(S/E) From The Butchers Arms, front door, turn right and walk down Church Street then Wereton Road for half a mile, ignoring all turnings to left and right.
After the entrance to Dean View (on the right) at the end of the village, the road starts to descend steeply and bends to the left. On the bend, take a narrow footpath straight on, to the right of a house called Medway.
(1) Beyond a kissing gate, walk along above the stream (Dean Brook) then descend to a further kissing gate at the valley bottom. Cross a low bridge and walk up the opposite bank to a kissing gate into a cultivated field.
Walk up the slope (if the field is impassable, follow the left-hand edge).
Look out for a gap in the hedge on your left, beyond which the path cuts the corner of the next field to a footpath sign and gate in a line of trees.
Follow the narrow hedged path beyond to a gate, then continue on the opposite side of the hedge.
(2) Continue to a road (B5367) by a former chapel. Turn left and follow the road for 150 yards, then turn right into Red Hall Lane.
Shortly, turn left through a metal kissing gate on your left and follow the path ahead as it curves to the right to reach Bateswood Lake.
Turn left and follow the obvious path. Keep left of a memorial plaque set into a stone and follow the path across an open area, climbing gently to a broad track backed by woodland.
(3) Turn left to a car park. Beyond the entrance, take the shaded path opposite; cross a wider track by a dog bin and continue ahead, up some steps and out to the road (High Street).
Turn right briefly, then cross to a stile before the war memorial and church. Follow the hedge on your right then walk to the right of a fence across the field.
By an oak tree, the path turns half-right and climbs steeply uphill towards a mast. Beyond a metal stile, follow the path ahead through the trees and around the mast compound. The path continues within the belt of trees to a rough track.
Turn right for a few yards, then left over a stile into a field. Proceed to a stile in a fence then bear half-left down the slope, past a collapsed stile.
(4) On meeting the woodland edge, turn left to find a stile into the wood at the bottom of a dip. The path swings left above a small stream and meets another path by a bench. Turn right and take the path signposted to Perch Pool.
This path winds through trees, with occasional steps and green waymarks. Beyond the pool, the path swings right and left with a field to the right, before climbing to meet a broader path.
(5) Our route turns right, but it’s worth a short detour left to visit the former chimney of Watermills colliery. Returning to the junction above Perch Pool, continue up the valley, with the stream and fence to your left and fields to your right.
Eventually the path swings left over the valley and climbs to a kissing gate on the left. Go through the gate, passing a pond, and continue to meet a broad crushed-stone track.
Turn right and follow the track as it curves left.
(6) Beyond a small wood on the left, turn left at a junction and walk up to the pithead wheel.
Keep right of the wheel, then turn left at a crossroads on a descending track. At the next junction, turn right into a track with trees on both sides.
Turn sharp left at the next T-junction. Ignore a footbridge over the ditch on your right but very shortly take the next right onto a descending path by a green waymark. Turn right at the next green waymark, and keep straight on at the next as you continue to descend.
(7) Swing sharp left at a junction below a footbridge and follow the path down to the car park at Apedale Heritage Centre. Pass in front of the brick-built heritage centre and then continue along the track beyond a metal barrier near the station.
After the dipping pond on the left, turn right onto a path that runs alongside the Apedale Valley Light Railway, passing some workshops and engine sheds.
After 400 yards, you approach the end of the line; bear left onto the main track again. Cross Apedale Road, and beyond a metal barrier follow a level track with industrial buildings to the right.
(8) After the last of these, the track continues to a fork; continue ahead beyond a metal barrier. Stay on this level track for half a mile, ignoring various turnings to left and right. At the end of the wood the track ends at a crossing path; take the stile ahead of you and walk down the field edge to a stile into a track.
(9) Continue along the track until you reach the road at Miles Green Farm. Turn left and walk down to the old railway, crossing the end of Heathcote Road. Go down the steps on the left and turn right under the bridge; follow the former railway line for a little under half a mile.
(10) Leave the trail down some steps on the left to a kissing gate and continue across a paddock to a second gate. Turn right and follow the field edge to another kissing gate, where you switch to the other side of the hedge.
Bear left down a hedged green lane, then cross a footbridge and stile on the left beyond a bend. Follow the field edge to your right (though you may have to divert left to avoid boggy ground). Find a gate through the hedge in the right-hand corner and follow the hedge down to a kissing gate.
(11) Follow the path beyond, crossing a stream near a pond before climbing through the trees and up some steps. Walk down Hall Street past the theatre and library, then turn right to return to the Butchers Arms. (S/E)
