|
Time:
2 hours without stops
Distance: Approximately 4 miles.
Grade: Easy but boots advised for wet ground.
Start:
Heptonstall village car park.
Leaving
the car park go uphill along the main street. After leaving the
houses behind take the first track on the left. Follow the track
down past a house on the left. The track bends down to the right.
As you go down there are good views over the wooded valley. Below
you and on the left you will see Lumb Bank, once owned by the late
Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. Today a foundation runs residential courses
for writers here.
 |
| The
ruins of the mill chimney shows the clough was not always so
peaceful |
Just
before you reach the valley bottom and a mill chimney the track
bends sharply to the left. At this point leave the track following
a well-defined footpath off to the right. This takes you above the
right bank of Colden Water through the woods.
Eventually
you pass another chimney and the circular remains of a small gasworks
below you on the left. A brief climb then takes you alongside overgrown
and disused millponds - a haven for the industrial archaeologist.
Look carefully for the gates and weirs that once controlled the
flow of water to the ponds.
Continue
to follow the track as it briefly climbs up and joins an old packhorse
trail then drops down to an ancient clapper bridge. The open area
here is often a sun-trap in summer and is a very good spot for a
picnic.
 |
| Many
of these old packhorse trails stretch for miles across the moors |
Cross
the bridge and follow the footpath which climbs steeply up through
the heather until you reach the track at the top. Within a quarter-of-a-mile
the track reaches a narrow lane. Turn right and follow it down to
the New Delight. The pub is relatively remote and certainly unspoilt.
There are some fascinating photos on the wall.
To
return retrace your steps to the packhorse bridge, cross it and
climb up but this time keep on the packhorse trail ignoring the
path down through the woods.
Cross
over the stile into the fields keeping on the paved path. This is
a very good example of a 'causey' (paved packhorse trail), probably
dating back to the 17th or early 18th centuries. Many of these causeys
stretch for miles across the moors.
The
causey follows the field walls until, going through the backyard
of a farm, you reach a lane. Bear left up the lane until you reach
the road at Slack, a hamlet half-a-mile from Heptonstall. Turn right
and follow the road back to the village.
Refreshments:
The White Lion and Cross Inn at the start and finish of the walk
or the New Delight along the way.
|
