The Twelve Apostles and Rombalds Moor Trig from the Cow and Calf
You touch the highest point of the moor and a Bronze Age stone circle inside eight kilometres, on paths good enough to run nearly all of. It is the best hour available on Ilkley Moor.
Effort: Moderate distance, manageable climb
Underfoot: Some uneven or off-path ground
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A 7.7km loop from the free car park at the Cow and Calf, climbing past White Wells to the 402m trig on Rombalds Moor and returning over the Twelve Apostles stone circle and Gill Head.
You touch the highest point of the moor and a Bronze Age stone circle inside eight kilometres, on paths good enough to run nearly all of. It is the best hour available on Ilkley Moor.
The route
From the Cow and Calf car park the route runs west along the moor edge below the crags, passing above White Wells at 1.6km. The old spa cottage and its stone plunge pool are worth two minutes if the flag is flying, which is the only reliable sign it is open. Beyond it the path turns south and starts climbing properly, taking most of the day's 266m over the next two and a half kilometres on a broad, stony moor track.
The trig
The trig pillar at 402m arrives at 4.3km. It stands on a prehistoric burial cairn and marks the highest point of the whole Rombalds Moor massif, which is worth knowing because at ground level the plateau reads as flat in every direction. On a clear day you get Wharfedale on one side and Airedale on the other. In cloud you get nothing, and this is where people get turned around.
The Twelve Apostles
A kilometre further on, at 5.5km, the route reaches the Twelve Apostles: twelve millstone grit stones in a ring about fifteen metres across, originally sixteen to twenty of them, now well eroded by four thousand years and a lot of feet. The Lanshaw Lad boundary stone sits right beside the line here. From the circle the route swings north and drops to Gill Head at the top of Backstone Beck, then follows the beck path back past Haystack Rock to the car park.
Which version to run
This is the compact one, and it is the one to pick if you want a moor run that fits in a lunch hour or a first run on Ilkley Moor that will not spit you out. If you want the longer circuit, with the Badger Stone, the Grubstones circle and a proper crossing of Burley Moor, take the 11.6km version from the same car park instead. Both share this climb and this trig; only this one gets you back inside the hour.
The summit plateau is genuinely featureless and Ilkley Moor sits in cloud more often than its modest height suggests, so carry a compass even on a short loop. The peat between the trig and the Twelve Apostles stays wet most of the year. Back at the start, the quarry and crag tops around the Cow and Calf are unfenced above graded climbing routes, which matters in the dark or in mist.
Summits on this route
Safety on this route
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text register to 999
- Tell someone your route and expected return time before you head out
Leave No Trace
- Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories.
- Please respect the countryside and all its inhabitants.
- Dogs on leads near livestock, and around ground-nesting birds from March to July.
- Gates as you find them — open or closed, leave it that way for the farmer and the next runner.
- Take it all home — wrappers, peel, tissue, the lot. It doesn't count as biodegradable if you can still see it.
- Stick to the path where the ground either side is wet, planted, or nesting habitat.
Common questions
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