Lunds Tower and Wainmans Pinnacle from Crosshills

The route

Start from the moor edge above Addingham and make an 8.8km loop onto Addingham High Moor, the western end of the great Rombalds Moor upland. The climb is front-loaded onto the open top, leaving most of the loop to run the moor tracks with the valleys falling away on either side. It is short but genuinely of the moor: gritstone, heather and peat rather than manicured trail, a proper little outing for its distance.

The moor

Rombalds Moor is a group of named moors between Wharfedale and Airedale, and Addingham High Moor is its quieter western shoulder, far less trodden than Ilkley Moor to the east. The ground is classic South Pennine gritstone: heather, boggy peat, weathered stones and the odd carved rock, with wide views over the Wharfe valley to the north and Airedale to the south. Windgate Nick, a notch in the moor edge, gives a fine viewpoint out over the dale. It is open, breezy country, bleak in bad weather and glorious in good.

Why it works

This is a route for a quick moorland fix or a first taste of the gritstone tops. The distance is short, but the moor is boggy and the paths thin out on the open ground, so navigation still matters in cloud and wet feet are likely. It suits an evening loop, a recovery run with a view, or an introduction to moorland running before the bigger South Pennine days. Save it for a clear day to get the views over both valleys. Addingham and Silsden below have pubs and shops for afterwards.