Start : Parking place in front of Stanhope Castle and the Pack Horse Inn along Front Street A689. (DL13 2PZ)
(S/E) From the parking cross the road to the church, don't forget to look at the fossilised tree and explanatory plaque. Turn left and walk along the pavement passing the Dales Centre and the Grey Bull. Then after around 500 m, carefully cross the B6278 and continue along the pavement until you cross Stanhope Burn, (bridge not obvious) and come to a footpath signpost and the private road past Stanhope Hall.
(1) Turn right (North) and follow the private road (take note of the signs), This leads you past Stanhope Hall and to a gate in front of Stanhope Mill, which is being renovated as a residence. Continue following the footpath (marked), ignore the first bridge on the right and take the path on the left which follows the side of the river at first and then pass through a metal gate to follow the edge of a field into woodland. Below you and on your right is Stanhope Burn, you will start to see some static caravans on the far side of the river. The path splits.
(2) Take the right hand path (North) which descends to a bridge, cross the bridge and take the wooden steps immediately in front of you to a tarmac road.
(3) Turn left (North) and follow the road for around 1 Km, it leads past old limestone quarries on the right some of which have marshy ponds at their base. The line of crags ends at a modern shed on the right and some older metal sheds and a ruined building on the left.
Explore the old sheds of the fluorspar plant, but there has been industry on this site for much longer, prior to that there was a smelting mill for lead and the remains of the ruined flue can be seen running up the hillside on your right.
(4) Return to the road and follow it past a derelict bungalow to where the track bends left and crosses a bridge, take this farm track up to a junction.
(5) At the T-junction look back at the old flue running up the hill opposite. Then turn right (North-West) and follow the farm track, it ascends gently towards High House with a plantation on the right. Just before the entrance to High House the track splits.
(6) Before High House Farm turn right (Arrow marker) and follow the track with a moss covered dry stone wall on the left, go through a gate, this leads to the back of Park Plantation and signpost for a conservation area. Now turn left and follow another track with the dry stone wall on your left. Where the track veers away from the dry stone wall keep following a feint path beside the wall (tussocks of grass) up to the north west corner of the plantation where a few trees remain. (Alternatively continue following the track up to a T junction and then take the track on the left to (7))
(7) At the north west corner of the plantation a line of shooting butts runs up the hillside. The first one is small but is a good place to stop and have a drink or bite to eat. There are some good views from here as the plantation in front of you has been felled.
Walk up past the small shooting butt to a track. (Do not attempt to follow the wall as shown on the OS map, the disused quarry further to the south has suffered a landslide and part of the boundary wall has collapsed. The quarry is fenced off with an old wood post and wire fence and you will have to walk around it)
Instead follow the track which becomes more grassy as it veers away from the wall to bypass the disused quarry. It contours to an obvious wooden post where there is another depression (Disused Shaft on the OS map) after this the track descends to the wall and crosses Reahope Burn.
Continue along the grassy track to pass over 4 further streams. (As a rule of thumb when crossing these streams, it is best to go a few metres to the left of each stream to step across more easily) You will arrive at a gate in the wall on your left.
(8) At the gate turn left (East) and walk along the track to Mount Pleasant (obvious wind turbine). Do no go into the farm yard area instead take the gate on the right into a field with the farm on the left. The path starts at the gate in the garden wall of the farm. Go diagonally across the field heading towards a plantation, you are heading to the bottom corner of the field identified by a gap in the lower wall where the two walls should meet.
(9) Pass through a picket gate in the right hand wall and take the fence line of the plantation on the left. (This area can be wet but the ground is raised along the fence line and you should be able to avoid the marshy ground) After about 10 metres go through a other wooden gate and into a second field with the plantation on your left. Walk along the plantation fence to a gate on the left.
Do not go through this gate, instead ahead of you is a fence line with a wooden stile, cross diagonally then over the stile and then into the next field with Belle Vue farm on your right. Walk down the field towards another plantation, there is a marker post with a yellow arrow that you can aim for, after this keep heading in the same direction descending to a taller post in the fence line which separates the field from the road.
(10) Cross the road and immediately take the track to Wideley Field. At the farm take the gate on the right, cross the field diagonally to pass over a small stream. Ahead you will se a dry stone wall with a gap in it. You are not aiming for this gap, instead keep walking diagonally to the south east corner of the field where there is a wooden stile over the wall. Take care as the stile is wooden on one side and has stone steps on the other. Once you have crossed over walk to the fence line that borders the wood on your left, there is a small 'step over' stile which leads into the wood. A path leads down to waypoint (2)
(2) Turn right and follow the path through the woods back down to pass Stanhope Mill and Hall to join the road at the waypoint (1) turn left and follow the pavement back into Stanhope and your car. (S/E)
