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Time
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3 hours [3.5 from Haworth]
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Distance
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About 6 miles / 9 kilometres.
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Grade
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Easy.
Boots advised for bog-trotting.
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Start:
From the car park at the Penistone Hill Country Park on Moorside
Lane, an unclassified road between Stanbury and Oxenhope.
Take
the main track from the car park and cross the road to a sign advertising
a tea room at Drop Farm. A footpath sign indicates the way past
Drop Farm to Top Withens and the waterfalls. Follow the signs all
the way to Top Withens.
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| The
footpath signs on the Bronteway are also in Japanese |
In
about half-a-mile the signed way leaves the path alongside the wall
and crosses the open moorland to join a rough road. Turn left and
follow this to Harbour Lodge. At Harbour Lodge be sure to follow
the sign to Top Withens; the path, which can be boggy, leads down
to Crumber Dike where it isnecessary to cross a narrow brook. The
path soon joins the Brontë Way and immediately crosses a wider
but shallow beck by flat stepping stones.
Follow
the path up the hill to the ruins of Top Withens and to the Pennine
Way.
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| The
Bronte waterfall |
A Brontë
Society plaque on what is left of the building informs us that Emily
would have known of this house but that it bore little resemblance
to the Wuthering Heights of the novel. Cold winds blow up here but
there is a picnic table and you are unlikely to be alone here whatever
the weather!
Follow
the Brontë Way and signs to the falls. After the moorland the
path crosses some fields. You will see a wooden gate on your right.
Continue to follow the signs to the waterfalls though this gate.
The
path goes down across some rocky ground to the Brontė Bridge and
the falls. A favourite haunt of the sisters, the waterfalls are
only impressive after heavy rain. Cross the bridge (a replacement
for the one the Brontes knew, swept away by heavy rain) and turn
left pass the waterfall. The path gradually climbs up and it is
an easy walk back to the road. Turn right to return to the car park.
Refreshments:
Drop Farm and after the walk at Stanbury, Haworth, Oxenhope.
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