Saturday Walk: 27th September – Harder Walk – Burley in Wharfedale to Hawksworth Moor and Menston c 7.25mls

The next walk is in the “harder” category as it goes up on to the moors from Burley in Wharfedale. I estimate that this walk will take around 3.5 hours. I last led this walk in July 2023.

We’ll be having lunch at the Cock Pit Farm Tearooms in Burley in Wharfedale. If you sign up for this walk, could you have a look at the attached menu and let me know your choice. I’ve attached it as a pdf.

The walk will start from the station at Burley in Wharfedale at 9:15am.

There is free on-street parking near the station but just watch out for any restriction notices. I believe these generally apply during the week. Please don’t use the actual station car park as I think we should leave this for train users. You could try the road leading up to the station (a dead-end but with plenty of room to turn around), the Robins, Prospect Road or the main street: Station Road.

The walk goes along Hag Farm Road but turns off to the right before some of our other walks do. We soon end up climbing all the way to the top of the moor, by various routes. We end up near Reva Reservoir. There are great views at lots of points on this walk.

After this we head along a fairly level path before descending down to the High Royds development at Menston. We wiggle around parts of Menston and then back into Burley. This is all downhill.

If we’ve had some rain by the time of this walk there can be some muddy stretches. As usual, we’ll encounter a variety of stiles and gates on this walk and livestock will be in the fields. I would expect cattle and sheep on the open moor and possibly horses in fields on this walk. Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear, which take account of the weather forecast, and bring a drink. Poles might be an idea in view of the mud risk and it may well rain a bit before this walk. As you all know poles are very useful on the uphill and downhill sections as well as for stability if we do encounter some mud. I will not have time to recce this walk again before the 27th, so we need to be prepared for all conditions. I think I’ll insist on a pole from the start of October.

I do my best to assess the weather and the likely walking conditions but would ask everyone to decide whether a particular walk is right for them on that day. Please note that everyone taking part in the walk does so at their own risk.

OS MAP LINK – works for everyone but shows all the features if you have the app.
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/10098109/burley-in-wharfedale-to-hawksworth-moor–menston?lat=53.89405&lon=-1.78324&zoom=12.6583&style=Leisure&type=2d