Welcome to the Great Northern Railway Trail, a series of caches between Cullingworth village and Hewenden Viaduct.
The Great Northern Railway Trail is a short footpath and cycleway along the bed of the old railway line that previously linked Keighley and Halifax. While short, the trail takes in two viaducts, Hewenden Viaduct being the most spectacular.
The Great Northern Railway opened up its lines connecting Bradford, Halifax and Keighley between 1878 and 1884. As the GNR lines were built after other railways had been constructed in the valleys, many of their lines were built to traverse the high valley sides and as such, had many steep gradients, tunnels and viaducts. The line was likely never profitable. Passenger traffic on these lines had ceased by 1955, with complete closure of the lines by 1972. In 2005 this section was reopened as a cycleway, from the site of Cullingworth railway station to the former station of Wilsden.
The caches are all placed along the cycle path and so this makes it a great series to tackle by bike. The route is tarmac paved along the full length; as a result, some caches are wheelchair accessible, but by virtue of placement rather than access, some are not. The series is linear and the route is just over a mile long. Allow a couple of hours if walking.
I've collaborated on this series with fahmi_bakar, who helped me place the caches on a wet and windy day! He also crafted each hint for the series, with embellishments courtesy of ChatGPT.
Enjoy your visit!