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Walk Summary:  Easy 5 mile circular walk starting near Rishworth across the M62 taking in three reservoirs
Start : Booth Wood Inn
Locality: Rishworth
Area: West
Start OS Grid reference: SE0342317010
Start What3words: into.manager.reservoir
Difficulty: Easy
Distance miles: 5.0
Ascent meters: 351
Estimated Walk Time  hours: 3.0
Pub & Locality: Booth Wood Inn at Rishworth
Parking: Small pub carpark which can be tight when busy. 
Public Transport: Nearly 3 hours by bus from Holmfirth via Huddersfield and Elland to Rishworth. Check routes and times.
Walk Description:  Start at the signed footpath to the side of the Booth Wood Inn car park, through a garden and up through woodland, tending right as it climbs. After 150m turn sharply back left onto another path which leads through woodland and then fields to become a track. Follow this to Upper Booth Farm then down to the left to join a track down to the A672. Turn left down the road and after 120m turn right into Moselden Lane. As the lane starts to climb away from the dam look for a footpath on right and follow it up to the M62 which is crossed by two underpasses enclosing a farm (1). Keep following a track, parallel to motorway and keeping left at next building (High Moss). Continue, following wall on left as path climbs steeply, becoming a track before reaching the B6114 Saddleworth Rd. Cross the road and follow path ahead, bearing left after 100m and then joining and following a path to the left. This contours along the valley side, crosses New Lane and becomes a more prominent track with woodland on the right. At its end at Church Lane turn right at after 50m as the lane turns right take a footpath on left. This leads down towards woods and then turns left to follow the edge of the woodland and down into the wood following an old path. This joins a well made recreational path which is followed to the left towards the M62 motorway (2). Take the underpass and on the other side keep left up a steep lane (Lower Rd), then turn left at Spring Grove Cottages to reach the B6114 Saddleworth Rd. The spectacular view of the M62 cutting viaduct (3) can be taken in by a short excursion to the left. Otherwise take the ongoing path approximately 50m left after joining the road and on your right. This path crosses quarry workings on an indistinct route, generally downwards to a footbridge across a catchwater, then keeping right down to a track which leads to Withens End Lane. Turn left, down to a tee junction and left again. End the end of woodland on your right take a path down to the right, across two bridges and up a path to join Oldham Rd. The Booth Wood Inn is 150m to your right.
Other comments and points of interest:  (1) Stott Hall Farm, between the two carriageways of the M62 is on a geological fault which required the two carriageways to be separated. It is not a result of a legal dispute as popular myth has it!
(2) A proposal to dam the Black Brook valley in Scammonden was under consideration before the route of the putative M62 was established. It was then realised that by developing the proposals for both projects jointly there would be great benefits.  Consequently, the height of the Scammonden dam was increased to 76m, resulting in a larger reservoir and a 10km section of M62 motorway, with the required material being close at hand from massive excavations. Some 3.4m cu/m of fill was used together with 53,000 tonnes of clay from cuttings between Lofthouse and Gildersome. Almost 13m depth of peat needed to be removed from the original valley floor. Work was completed in 1964.
(3) The open construction of the M62 motorway viaduct was considered necessary to reduce wind loading. Subsequently over £1m had to be spent designing and constructing aerodynamic barriers to prevent suicide incidents. The bridge is known locally as the Brown Cow bridge after a now demolished public house.

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