Which way you're moving decides which slow road we leave on

A run to London, Birmingham or the East Midlands goes back east along the valley floor through Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge before anything resembling a fast road appears. A run to Manchester, Wales or the South West drops out of the south end of town on Rochdale Road instead. Same house, same load, an entirely different first hour of driving, and it changes the collection time we book you for.

The other half of the job is the house. This is over-and-under country, where one dwelling sits on top of another and the front door opens onto a different street from the one below it, often up or down a flight of stone steps. Weavers' cottages add narrow winding stairs. We settle all that beforehand, because once the van is loaded it stays loaded: one driver, one vehicle, nothing transferred or stored on the way.

What Todmorden long distance & nationwide usually involves

The A646 valley floor is the only practical approach and it floods; the Hebden Bridge to Todmorden stretch closed for over 24 hours in Storm Bert, so in bad weather we build slack in rather than promise an arrival time the road may not allow
Side lanes up to Lydgate, Cornholme, Mankinholes and Lumbutts are steep, single-track in places and have hairpins a 3.4m-load Transit cannot swing in one go, so we check the exit before the van goes up
Low rail and canal bridges around Gauxholme and Walsden restrict height and width on the southern approach
Market days congest the market ground and the streets around it, so a long-run collection either goes early or works from one of the small car parks off Halifax Road
Load space is 3.4m by 1.3m by 1.7m, a flat or a small terrace in one trip; a big family house is not something to discover 200 miles from home, so it is quoted from photos and a proper list

Where in Todmorden we work

Walsdensouth end of town and the natural start for a run out towards Manchester and the South West
Cornholme and Lydgatesteep single-track approaches where the load comes down to the van, not the other way round
Mankinholes and Lumbuttsmoor-edge cottages where the turn gets planned before the first box is carried
Nanholme Mills and Robinwood Millconverted mill flats where the carry out to the van is longer than the stairs
Eastwood and Shadevalley-floor terraces already facing east, a few minutes closer to the Yorkshire roads
Stansfield Road and Halifax Roadthe small central car parks that give a loaded van somewhere legal to stand

If your street isn't listed it's almost certainly still covered, Todmorden and the surrounding OL14 postcodes are all inside our normal working area.

Common Todmorden runs

Todmorden → Londoneast down the valley first, then motorway; booked as a long single day with an early start
Todmorden → Manchester or the South Westout on Rochdale Road at the south end of town rather than back through Halifax
Todmorden → Bradford, then the North East21 slow A-road miles before the fast roads begin, so we allow closer to an hour for that leg

What it costs

Distance, the size of the load and the slow A-road miles at this end are what set the price, agreed as a fixed figure before we set off. There's no travel surcharge for coming to Todmorden from Bradford, and you get the price before we set off, not after. See how we quote for the full breakdown.

Frequently asked questions: long distance & nationwide in Todmorden

Why is a Todmorden job quoted with more driving time than the map suggests?

Because the first 21 miles are single carriageway. The A646 follows the valley floor to Halifax, so there is no Pennine summit to cross, but there is no motorway either and there is a town every couple of miles. We price the honest driving time rather than the optimistic version.

What happens if the valley floods on the day we're booked?

We talk to you early. The A646 through the valley has closed outright in heavy rain before and there is no sensible alternative with a full load. If the forecast looks bad we will either start earlier or move the date, and you will hear which before you are standing in an empty house.

Can you get a sofa out of an over-and-under house?

Usually, but the answer is about the stairs rather than the door. Those houses are entered from a different level to the street and the older cottage staircases wind tightly. Send a photo of the staircase and the front door and we will say whether it comes out on its feet, on its end, or with the legs off.