This walk is just over 5 miles long with some ups and downs which total about 220 metres, and we would class this walk as easy - moderate. During the winter months a pair of good sturdy boots or wellies are strongly advised, and as it is a circular walk, there are various options where you can start and finish. Our route starts and finishes at a little lay by at the top of Highfield Lane, Cowmes near to the junction with Chimney Lane (Grid reference SE 18754 16043, or What 3 Words ///economies.tasty.orchestra)
From Huddersfield take the A642 Wakefield Road, after Waterloo continue up the hill for about half a mile, and just after the roundabout with the red chimney stack to the left of the road take the sharp left turn which is Chimney Lane. Continue up the hill to the crossroads, and turn left to find a small lay by which will fit 2 - 3 cars.
From the lay by head SE on Thurgory Lane through the red bricked farm yard, where you should immediately see and hear the resident Robin, that lives in the trees on the right. Only a few yards further on and you should see flocks of House Sparrows in the trees in the garden of the farm house.
Continue up the track for about a mile, the track can be muddy in places, and as the ground levels out, so do the views. You will see the usual suspects in the fields on both sides including Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, and Black Headed Gulls. At the end of the track you will pop out onto Knotty Lane, turn left and look for the footpath on the opposite side of the lane. Follow this footpath across the field towards the houses, and ignore the footpath to the right. This will lead you onto Town End Lane, and again look for the footpath opposite which is to the left of the white house and looks like a private drive. Follow this path down through a couple of fields and keep your eyes out for birds, as this is quite a busy place for wildlife. On my last visit I saw Goldfinch, Blue tit, Blackbird, Wren, and a large flock of Starling, with a wet looking Kestrel sat on overhead power lines looking down at the chaos below.
This footpath will eventually bring you out on a track, turn left and head downhill. At the junction, ignore the track to your right that leads up to the Scout Camp and continue straight on, passing the house in the woods on your left and down to where the streams merge. At the bottom of the hill turn right and take the obvious track up through the woods. Here you may see Goldcrest and Bullfinch, both showing well on my last visit. This is a lovely section of the walk, a bit muddy in places but there is a good variety of trees in the plantations on both sides of the footpath.
At the top of this path, turn left and continue towards the gated farm keeping your eyes out for Grey Squirrels in the trees. At the ornate gate, take the path to the right and follow this around the garden. At the first corner you need to head up across the sheep field at a 45 degree angel to your left. There is no obvious path here, but if you scan the fence line up ahead you will see two yellow footpath signs which show where the stile is. At the stile, go straight across the track onto the footpath that takes you through the Scots Pines and up some wooden steps. At the clearing look left and you will see The Temple which you will need to explore. The best time to photograph this Huddersfield landmark is at sunset, where if you’re lucky you might get a sun star through one of the windows. If you try for sunrise there are power lines in the other direction that will spoil your image. However if you do decide to photograph this monument at sunset then you will likely end up doing some of this walk in the dark.
Once you have had your fill of the temple, then you need to retrace your steps back down through the woods across the track and down through the sheep field. However we’re not heading towards the ornate gate corner of the garden but the other one to the right. Here you will pick up the footpath that runs around the ornate gate farm garden and turn right towards Gregory Farm. At the stile turn left and down the track, take the stile to over the wall to the left, follow the wall line and then over another stile into a field where you will see the obvious route down into the little wooded valley with the stream running along side you.
At the end of the wooded valley, climb over the stile then head diagonally across the field, there is a little crossing over a stream and then onto some wooden walkways. The walkways end too soon and the rest of this field is where you will be thankful that you wore your wellies. After some slip sliding you will come out onto Healey Green Lane.
Turn left and walk a short distance to the houses and turn right onto Long Tongue Scrog Lane. Walk past the houses where the lane eventually turns into a footpath, and despite a couple of muddy sections this is a stunning section of the walk with all sorts of wildlife in the trees to both sides of the path. Continue on this path for about half a kilometre, where you will come to an access road to one of the nearby farms, turn left and follow this road down to Lane Side Lane. At the road turn right, luckily there is a path to one side of the road, and after about five minutes walking you will see a footpath just after the big house with the glass tower. This path takes you down to some horse fields, and with the river to your left you will eventually come to a bridge.
Turn left over the bridge and find the path that leads you up through the woods, across some fields and eventually pops out at the side of Lascelles Hall cricket club. Keeping your eyes peeled for Pied Wagtail and Kestrel, continue straight across any tracks, ignoring any paths to the left. Stay to this path which takes you past a farm and some nice houses and uphill to Gawthorpe Lane. At Gawthorpe Lane turn right, and its only a couple of hundred metres back to the start point.
Hope you enjoyed the walk, and please feel free to let us know if you have any issues with the route, paths, stiles etc.
