Exploring Oakworth - Part 4 - Race Moor Lane | Denby Hill | Turnshaw Road | Oakworth Moor | Pickles Hill | Hob Cote

Distance: 7 miles

Ascent: 800 ft

Walking: Andrew

Weather: Sunny, cool

OS Map: OL21 - South Pennines

Parking: Station Road, Oakworth

Photography: Andrew using Nikon D610 / Nikon 24-70 mm f2.8

Starting from the centre of Oakworth before sunrise, this walk took me along some familiar and some previously unexplored paths to the edge of Oakworth Moor where the open moorland was the perfect place to make the most of the spectacular early morning sky. 

Setting off in the dark from Station Road, I turned up East Royd then up the narrow footpath that runs alongside the Oakworth Primary School's playing field and waited at the top as dawn began to break. Having got a couple of shots of the emerging view across to Ebor Mill, I carried on up to Keighley Road, then across onto Clough Lane. This was the first time I'd been up here, having always taken a route through Holden Park before but I wanted to see where this would take me. Passing the last house, it was apparent that this had once been part of Sir Isaac Holden's gardens, despite being outside the walled section of the park. There are quite a few enormous rhododendrons and a couple of overgrown ponds and it's not difficult to imagine how it must have looked in its heyday.Emerging at the familiar track at the top, I headed towards Race Moor Lane, where I knew the now colourful sky would be beautiful over Laycock, Goose Eye and Newsholme. I was particularly keen to get a good shot of an old wrought iron field gate on there. Although it's not strictly in the traditional local Oxenhope style, it is a simpler variation on the design and the view behind it is beautiful.

My intention was to make it up to Denby Hill in time to capture the sun rising over the village and, although I made it by the skin of my teeth, my calculations for where the sun would be were a bit out. It did mean that I got some really nice shots of it rising from the very wet and muddy Irish Lane, though, so that was OK.

At the end of Irish Lane, I turned up the equally wet but slightly less muddy Turnshaw Road. Again, I was tempted to take a slight detour to explore a different path, this time cutting across to White Lane before heading downhill to rejoin Turnshaw Road. The views from here are great, across to Haworth, Penistone Hill, Ovenden Moor wind farm and, further on, to the stunning moors around Top Withens and Ponden Clough.  

The track passes a stone memorial to the Canadian crew of a Wellington bomber which crashed into Tewitt Hill here on 2nd January 1944. All six crew members were killed and a small commemoration is held at the site each year on the anniversary of the crash. You can find out more HERE.

Continuing on, Turnshaw Road joins Harehills Lane at what is probably my favourite pub, the Grouse, which has fantastic views over the moors. If it wasn't for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this would normally be the perfect place to stop on a walk for a pint of Timothy Taylors, although obviously not at this time of the morning.

Just past the pub, I turned onto a track which climbed the hill and, at the top, emerged onto Oakworth Moor, a vast expanse of heather with views stretching across to the hills of the Yorkshire Dales. The ground here was absolutely saturated and, in places, frozen making it quite difficult going. I just did a short loop around Harehills House before descending the hill to Blue Stone Delph, then back onto the track down to the road.

Heading back past the Grouse, an old overgrown bench overlooking the valley caught my eye then I continued down the road to Pickles Hill where I turned down Scholes Lane, a pretty sunken lane, lined with flowers in the summer, which leads to a small group of picturesque cottages at Higher Scholes. The footpath here passes through the front gardens of the cottages, which always feels a bit awkward, and through a large pair of old wrought iron gates into a small copse. At the other side of the copse, a couple of very muddy fields with beautiful views across the valley separated by an even muddier stile where the sheep had been congregating. It required some careful acrobatics to negotiate it without getting plastered. 

Another tricky stile led into another wooded area in what appears to be a large private garden with a number of attractive ornamental ponds. The silver birch trees looked stunning in the warm early morning light. At one point, the muddy path passes between two high hedges and slopes quite steeply, making it very slippery. I took my time and thankfully managed to stay upright. 

I was quite relieved to emerge onto a solid concrete drive at Green Well Farm and headed steeply uphill past some gorse bushes, which for some strange reason were in full flower in the middle of December, to an unusual style made from a single long narrow stone which rocked quite a bit as I stepped over it. Across the field to Near Hob Cote, a small collection of cottages with stunning views across the valley, then through three more stiles, each one more difficult to negotiate with a large camera than the last. A random sparsely decorated Christmas tree at the side of the track made me smile as I headed down the muddy track to Oakworth Farm then out onto Tim Lane. From there I took the familiar footpath that runs parallel to Bridge Street down to Mill Lane, then back into the centre of Oakworth.