Start: The Wheatley Arms, Wheatley Lane, Ben Rhydding, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 8PP
(S/E) From the front of The Wheatley Arms pub on Wheatley Lane, cross into Longcroft Road, noting the old cottage dated 1671 on your right. At the end of the cul-de-sac, follow a footpath to the left beyond the last house. This path leads uphill between garden fences to Ben Rhydding Road.
(1) Turn right along the road and follow it for 550m, passing the junctions with Clifton Road, Rombalds Lane and Lower Constable Road. Turn left into Old Lane and follow it round to the right, keeping right at a junction to reach Hangingstone Road. Ignoring the path immediately opposite, cross and turn right for a short distance across a small dip before taking the next path, through a gate on the left.
(2) Follow the path right through trees and keep straight ahead when another path joins obliquely from the right. The path winds through bracken, gorse and rowan to a small lake known as “The Tarn”. Turn right along the surfaced lakeside path and follow it past a shelter to the end of the lake. Cross the metalled path and take a narrow, unsurfaced path to the right of a lamp-post that leads up steps through bracken. This path, rocky and uneven in places, leads up to the white-painted cottage at White Wells (A).
(3) Pass between the cottage and the toilet block, and take the broad, stony footpath heading uphill (indicated by a wooden ‘Millennium Way’ fingerpost). The path bends left round a rise capped with a small clump of trees, then climbs less steeply.
(4) After another left-hand bend below woodland, the path divides; take the lower fork along the bottom of the rocky edge (Ilkley Crags) on your right. After a while, this path leads up the bouldery defile known as Rocky Valley to the highest point of the walk. Take a descending, sandy path on the left that leads to a bouldery stream crossing. Follow the upper path beyond, which runs across fairly level ground to the right of the rocky quarried areas above the Cow and Calf (B). When you meet a crossing path, with views down to the car park and hotel, follow the path ahead, which curves left towards the Calf rock. At the mouth of a quarry on the left, turn right and walk down the paved path to the car park. From the end of a parking bay on the left, a path runs parallel to the road, marked with a Stanza Stones waymark post. Pass below the Calf rock and ignore
a crossing path.
(5)About 400m from the car park, turn sharp right onto a narrow, slightly sunken path that leads down to the road. Turn right (uphill) for a short distance and take a driveway on the left with a sign for Moor Cottage. Follow the driveway to the end then take the path through a gate to the right of the house. This path climbs then levels off.
(6) Before it climbs again towards a covered reservoir, take a path off to the left that leads through trees and scrub to a gate. Continue along the descending path through the trees. At a fork, keep right for the direct route down steps, or swing left for a longer but gentler descent. From the bend at the top of Wheatley Lane, cross the entrances to High Wheatley and Wheatley Rise as you walk steeply down the zig-zag road back to The Wheatley Arms. (S/E)
