Howarth Moor and Top Withens
Just lately, my wife and I have had the urge to do a bit of walking, and we started by doing a 7 mile round walk taking in Howarth, Howarth Moor and Top Withens.
Howarth is famous for the birthplace of the Bronte sisters and on the day we parked up the Japanese tourists were all there with their Nikons. Apparently the Japanese are big fans of the books written Charlotte, Emily and Anne and Howarth is like a magnet to them. As we don't like touristy places we headed out of the carpark in the opposite direction towards the moors, destination Top Withins. (This is the lonely moorland home that Heathcliffe is supposed to have lived in as described in the book, Wuthering Heights.)
Half a mile down the road you are out of the town and straight into scenery like in the picture on the left. We carried on walking past Penistone Country Park, over a cattle grid and were greeted by hundreds of sheep. The little lass was a bit wary of them at first, but as they were only intent on chewing the grass she soon got used to them.
After a couple of miles, we came across Bronte Waterfalls, (Bronte again!). I don't know why they call it a waterfall, because it was more like a trickle on the day we got there. We had our lunch here and then pressed onto Top Withens, another mile and a half further on. We had to negotiate a few stiles on the way which caused much merriment amongst ourselves. The path to Top Withens was uphill all the way, so we were all a bit knackered when we got there but it was worth it for the view.
The purple heather was in full flower and the scent coming off it took your breath away. In the photo, top left, you can see Haworth which will give you an idea of the distance we had walked. Walking around Top Withens, which is just the ruins of an old farmhouse, you can sense the desolation of the place and appreciate the hard life the people who had lived there in the past must have had. We were there on a nice sunny warm day, but I bet it's a different story in mid winter.
We took a different route on the way back, following the Pennine Way for a couple of miles. That branched off and stayed on the tops, whilst we went down and walked through the village of Stanbury. A quick right past the village and we were walking across the head of Lower Laithe reservoir. A couple of more miles and we were back in Howarth, sitting on a wall eating fish and chips out of the wrappers with a smug look on our faces whilst we watched the antics of the Japs. I wonder if they knew where Heathcliffe used to live, and would they walk seven miles to find out?
Howarth is famous for the birthplace of the Bronte sisters and on the day we parked up the Japanese tourists were all there with their Nikons. Apparently the Japanese are big fans of the books written Charlotte, Emily and Anne and Howarth is like a magnet to them. As we don't like touristy places we headed out of the carpark in the opposite direction towards the moors, destination Top Withins. (This is the lonely moorland home that Heathcliffe is supposed to have lived in as described in the book, Wuthering Heights.)
Half a mile down the road you are out of the town and straight into scenery like in the picture on the left. We carried on walking past Penistone Country Park, over a cattle grid and were greeted by hundreds of sheep. The little lass was a bit wary of them at first, but as they were only intent on chewing the grass she soon got used to them.
After a couple of miles, we came across Bronte Waterfalls, (Bronte again!). I don't know why they call it a waterfall, because it was more like a trickle on the day we got there. We had our lunch here and then pressed onto Top Withens, another mile and a half further on. We had to negotiate a few stiles on the way which caused much merriment amongst ourselves. The path to Top Withens was uphill all the way, so we were all a bit knackered when we got there but it was worth it for the view.
The purple heather was in full flower and the scent coming off it took your breath away. In the photo, top left, you can see Haworth which will give you an idea of the distance we had walked. Walking around Top Withens, which is just the ruins of an old farmhouse, you can sense the desolation of the place and appreciate the hard life the people who had lived there in the past must have had. We were there on a nice sunny warm day, but I bet it's a different story in mid winter.
We took a different route on the way back, following the Pennine Way for a couple of miles. That branched off and stayed on the tops, whilst we went down and walked through the village of Stanbury. A quick right past the village and we were walking across the head of Lower Laithe reservoir. A couple of more miles and we were back in Howarth, sitting on a wall eating fish and chips out of the wrappers with a smug look on our faces whilst we watched the antics of the Japs. I wonder if they knew where Heathcliffe used to live, and would they walk seven miles to find out?
posted by Freddy at 9:50 pm
The White Rose Of Yorkshire
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