This walk takes in a 19th-century cotton mill and a 400-year-old alehouse. Skirting woods and passing rushing streams, the daytrip is near Hebden Bridge.
There are rarely any clouds of bugs in the beginning of this walk, and viewers can leave the bugs behind once they get to the top. The name “Midgehole” comes from that people would often get bugs on them when starting to walk.
A steep climb along a bumpy trail from a trust car park allows me and my dog to quickly get on the moors. A rough track brings us up the woodlands at Hardcastle Crags, where there are animals like green woodpeckers and deer.
To start the run, turn left at the top of the track. Follow this path, which is bumpy in some spots. After a flat walk, you will reach an area with open fields and woods below. You need to keep your dog under control due to farms along the path.
At the southern fringe of Wadsworth Moor we’ll find ourselves in Wuthering Heights country – Top Withens is close by and it is allegedly the setting for Emily Brontë’s novel.
You can take a walk or bicycle on the trails and enjoy views of the wild, wind-blasted moorland in all seasons.
On a clear day, you will be able to see the 330-metre high Emley Moor transmitting station. Standing at 21 metres taller than London’s Shard, it is the tallest structure in the country.
When Halifax’s water supply became insufficient, dams were built to store the extra water. A temporary camp called Dawson City housed the workers who created the dams. The railway was used to transport supplies for construction. There were about 600 people in Dawson City at any given time.
From here, I can also see the old Pack Horse Inn on the other side of the defile. It’s just half an hour away, and it’s at a junction between the Pennine Way and a nearby minor road.
The bartender was telling us about a climber and shared how he drinks with him.
Today I am having the soft cheese and cured meat, the White Rat Ales, and the pictures of a hard working town that sprung up around it. It’s easy to see why people called this town Dawson City – with all those rough navvies and tough looking landscapes, they look like they’ve sprung up in Yorkshire from an Alaska version of the gold rush.
There is always a breeze up here. We walk through some woods, cross a bridge, and admire the view
The Path meanders past Gibson Mill, and it was the National Trust’s first sustainable property. It’s worth stopping by to see exhibitions detailing work past and present to preserve the natural environment hereabouts. You might recognize it as the scene of an incident in Mike Leigh’s 2018 film Peterloo.
We took a footpath that had stepping stones to avoid getting muddy and dirty for the car drive home.
