November
8:00 Start with 17:30 (5:30pm) Return
A Walk - Black Hameldon & High Withins (Return to Dick Delf Hill) with Dave Colbert
13½ miles (22km) with 2,300ft (700m) Total Ascent
On our last visit to Haworth in January 2015, debate raged in ‘Footprints’ as to just who Dick Delf was to have a hill named after him. Why this was so remained unresolved, but a recent investigation by Professor Bewaldeth from the University of Snittlegarth suggests that Dick Delf was a pseudonym used by Bog Myrtle, an 11th century Yorkshire herbalist from Heckmondwike who wrote a seminal paper on the frustrations of searching for moorland flora and fauna in the West Riding under the title ‘Withering Lows’. Whether this is just another example of ‘Fake News’ is anyone’s guess, and as before, by the end of this hike you will still be none the wiser.
We start just over the border in Cornholme and traverse Black Hameldon, at 479m/1,573ft the highest part of today’s walk, eventually reaching the Pennine Bridleway near the dramatic Gorple Stones. This takes us eastwards past Widdop Reservoir to Clough Foot where we join the Pennine Way proper and chase the ‘B+’ Party over the moors all the way to Haworth!
B+ Walk - Out on the Wiley, Windy Moors with Sue Banister
10 miles (16km) with 1328ft (405m) Total Ascent
We get off the coach at Pecket Well, a mile north of Hebden Bridge, and head west on a downhill stretch of bridleway to New Bridge from where we follow Hebden Water through Hebden Dale to Hardcastle Crags and Walshaw Wood.
We then have a short sharp climb out of the dale and up to the beautiful Walshaw Lodge. From here the climb becomes more gradual over Wadsworth Moor then down to Walshaw Dean Middle Reservoir.
We now join the Pennine Way and follow it over Dick Delf Hill, and on past Withins and Scar Hill. Shortly after Upper Heights we leave the Pennine Way and drop down to the Bronte waterfalls.
We then follow the Brontë Way to Haworth via Penistone Hill Country Park.
B Walk - Brontë Way with Dorothy Dobson
7½ miles (12km) with 600ft (183m) Total Ascent
Except for better paths, I guess little has changed on the moors since the Brontë sisters walked over them almost two hundred years ago.
We start the walk from the Parsonage and with Penistone Hill on our left, we soon reach the Brontë Way. The path is good most of the time, but is a bit tricky as we approach the waterfall. As we leave the fall the path levels out and is good walking for the rest of the way. Our highest point is Top Withins (reputedly the inspiration for Wuthering Heights) and from here we turn northwest to join the Pennine Way for two miles and leave it before reaching the moorland village of Stanbury. Going on past Lower Laithe reservoir we have a gradual climb back to Haworth.
C Walk - The Railway Children Walk with Tony Ingham
5½ miles (8.8km) with 550ft (168m) Total Ascent
This walk takes in a number of buildings and places featured in the 1970 film.
Starting from the town centre we head north to Oakworth Station which is the station used for the film. After passing Perks´s cottage we turn to come south to reach Haworth Station and I will point out various other points of interest from the film on the way, although some have been affected by new housing. We will have lunch either on the platform or in the waiting room at the station.
The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway volunteer on duty when I reccied the walk said that would be OK. We then continue south on tracks and through fields before crossing the railway and climbing steeply up to the house where the railway children lived. We then start to go north again passing the hamlet of Hole and coming out into Haworth churchyard. Going through the church grounds brings us into the town centre with its gift shops, cafes and pubs.
