Bonsall Moor between Winster and the Via Gellia is criss-crossed by various rights of way making possible a plurality of circular walks. This is one of them. I parked in the centre of Winster and walked up the lane by the old village hall, followed it up the hill and round to the right. When it comes to the edge of the village there is a footpath off left leading a short way uphill to pick up the Limestone Way which I followed easily over high pasture all the way to Bonsall with glorious views up the Derwent valley. On Blakelow Lane south of Bright Gate Farm, some men on off road motorbikes spoilt the tranquillity competing with each other to make as much noise as possible but I soon left them behind.
At Bonsall I left the Limestone way and took a path across fields to Slaley. Then left down a path that skirts the hillside above the Via Gellia, most of the way rather muddily through woodland. Eventually this comes to a junction with a track. Left leads quickly to the main road. I went right. The leads, at first as a track, then as a field path, all the way home to Winster, passing between Leys Farm and Whitecliffe Farm, then parallel to Bonsallmoor Lane as far as Bonsall Lane. Here a short climb took me back to where I first joined the Limestone Way and so easily back, retracing my steps, to where I started out. This is evidently cow country and in summer this walk might challenge the cow-timorous but on this chilly winter day they were all shut up indoors so I met no cows and, for that matter, very few people.
RSS Feed