MONDAY 10th FEBRUARY 2020
Monthly Short Walk: Greenmount, Hawkshaw Circular
Heading across golf course
Nine hardy walkers set-out from Greenmount Old School on a bright but cold morning after experiencing the wettest, coldest and windiest weekend of the winter thanks to storm Ciara. Taking our usual route across the golf course we turned left just after the club house and made our way up to Holly Mount.
After passing through the campus we turned right over a stile and followed a footpath through the fields to Croichley Fold on the way we had clear views over towards Peel Tower, Affetside and all the building work taking place in Hawkshaw. Once through the small hamlet we headed up the track onto Bolton Road, which we crossed, and turned left taking the first footpath on our right where once again we past extensive building work.
View of Peel Tower
At the end on the narrow path we climbed through a stile into the fields, taking the footpath on the left which eventually led us to New Hoyles Farm and onto Hawkshaw Lane.
Climbing out of valley
After turning right on the lane we climbed over a very steep stile, on our left, and again headed across some very wet fields down to a wooden foot bridge in the bottom of a valley. Once across the bridge we climbed out of the valley and headed up to Top of Qualton where the large house that had stood empty for several years was being developed into apartments and it was good to see that one of the first jobs had been to create a new footpath alongside the development.
Coffee break
From here we turned left onto the access track and passed through a wood where the trees appeared to being felled, after walking a short distance we stopped for our morning coffee at a memorial to a local resident.
After coffee we walked down into Hawkshaw turning left and walking along the road before turning right into Two Brooks Lane and heading into the valley where the footpaths were very muddy and difficult to negotiate due to the heavy rain.
Holly Mount
At the end of the valley we crossed over the footbridge, on our left and climbed up the steep slope back into Holly Mount retracing our steps to Greenmount having covered 5.5 refreshing miles.