Off the edge of Marsden Moor tumbles the river Colne, cutting through the peat, polishing gravels and stones, carving its way down a former glacier route towards Huddersfield. The upper Colne Valley is a ribbon of small villages with Marsden at its head, where both railway and canal disappear, side by side, heading west beneath the Pennines. Each of the settlements is tightly packed into the valley floor. Mills large and small line canal and river, the latter attracting the mill builders by offering water power, the former providing transport for raw materials and finished goods.
The U-shaped valley has steep sides rising to the moorland above. While we were there, lead-grey clouds tumbled over the edges, shrouding the tops and warning any walkers that a compass and knowledge of how to use it are essential up there.
Below Marsden lies Slaithwaite, pronounced locally as "Slawit". Its people are known as moonrakers. In the 19th century, smuggled brandy was hidden in the basin at Slaithwaite. When the villagers were caught netting them out one cloudless night, they told the customs men that they were trying to rake the reflected moon out of the canal.
Immediately above the canal tunnel lies a reservoir dam, impounding the fledgling Colne. It acts as a header tank for the canal, but is rarely full. Indeed, an extensive wetland has developed on the level ground that sits like a platform on the edge of the hill. The Colne meanders through it, its banks showing the strata of soils, peats, shales and gravels that lie on top of the Millstone grit.
By the dam lies open water, above that, developing willow carr. Alongside, a bypass channel was built, stone-lined, to carry away the excess in times of heavy rain. Today it flows gently, its surface clothed with the floating leaves of water-crowfoot, its margins bright green with the new shoots of willowherb. Despite the altitude and latitude, winter still hasn't arrived here yet. It will though, it will.
· If anyone tried to log on to the International Children's Conference website using the address provided two weeks ago, the correct address is www.icccanada2002.org
