Distance: 2948 metres, Ascent: 202 metres, route map
Butterworth Lane is a side street in the wonderfully named village of Triangle that leads up and away from the main road towards upland pastures and moors. Some navigation is needed if you’re to get to the summit by the quickest route but it’s nothing difficult.
Butterworth Lane is at the Sowerby Bridge end of the village and it heads west away from the A6xx Thingy Road. You’ll know when you’re in the right place when you see the warning sign: “Unsuitable for heavy goods vehicles; Steep gradient; Sharp bends ahead”. Sounds like a winner.
The steep gradient you were promised is there from the very start and there’s a fair bit of it too. You go up past the primary school, wiggle your way through some of those sharp bends and then go straight through a crossroads. The unusual hazard I met at this point was the Sowerby Scorcher 10k race – a road race for runners that starts and finishes in the nearby village of Sowerby. The runners flying past were nearing the end their run and were using the giving it 110% technique. My little cycling jaunt seemed quite tame by comparison.
Continue up the hill with a very grand building on your right. The road is a very narrow squeeze between stone walls and continues to rise steeply until you come out of the valley into more open farmland. Carry on along the road to the T-junction where you turn left and then, 50 metres later, turn right into Hubberton Green Road. This steers you round to the right of some houses to a sharp left-hand bend where you follow the road markings and go onto Well Head Lane. Don’t take the right turn but continue straight past the line of cottages and red phone box and basically keep on cycling upwards until there’s no more upwards to be found. This might be further than you think as there is a flattish section of Shaw’s Lane before the final ascent. You can tell when you’re at the highest point because the low stone wall on your left has an unusual turreted effect. I know, I could have stopped the climb much earlier and it would have been quite satisfying but I just wanted to drag you a bit further up and show you the countryside around here. Stop and have a look around you.
The Calderdale 50 