Hepworth RFM Blue Line Walking with Lacey and Lola

 

Hepworth

RFM Blue Line

Walking with Lacey and Lola

07/09/25

On a very pleasant Sunday September morning we set off for our first West Riding walk. There are going to be a series of walks covering the area from Penistone all the way up the West Riding hills to Colne. This is going to be a combination of countryside, moorland, villages and mill towns. If you want, Last of the Summer Wine country. Perfect for the shorter walks of the winter months but also for the challenging hills characteristic of this area. More adventures and anyone is welcome to join any Sunday morning just get in touch.

We started in Hepworth a characteristic West Riding village with a preponderance of stone fronted houses. I believe the type of cottage above were what are known as weaver cottages with the loom being housed on the upper floor where the many small windows let in a lot of light for the weaving. 

Our first move was a false move as I mistook a garden for the path down the hill....oops.

Thats better. Down the hill between the wall, fence and marked with a sign pronouncing footpath. What kind of idiot could miss that.

Lola spotted the acorns and oak apples and put a sample of each in her pocket. I confessed I didn't really know what an oak apple was. I subsequently found out it is caused by the larvae of a wasp called the Gall Wasp, who knew?

At the bottom of the hill the path went over a footbridge crossing a stream. Guess what, we stopped and looked over the bridge as we always do.

This little woody copse was full of magnificent trees creating a really satisfying atmosphere.

Down one hill back up another past a cow sleep over. Lola was starting to lag behind. This was a tendency on this walk and later I addressed it head on.

The hills to our right looked inviting but were not on today's menu.

Back down a hill into Jackson Bridge notice the weaver cottages on the hillside opposite.

From Jackson Bridge we immediately went up a hill towards Scholes. Lola lagging again. The drop off on the right was only walled off by a broken down old stone wall. Falling would have been easy so we were careful

At the top of this little steep hill was an interesting fully modernised dwelling with these fun sculptural adornments. I love these oddities we come across on our adventures.

We turned left out of the village down another hill with a huge wall on one side.

Crossing the stream at the bottom of this wooded valley there are lots of signs of old stone built features most of which were really hard to interpret. In the end we decided there must have been mills driven by waterpower nearby probably in the early days of the industrial revolution. It's like walking through the ruins of our heritage.

A narrow extremely steep cobbled path headed out of the valley, well built and obviously much more important for an earlier age. Lola was lagging again. We rested at the top of the path and I was aware that the girls needed a good rest as I had got to the top earlier than them. 

We were back in Hepworth, gorgeous views and iconic stone walls.

Through the trees we could see the Holy Trinity Hepworth church. It being Sunday morning we could hear a hymn being sung in the church. I really liked this church and suggested it was Victorian. I later found out it was built in 1863. Good to be right....for once.

We headed along Dean Lane and came to the Blue Buddha centre. Takes all sorts. I looked on line and the centre offers many treatments at very reasonable prices so could be really valuable for this West Riding community. I'm not a Budhist but am happy to recognise that good works are valuable in themselves.

We found a bench with this view so it seemed only right to have a stop for a while.

Dean Lane is quiet and we passed quite a few dog walkers.

What a lovely place for a walk.

The lane headed further into the hills and Lola was still lagging behind. The problem with lagging behind is that its just annoying for everyone else and serves no purpose except to slow every thing down. Our walks are much more interesting if we walk together and discuss what we see. Time to sort this out. I explained nicely to Lola why I thought lagging behind was pointless and encouraged her to walk with Lacey and me. She did and we were all happier, well done Lola. We met a chap with 2 friendly medium sized curly haired whitish dogs which I think were Labradoodles. We had a good chat and parted to follow our own walks. Typically the dogs preferred the girls to me.

I suggested to the girls that the hill on the right would be a good one to get higher views on a subsequent walk.

We met a lady with 2 labrador type dogs who were ultra friendly, one only 7 months old and the other 7 years old. She talked to the girls directly which I really liked. The young dog needed a little socialising to reduce its giddiness so we obliged.

From this point we could see Castle Hill in Huddersfield. Such a rural area so close to such an industrial town.

Finally on our grassy return down the gentle hill to Hepworth we passed, in a field of sheep, these young bullocks enjoying the warm weather and green grass.

The path came out onto the road next to the car, more luck than judgement.

Not the longest of walks but with some steep hills and plenty of varying landscape and views even this easy short walk was a real pleasure and more difficult than the statistics suggest.
Lacey and Lola as usual were a pleasure to walk with and on the next walk Lola will lead the way.... go Lola go.