Not Around Preston

 Note: Originally published on  my "Around Preston" blog 31/Jul/24, but moved here as it is not around Preston. Hebden Bridge is a delightful little town in the upper Calder valley, on the railway between Preston and Leeds. Indeed, the station itself is worth visiting, as it has been kept very much in a traditional style, both inside and out. As you walk out of the station, you cross first the River Calder, then the Rochdale Canal, which crosses the Pennines, from Castlefield in Manchester, to Sowerby Bridge, a few miles east of Hebden Bridge, where it meets the Calder and Hebble Navigation, and was officially opened in 1804. This is the view looking west along the canal from Station Road. And looking back at the bridge, from the canal. The canal looking west from the west end of the town. The Calder is about as wide as the canal, but considerably more shallow. The Hebden Beck flows from the north, into the Calder. I think this is the eponymous bridge over Hebden Beck. The ol