pennine Way, Rochdale Way, Todmorphic Centenary Way, Calderdale Way, Calder/Aire Link, and Dales Way Link.