South Pennine Walks
Doubler Stones & Rivock Edge
Date: 5th Jan 2014
Distance: 7.0 miles
Ascent: 1026 feet
Time: 3 hours 10 mins
With: On my own
Start Grid Ref: SE065442
Walk Summary:
A walk visiting some of the features of the western part of Rombald's Moor including the Doubler Stones, Windgate Nick and the trig point on Rivock Edge
Route Summary: Holden Gate - The Crag - Holden Beck - Ghyll Grange - Doubler Stones - Windgate Nick - High Addingham Moor - West Buckstones - Rivock Edge - Holden Gate
Photos: Click on the photos below to enlarge.
Video:
Walk Detail: After visiting the Cow and Calf rocks above Ilkley on Boxing Day I had it in mind to visit the western end of Rombald's Moor for the first time to see the Doubler Stones and bag the trig point on Rivock Edge.
The forecast was for sunny spells up until about midday followed by rain so I set off early. I seemed to time my arrival at the parking space at Holden Gate just right as the first golden rays of sunshine appeared. Unfortunately, within minutes the sun disappeared behind a large bank of cloud moving up from the south and apart from a couple of brief reappearances early on in the walk it proved to be a rather grey morning.
The first part of the walk took me across a number of pastures and the yard of Rough Holden Farm before dropping briefly down in to the side valley of Holden Beck. Here I came across a quite lovely waterfall just below the footbridge. After passing through the dwellings at Ghyll Grange I arrived at the feature known as the Doubler Stones which consists of a miniature gritstone edge above which sit two weirdly sculpted rocks.
From the Doubler Stones I then made my way on a path across the moor to Windgate Nick and a sudden view of Wharfedale to the north. Nearby was a brilliantly placed bench (unfortunately the wind was too bitter to sit there for long) and a memorial to two airmen who died when their de Havilland Mosquito crashed nearby in 1943. From Windgate Nick I enjoyed an excellent walk east along the top of the moorland edge as far as the large boulder called the Noon Stone from where I followed a thin path uphill to the trig point on Addingham High Moor.
The next section, as far as West Buckstones, was more familiar to me as I'd walked that path one summer's evening back in 2012. From West Buckstones I then followed a path, not marked on the map, south-west outside the boundary of the plantation as far as about grid reference SE077445 where I crossed a gap in the wall to continue round to the trig point above Rivock Edge. The edge itself was largely obscured by the trees though a glimpse down into the woods revealed a number of the rocks to be completely covered in pine needles.
Leaving the trig point I followed a nearby wall steeply down through the trees to reach a wide track which led me out of the plantations and past the Television Relay Station to reach Holden Lane from where it was a short walk back along the road to Holden Gate.
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