Bonsall Moor

Karen planned a rest day today especially as it had been raining during the early hours of the morning and the forecast was for more showers. I decided to go for a walk locally and found a 6 mile route in the latest edition of “White Peak Walks – The Northern Dales” which started from home in Winster and went via Bonsall.

 Isolated stone stile

Luckily the rain had stopped as I was getting to leave and it remained dry during the walk with some sunny periods but mostly cloudy. It was cooler than yesterday but quite humid with the wet ground.
Leaving Winster I crossed over to Bonsall by following the Limestone Way which takes a route through fields and meadows. At one point I git very wet legs because of the long wet grass but as my trousers were made of polycotton, they soon dried.

Signpost at junction with Limestone Way

I reached Bonsall after following a path down a short, shallow valley popping out onto the road next to the old Wensleyan Chapel next to the lane leading to Horsedale. Following the gradualy-rising route up Horsedale, I reached a green lane and crossed more fields to reach a dirt track with views across to the top of the Via Gellia, the large quarry at Grange Mill and the hill of Minning Low with its tree-surrounded Neolithic round barrow on top. It's surprising how many locations you can see Minning Low from in the Peak District.

 Ruined stone barns and wild flowers

From the dirt track I followed a route via large grassy meadows full of wild flowers with the skylarks singing, until I reached the minor road of Bonsall Lane and crossed over via a stile into another field which I crossed then across another green lane then down the steep field overlooking Winster and down past the large rocks of Wyns Tor.

 Sheep sheltering in the shade by Wyns Tor

A lovely walk mostly through fields and pastures with very little mud and quite a few old capped mine shafts.
All that remained was to make my way through a couple of jitties (narrow passages which wend their way through the village) to pop out at the foot of West Bank, then round the corner to home.

 Returning to Winster

I was wearing Contour Navigator boots, a pair of old Troll poly-cotton trousers and Osprey Kestrel 38 rucksack.