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Return to the the road, Finkle Street Lane. By the entrance the foot path heads off across the field towards Wortley at the top of the hill. The first part of the path is paved. Follow the path all the way up to Wortley village.
When you reach the main road, Halifax Road, turn right. Cross the road and take the left turn down Park Avenue. Take the right fork down The Flats. The left fork leads to Wortley Hall.
Follow The Flats until you reach open country. Continue along the lane for some distance, until you reach a gateway by the trees. There are footpath signs at this gateway. Take the left turn and follow the edge of the field.
When you reach the next field boundary, there is a stile in the left corner of the field. Cross the stile. The official footpath appears to cut across this field, but I found it easier to follow the left hand field boundary around the crop. You will rise up after a dip. There is a gateway near the far right corner of the field and a clear path heads across to the gateway.
The path leads down the lane through the woods to a bridge over a small stream. As soon as you have crossed the bridge take the narrow path that forks of to the left. Do not follow the lane round to the right.
Follow this path an it eventually opens out onto the lower edge of a series of fields. Follow the left hand field boundary up to the first field boundary. There is a sort of stile that crosses the corner into the next field up and to the left. Cross this stile, or us the gateway shortly further up the field.
Keep the field boundary on your right as you climb the hill towards the houses at Hermit Hill. Cross the stone stile onto Hermit Hill and turn left.
After about 100 m there is a marked footpath off to the right, up the bank. Take the path through the gate, following the path to the left and into the field.
Cross the field heading for Cliffe Farm in the distance, keeping the hedge to your right hand side until you reach the ridge that runs across the field from the ridge you will see a substantial stile off to the left. Cross the stile and take the steps down.
Turn 90 degrees left from Cliffe Farm and head SW across the field, aiming for a small group of trees and bushes low down at the far corner of the field. There is no path across the field, just lots of sheep tracks.
At the corner of the field there is a bridge over a small stream and footpath markers by the stiles. Cross the bridge into the next field. Aim for the left hand field boundary, and follow the wall round as the wall turns to the left about 100m into the field. Follow the wall and you will find a stone stile in the corner. Cross the stile and continue in the same direction up the hill along the field boundary where the hedge is largely missing. There is no clear path at this point. Keep going SW and you will reach Cliffe Common lane.
At Cliffe Common lane turn right. After about 100 m take the path to the left, down steps to a wooden bridge over a stream.
Follow the path up and into a field. Keep the trees and small stream to your right. After about 100m the path drops down and turns right, crosses the stream and goes up into the next field in a north westerly direction.
Go straight across this field, aiming for the telegraph pole in the trees. There is a slightly overgrown stile by the telegraph pole. Cross into the next field.
Follow the field boundary on your right until you reach the group of small trees. The path goes through the hedge. Turn left immediately, there is a marker post showing the route.
Go up the field boundary, keeping the hedge on your left. Cross into the next field, by another path marker. Go straight across the field aiming for the trees in the SW corner. when you reach the corner you may need to go a little to your right to find a way into the next field. the path goes SSW into a large field.
The path goes straight across this field, passing to the right hand side of Crane Greave Farm. Cross Crane Greave Lane and continue up with the field boundary on your right hand side.
Pass through the wooden stile and up the hill. The path is clear from here. Catch your breath at the pop of the hill and admire the views.
There is a lane that leads down from the field to Halifax Road. This is a busy road with a 60 mph limit on this section so approach with care.
The path you need is about 100 m to the left on the opposite side of the road. There is a lay by on this side of the road opposite the required path, I would recommend crossing before the lay by as it is in a dip and it is difficult to see traffic approaching from the right.
Take the path down into the field. there is no clear path across this field. Aim for the bottom right corner of the field. take a bearing slightly to the right of the village of Thurgoland across the valley.
When you reach the bottom of the field there is a small wooden stile at the base of the railway embankment. Pass through the stile and follow the path and scramble up the bank to the Trans-Pennine trail. It may be easier to go under the bridge and climb up the other side of the embankment.
Turn left and follow the trail back to the car park off to the left, just before the old station. |
