Walk 7 - Bessalone (4.5 miles)

Known to our family as Cow Hill this walk starts at Whitemoor Medical Centre.  Look for the farm track and footpath sign next to the Medical Centre and follow the track through the farm and over a footbridge.  Turn left and then right to follow a hedge uphill.  Continue to follow the hedge over stiles and alongside converted farm building until you reach Far Laund. 

At Far Laund turn right and follow the road past Jacksons Lane and footpaths on the right.  As you pass the Heage village sign the road starts to rise.  Just past a ‘SLOW’ road marking look for a track and footpath on the left opposite West Bank Farm. Follow this track as it climbs steadily uphill with fine views to Heage Windmill on the right.  At the end of the track continue uphill heading towards a lone tree on the horizon and with a hedge on the right.

At the top of the hill go through a stile in the hedge and turn left onto a track. Follow this track as it heads uphill and right and to a gate with a stile.  Head across the field to the woodland ahead and look for a stone squeeze stile in the corner.  Continue alongside the woodland and then across fields following wooden marker posts with fine views to the right across the Derwent Valley.  As you head towards houses you will cross a track which services the covered reservoir to the left.  In the last field bear left looking for a footpath between gardens.  

Bessalone Hill is 182m (597ft high) with a reservoir and mobile phone tower serving Belper.  Bessalone Wood is a local nature reserve.

At the road turn left downhill, the left again to arrive at Far Laund.   Turn left along Far Laund and walk uphill turning right down Ashford Rise.  Turn left onto Edensor Drive and then left again onto Arkwright Avenue.  At the T junction turn left and then head right down The Pinfold.  At the tarmac path turn right and then immediately left on a path through trees.  At the stone squeeze stile turn immediately left through a narrow path.  As you emerge onto a lane with houses look for a wooden stile next to a wooden gate a little way down a drive on the left.  Follow this narrow path as it passes Whitemoor Medical Centre and returns to the starting point.