Walkers on the Pennine Way in the South Pennines

Walkers and cyclists heading for the Pennine hills are being offered a choice of more than 200 routes set up on a website supported by a rural regeneration agency.

The South Pennines Walk and Ride site details varying walking, mountain bike and horse-riding ideas on the challenging terrain of the uplands sandwiched between the Yorkshire Dales and Peak District.

The routes are graded for different abilities and cover the area on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border – a land of upland gritstone and heather moor, cut by tranquil wooded valleys, which aficionados say offers some of the finest walking, cycling and riding opportunities in England.

Pennine Prospects, the rural regeneration agency promoting the Walk, Cycle, Ride project is also on the lookout for readers’ ideas for new walking and cycling routes.

Project officer Sue Leffman invited anyone with a potential route to contact her through the website. “We’re always looking for new routes, for the website,” she said.

“Please get in touch if you have an idea for a route or visit our website to find a walk, cycle or horse riding route and go out to enjoy the South Pennines now.”

The area includes rural communities such as Marsden and Holmfirth, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, Ilkley and Haworth on the Yorkshire side; Littleborough and Hollingworth Lake, Diggle Delph and Denshaw in Lancashire.

Pennine Prospects will also be repeating the South Pennines Walk and Ride Festival for a fifth year. The festival will kick off on 8 September and run to 23 September, with a launch from one of the Saddleworth villages and will feature events throughout the South Pennines area.

Details of the South Pennines routes are on the Walk and Ride website. grough route also has Ordnance Survey mapping at 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 of the South Pennines and the whole of Britain, along with more than 1,000 shared routes.