In Search of the Lost Havok Bike Trail. Portsmouth. Todmorden

The woods above Portsmouth and Cornholme, near Todmorden, have until recently been the home of the Havok Bike Park. A dense woodland location like a modern-day Narnia, a path runs through the pine trees, though most of it was off limits to anyone not on a bike.

Closed down as a Bike Trail a few years ago, the buildings were removed, but does anything else remain of this once popular location? Or has nature reclaimed it all?

[Music] n [Music] hi everybody Matt back with you hope you’re okay it’s a sunny but very windy day today in Portsmouth near Todman kind of between todan and Burnley uh I’ve headed up through a beautiful wood that brings us out uh to this Quarry here um I spent quite a lot of time here over lockdown and the Woodland behind me I don’t know the name of it uh but I classed it as Havoc Woods because when I was walking through it although it was shut at the time um it was home to the Havoc bike park now it’s not called Havoc Woods really um but cuz I don’t know what it is that’s what I’m calling it you may obviously add the answer if you do know it I also don’t know the name of this Quarry uh interesting story very first time I came up here it was in the snow and I sat uh just about here and uh shared some cookies with a fox I always wonder what happened to that fox and he could speak I wonder what was in those cookies but today’s walk with started at this Mill which was the former turn Leathers Factory uh which is now being changed into housing how did I miss exploring a leather factory before we head into the woods show you around the corner here so what you might have noticed is that the water looks Orange it’s actually the rocks that are tinged Orange by water that is coming out of mines and it’s stained The Rock that’s it being said I don’t think that’s one I’d want to paddle in okay so it’s a little bit unfortunate the path is quite a bog hole but the path all the way up I think would have been a track for getting the Stone from the Quarry uh down into the valley bottom at a guess uh it looks similar to other things uh somehow I’m already covered in Orange I’m guessing it’s copper uh so we may not go back that way to get to the woods we’ll head up the steps here and see where we end up just look how wet and orange the ground is would of course be very interesting if we found an entrance to a mine where this water is coming from but in the meantime we’ve ended up on top of toddm and Moore and this was all mines and quaries uh there are some information boards at the top if we have time um I’ll show you those later go I’m out of breath today some uh diggers and things up at the top wonder if they were used in used for mining uh not sure if they’re abandoned but the path leads this way so probably go past them in a minute what an awesome view that is Can you spot civilization wow this is exciting isn’t it the condition of it I think suggests this is still in use so quick look head back so yeah there’s a road coming through here so so these are in use always belongs someone so we’ll crack on but yeah interesting normally of course I jump in not today though right I’m going to get on this path I’m going to stop shilly Shing is that a word I’m going to head over to the trees and I’ll see you over there there see you in a minute [Music] okay here we are in the woods or is it a forest I honestly have no idea when does the woods become a forest genuine question is it depending on the you know the density of the trees is it if it’s manmade as in you know it’s been deliberately planted rather than just grown from and waffling I don’t know the answer right million dooll question when does a woodland become a forest I think this is more like a forest stop eating them cook that so the purpose of filming this today is haven’t really got a good video on it um I have filmed it before but it’s a while ago and I just think it deserves to be seen it is stunning and to me uh this is the closest Woodland and Tania and whenever you come here depending on what weather or time of year you always experience it differently so like I said I’ve been up here uh in thick snow snow drifts all on here uh I’ve been up here thck fog fog one is interesting because at any moment I kind of expected uh a dragon Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings style to just go through the tops of the trees um so I hope this video kind of does it just as I’m going to stick to the path um just for safety um but I do wonder if there’s any parts of the bike track left because what I haven’t told you yet is that’s gone now Havoc bike track is across the other side and I think it never opened again after lockdown so interesting to find some old bits amongst the trees right let’s car around here the trees are so thick nothing grows how Brown everything is so the path runs through it and the bike track used to zigzag across and go off in different directions and I think the suggestion was don’t come here at the weekends uh you might get hit by a flying bike uh now and now there isn’t actually a bike track here what I might do is actually head up one of the routs the bikes would have taken cuz I’ve never walked those and I did once go into one of the little area and found a pair of Vans and some skinny jeans they had a good day oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree what’s the next bit the size of these Christmas trees essentially it’s exactly all is in this wood all the way beautiful hence thinking it looks like naria so here is um one of those tracks that I was talking about where uh bikes would be on here and there was signs up saying no kind of Public Access obviously that’s gone now uh let’s just have a little look not go far the fact there are tracks which I think some people might still use it honestly folks this is absolutely gorgeous wow so I think whatever kind of wooden built structures were in the woods have all been removed unfortunately you can see where they would have been again you can see where the bike track has been little more by a lot of time I film these videos I’ll say something like this is my favorite waterfall or this is my favorite ruin um this is 100% officially my favorite Woodland uh is stunning absolutely stunning I’ve heard some very horrible rumors recently it may all be removed I really hope that’s not true and I can’t go any further other than I’ve heard somebody say that um it was apparently put here for that reason for them to cut it down oh gosh please no because if they come with the bulldozers I’m ready to fight I’ve never seen uh never seen this part before and down there it’s like a swamp it’s like the bio just look at that wow so so I’m pretty deep into the uh woods now don’t know quite where I am um there is signs of previous activity um yeah I don’t particularly want to get lost in the woods I’ve seen Blair Witch Project I’ve seen Just Before Dawn still go worst places to finish can’t you there is track there but there is also a squirrel who’s sitting lunching in the tree can I spot in there he goes sorry right back on track back on path that was lovely exploring those woods uh My worry is with this video is this just isn’t going to do it justice at all uh you must come and visit here and if that rumor is true catch it while you can enough this discarded jumper here yeah is where I found the Vans and the skinny jeans so whoever it was and it wasn’t me took everything off uh there’s a bit more evidence of the old uh bike track here uh by that sign okay here’s another former track but I think that would probably lead to um near where we’ve just been no further down this time let’s go across the road let’s see if there’s anything at this side into the woods we have to go so little thought has crossed my mind what if person who was no longer in those clothes came back to get them and they weren’t there due to embarrassment suddenly found he couldn’t leave the forest and he’s still here today as much to see this side but there is an old bridge wow what do you think should we cross it again you can see that nature is reclaiming a lot of it that would be part part of the bike track there um yeah not much else to see this side so let’s head back up again do we dare cross this just have a quick look at this side because interesting little thing there is Stone I didn’t know if it was wood isn’t easy to walk up oh my my my my w does it serve any purpose well that’s pretty terrifying Just Before Dawn 1980 81 my favorite horror film my favorite horror music I’m going to stick it on here I’ll get done for copyrighting the music it’s fine it’s a just most bizarre film but it is basically set in woods just like this one and there are two cannibals hunting down the team who come and visit sadly I’m not a teen anymore uh it’s amazing how your imagination runs away with you yeah we’ll put that there [Music] what [Music] just through the trees on the hill there as well is a ruin uh that’s probably where we will finish this video hopefully unless my battery runs out I’m filming so much uh yeah the um buildings were here used to have to book you know the shame looks gone really but I think as I say the new bike tracker lot it’s not in the woods it’s up and running across the other Hillside dear a bit of a mess here there you go Havoc Havoc Trail or donations okay well we here let’s just have a little look over here before we head up the hill again no light gets through here it is actually really cold just in this bit more signs of living down here wow some has been here it’s pretty flat we been here a while we have shoes wherever you are I hope you’re all right okay let’s head up the hill again you can see former wooden structures dotted about the place and the ladder that’s a pretty good ladder it’s not Rusty as hell well there we go so a little bit of a crawl off the track uh we have found chunk of it here go carefully cuz this could probably be very very rotten I can’t see anything for the sun hang on imagine you rode along there jumped down to that one what do you think another piece there see how it’s collapsed rotting away I can definitely see some in the distance see if I can head over here is quite a spongy bog again wow look there wow don’t if we can get to that can really see how on some of these sections we find in how nature is taking over and especially on this bit all right it’s got to be done so literally as you jump off here it’s just trees now I suggest never ride up here in a bike at all so quite a few chunks of the track left or where the track was and has since long gone uh there’s another bit of it just through there there’s a big piece up here and then I think we’ll call it a day is it just me or is it actually quite creepy it is I pink beautiful but creepy write that on my head down please made you it okay there we go so that is the definitely the biggest section left um yeah I got a bit wobbly up there probably not a good idea um yeah it’s cool isn’t it it’s cool the abandoned Havoc bike track yeah and to say it’s only been gone a couple of years because it hasn’t been maintained it’s definitely yeah disappearing fast so head out of the track and on to the last stretch of path takes us up to Tod MO so it’s only because I’m in the trees I’ve been able to speak to you on camera it is very very windy uh so I’m not going to film anything on to more for this video uh something we can always come back to another day I think we’ve covered it somewhere else but yeah I lose track there so many of these videos uh there we go that is the abandoned Havoc Havoc back track uh in the woods above Portsmouth again no idea what they called no idea what the Quarry was called if you do the walk have a look at the Quarry and then head to the path into here there’s not much Point going any further uh unless you want to get covered in mud and copper uh which I have done uh but it is cool and yeah I stand by that it’s my favorite forestwoodland whichever one it is okay guys uh oh almost road trip time it’s not going to be a rest I can assure you we’ll see you soon take care bye-bye yay I’ve made it out of the woods before the cannibal gets me h [Music] [Music]