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Walk Summary:  Moderate 6.7 mile circular walk on ridges around Pole Hill and Scammonden reservoir starting from Lower Royal George pub near M62
Start: Lower Royal George pub
Locality: Pole Moor
Area: West
Start OS Grid reference: SE0695516299
Start What3word : leaky.sending.gone
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance miles: 6.7
Ascent meters: 386
Estimated Walk Time  hours: 3.8
Pub & Locality: Lower Royal George pub at Pole Moor
Parking: Large pub carpark
Public Transport: Bus 310 Holmfirth Bus Station to Huddersfield than Bus 303 Kirklees College to Pinfold Lane Slaithwaite Gate then 20 minute walk to pub. Journey time circa 2 hours. Check bus times.
Walk Description: Start from the Lower Royal George and take the A640 road to the right. After 300m fork left onto Pole Gate and follow to immediately past the old chapel on the right, where you take a footpath on the right, past the old cemetery. This crosses Pole Gate Branch onto Back O’Wall road. Just after passing farm buildings take a prominent footpath on the right and pass over Worts Hill. On descending, note a footpath on the right leading down a field to meet the A640 at stone steps. Cross the road and take O’cot Lane, becoming Green Slacks Lane and coming to a junction with Low Platt Lane, where you turn right. As the road approaches a sharp right hand bend, take a track on the left, through trees. This leads down to the Scammonden dam, which you cross on the footway. At the far side the path bends left and a pathway on the right leads to a tunnel under the M62. Emerging from the tunnel join a track and follow it up steeply to the left into Lower Road. After some 200m take a lane on the right and follow it down to Lower Hey House Farm from where a field path leads down to a bridge over Black Brook. Turn left after the bridge and follow the path through woodland, a ruined mill (1) and fields. When a road is reached at Nest, follow it up to the left and after a road junction turn right onto Hey Lane. After Hey Lane Farm take a path on the left, through woodland and eventually reaching the buildings of Dean House Farm. Turn right, to pass these buildings and join a track, turning right to pass a number of buildings on the right and woodland on the left. This long straight track eventually bends left to pass Lower Moulson Place and then climbs to pass Upper Moulson. In a further 100m as the road bends right there is a footpath ahead, on the left, which is followed. This passes a mast and reaches Marsden Gate Rd., where the path continues ahead, over fields. As the path nears buildings to the right, it crosses a farm track, which you join and turn right. Almost immediately you leave the track and continue straight ahead to pass through a farm yard and then pass the main buildings to your left to reach the A640 road. Turn left and then take the road on the right, over the M62. Continue for about 250m, until there is woodland on the right and there is a signed footpath which you follow. This climbs steeply, alongside a wall, until at the top it reaches a stile (2) where you leave this path and turn sharply right to follow the field edge. When woodland is reached, ignore the lane ahead and instead take a stile which gives access to the woodland. The path now follows the edge of the woodland and maintains height as it traverses the edge of Wholestone Moor. Continue across a lane by using two stiles and in a further 100m there is a fine viewpoint and a prominent standing stone. The path now descends, passing the reclaimed quarry on your left and over a high stile to join the quarry access road. This is followed to the right, downhill, and reaches Quebec Rd. where a right turn and then left take you back to the start of the walk.
Other comments and Points of Interest:  (1) The ruined mill was built to process cotton but never went into production. It may have been a victim of the American Civil War and the Unionist blockade of the South, which effectively cut off supplies of cotton to the UK, causing great hardship. 
(2) At this point recent excavation has revealed the foundations of what appears to be a Roman road. This is probably associated with the nearby fort at Slack (Outlane), but research continues.

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