Walk Leaders:    Doreen & Gareth

No.  on walk:       5

Distance:            18.6 miles

Weather:            Morning – Cloudy and dry, Afternoon – sunny and dry

We left the car park, descending to Leeshaw reservoir and then took the first climb of the day to Top of Stairs.  Although the weather was a bit dull, we had excellent views all around. Continuing round Shackleton Knoll to the small hamlet of Walshaw we had a short coffee stop before ascending the good track northwards over Walshaw Moor looking to the two Walshaw Dean reservoirs and, to the west, the Gorple and Widdop reservoirs.

The Pennine Way climb to Top Withins, although quite long, is fairly steady over flagstones and we kept on this route to drop down to Ponden Hall and our lunch stop. Unfortunately, Caroline had problems with her foot and after 1.5 miles she and Manny had to leave us to get back to their car. So now we were down to 3 but, after reaching the road at Whitestone Farm, Hazel left us to walk back home so only myself and Gareth were left to continue on the walk.

By now the sun had put in an appearance and the steep pull, to the right of Dean Clough, wasn’t much of a problem. Continuing on the Pennine Way to Old Bess Hill was delightful and here we turned right along the Millenium Way, crossing Oakworth Moor, in warm afternoon sunshine. The path was good, the views even better.

After descending to the road at the Grouse Inn, we took the bridleway, passing a memorial to some Canadian airmen who had come to grief here in WWII. The last three miles included a short but steep bit of road into Haworth which, as usual, was quite busy with plenty of visitors, and we finished our walk crossing Penistone Hill to arrive back at the car.

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