The iconic 1970s film “The Railway Children” really put the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway on the map when it featured the then little known station of Oakworth and many of the scenes were set along the railway.
The Railway have capitalised on this with a circular walk taking the walker passed many places featured in the film. (A leaflet with details of the walk is available in their shops.)
We had done a “trip”:https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/review/attraction/208593 on the Railway in the morning, and spent the afternoon doing the walk.
The walk is 6 miles, although being a figure of eight can be walked as two separate loops. The eastern loop covers Haworth to Oakworth. As well as spending time at Oakworth Station with its level crossing, goods yard and Perk’s cottage, it also visits the tunnel, landslide and where Bobby flagged down the train with her red petticoat. The route is along footpaths and pavements.
The western loop is longer covering Haworth to the carriage sheds at Oxenhope (with a detour to Oxenhope station. It passes Haworth Parsonage, (Dr Foster’s house) as well as Three Chimneys (Bents House) and Perk’s stile. There are fewer film locations but it is a much more interesting walk as it follows the Bridgehouse Beck to Oxenhope sheds where it crosses the railway line and then climbs up to the open hillside with views across the valley.
The fitter members of the group did the full walk. I just did the western loop. The route is along walled trods* and footpaths, as well as some stretches along pavements. There is a welcome seat overlooking the sheds at Oxenhope!
There are a few narrow stiles (which weren’t built for today’s figures or pushchairs) and others which have a gate across them. There are two
“stiles”:https://northamptonshirewalks.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/dsc00403.jpg with steep “steps”:https://northamptonshirewalks.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/dsc00362.jpg from Howarth to Bridgehouse Beck which would challenge anyone with limited mobility.
On a sunny day, it is a lovely walk and we were accompanied by the sound of peewits as we crossed the open moorland.
*trod is a dialect word used for the tracks that linked settlements before roads.
“Details for walk”:https://northamptonshirewalks.co.uk/walks-outside-northamptonshire/walk-96-the-railway-children-walk-dont-upset-the-bloomin-missus/
