An easy walk in the Rusland Valley

This is an easy walk in the Rusland Valley passing through pleasant woodlands that were once important for producing charcoal used to make iron and gunpowder in nearby factories. The route goes through a nature reserve along board walks to explore a lowland raised peat bog with a wide range of habitats for wildlife, flora and fauna. The walk moves on to the village of Oxen Park, now a quiet village but once busy with packhorses and wagons on what was once an important north-south highway, and returns along a field path to Colton church.

Park in Colton Holy Trinity Church parking area (grid reference SD 317 860).

Information

Distance: 5.5 miles, ascent: 750 feet

Time: 3 hours

Terrain: easy grassy paths with gentle slopes, board walks and quiet roads.

Map: OS Explorer OL7

Route

1 Walk through the metal kissing gate above the church. Keep near the wall on the left then go downhill through birch woodland, through a wooden gate and onto a track going down through the woods. Pass through a road gate and turn left then bear right onto a public footpath through a wood and wire gate onto a grassy track. Follow a hummocky path with a wall on the right to a wooden gate followed by new metal ones; keep right, cross a small beck and go round to the right of the rocky outcrop ahead. Descend along a twisty track to a road. Turn left, and go along the quiet road to a cattle grid to enter Hay Bridge Nature Reserve.

2 The road passes two man-made tarns (Black Beck and White Moss Tarns). There are bird hides near the tarns - these are a habitat for moorhens, coots and little grebes. Hay Bridge Nature Reserve is privately owned: membership of the society offers full access to the reserve and its facilities. On reaching the study centre bear right onto the footpath signed Rusland Cross One Mile passing the warden’s white house bearing a plaque (JSCF 2002), which refers to the John Strutt Conservation Foundation Charitable Trust. Walk along the track and go through a gate on the right onto a public footpath on board walks over the raised mires of Hay Bridge, Hulleter and Rusland mosses. The mosses, which took 3,000 years to form, were damaged years ago by peat cutting and drainage. Current restoration work includes blocking drainage ditches to create favourable conditions for the sphagnum moss and felling the trees to reduce loss of water. Turn left at a waymarker onto another boardwalk path leading to the edge of Rusland Moss woodland.

3 Turn left and walk across a field to a gate then up to Hulleter Farm. Cross the concrete farmyard and join a track on the right leading to a road junction: go straight ahead along the road signed Grizedale. After passing houses on the left turn left onto a public footpath behind a private parking area. Follow the footpath behind the houses, along the edge of Paddock Heald Wood and across fields to a walled farm track. Branch right onto the path signed Oxen Park, going down to the valley bottom and alongside a hedge on the right onto a path overhung by holly trees. A track heads towards a white house.

4 Turn left onto the road and pass the derelict green building that used to be Oxen Park Village Hall. Keep to the right and go through the village to the Manor House inn. Turn right, following the road for 400 yards, then turn left at a public footpath fingerpost. Follow the field path to emerge via a wicket gate to the track opposite Colton church.

NB: restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route. It is advisable for anyone who plans to follow the walk to take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.