Parking is available for three cars at the old Gravel Pit (1) but if people park badly only one car will fit in.
There is some parking further back down the road on the verge but be careful as the ground can be soft so check it out first before pulling in. The public road ends at the gravel pit, please do not drive up the private road to park at the sheep pens (pt 2), there were Police notices to this effect in 2021. Alternatively park in Knock and take the longer route in.
(S/E) From the parking, walk up the road passing the house on the left to the disused Gravel Pit.
(1) From the Gravel Pit, keep heading northeast up the road, there will be fields on either side and eventually you will come to a cattle grid beyond which are sheep pens on the left. Ahead will be an information board and an old lime kiln on the bend in the road.
(2) After the cattle grid, turn immediately right and keep the wall to your right hand side. The path is faint at first as you pass through tussocks of grass and reed but you will pick up a path /quad bike track 3 or 4 meters away from the wall and parallel with it. You will soon come to a wooden stile crossing the wall.
(3) At the stile, keep going along the track and it will dip down to cross Sink Beck. (Melmerby Scar Limestone) Continue, keeping parallel to the wall to pass a second wooden stile.
(4) Do not cross the stile but rather follow the path drifting away from the wall before heading downhill towards a bridge. Before the bridge you will come across a junction with the Pennine Way; stone arrow marker and information sign. Swindale Beck is to your right and you will see outcrops of different rock types as you ascend. These different rocks give the landscape its distinctive stepped shape.
(5) Follow the arrow and ascend along the Pennine Way heading for two distinctive triangular cairns. From these, the gradient eases a little, continue following the Pennine Way looking out for some small but distinctive sinkholes near the path. You will arrive at a stream which flows in front of you.
(6) This stream lies in Knock Hush, turn left and follow the path with the hush/stream on your right. The path will eventually cross the stream and pass through a more boggy area where the old hush dam used to be. Look out for the stone posts marked with arrows which help keep you on the right path. It will ascend to a distinctive cairn marking Knock Old Man.
(7) From the cairn, follow the Pennine Way heading north to The Heights passing through felsenmeer. As you descend from The Heights, the path can be boggy in places and will eventually join a line of old iron poles driven into the ground.
(8) At the start of the poles, lookout for a doughnut shaped ring of earth with some rock spoil on the left. This marks an old shallow pit shaft used for mining one of the mineral faults. The line of poles marks the Pennine Way and fortunately, this section has been paved with sandstone flags to prevent erosion of the peat. However, some the flags might be 2 or 3 inches underwater in certain places. The path will bring you to a junction with the road.
(9) At the road junction, turn left and follow the well surfaced road downhill. You will pass the outcrops of Green Castle on the right. You will come to a widening of the road where a track bears off right around the fellside towards the old Silver Band Mine.
(10) Keep descending the tarmac road to pass the disused Knock Quarries on the right. Some of the limestone from here would have been used in the lime kiln which is slightly lower down on the bend in the road above the sheep pens.
(11) At the lime kiln, descend to the sheep pens (2) and then head back down the road to your car, passing the Gravel Pit (1)
