Hi All,

Planning a two-dayer of the Mary Towneley soon, stopping in Hebden Bridge for the night.

Seems to be some debate as to whether clockwise or anticlockwise route is best, but hard to decipher the pros and cons of each.

Any sage advice appreciated…

Cheers,
Ben

I wouldn’t fancy riding up the bit from Waterfoot to Cowpe/Rooley Moor so clockwise for me.There’s a million threads on this.If you’re taking two days then try some of the good bits in the area 😉

Aye. Always done it clockwise or you’ll be pushing up Cowpe from Waterfoot.
You might die riding up Rooley moor road though. 🙂

Clickwise was my preference as a single day ride starting and finishing at Hebden. If I had two days in the area, I’d prefer to check out some other routes rathe than the MTL.

Done it both ways. Clockwise without a doubt. And agree that it works better ridden in a single day with other stuff for the second day.

Over two days I’d go clockwise. Anti clockwise is faster, more steep uphill but more less steep longer downhills

Clockwise.

Perception is that clockwise you get rideable climbs with fun descents, versus pushing uphill with long, shallow downhill runs (such as the bone-shaking tedium that is riding down RMR from the Top of Leach) anticlockwise.

You might die riding up Rooley moor road though

Ach, it’s not that bad so long as you don’t do anything silly like try to ride it without a granny ring, in which case your knees will probably explode.

Always done it anticlockwise, ‘cos I hate riding up Rooley Moor Rd! The climb up to RMR from Waterfoot is rideable but hard going though. I always prefer a short(ish) steep climb to a long draggy one.

Thanks for the tips, sounds like clockwise is the concensus.

Any recommendations for other bits to include if we branch out a bit/pad out the two days?

Cheers

Any recommendations for other bits to include if we branch out a bit/pad out the two days?

There’s tons of stuff in Hebden/Todmorden adjacent to the MTL that could keep you busy for the best part of a week if you wanted. It’s quite a common topic on here so a search is probably your best bet.

+1 for anti-clockwise BTW.

similarly there are lots of good routeds on and around Holcombe ,plenty of local riders if you need showing ,depending when it is