MOOCH - Houndkirk Moor

It has to been around six years since I last drove these lanes, when I was on my way home from visiting Milner Off-Road in Matlock, Derbyshire in the very capable Mitsubishi L200 SVP. This time the new Hilux was my, and Muddy Madam's ride for the day. We were on our way back from Sheffield after collecting a couple of tickets to watch Queen and Adam Lambert for Muddy Madam’s birthday.

From Sheffield we headed towards Ringinglow, more specifically the lane that goes over Houndkirk Moor, the aptly named Houndkirk Road, or SK2780-04 if you’re a GLASS member and use Trailwise 2.

After a few minutes our own hound, Lilly, became restless in the back of the car, and began getting whingy. She tolerates being in the car whilst on the move at speed, and eventually settles down, but drive slowly, for example when green laning and it’s a different story, so Muddy Madam decided it would be easier to walk with her down the road, thus giving me the opportunity to stop and take photos in peace.

Lane 1

Start at the east end of the lane and the surface is solid and fairly flat, but I still engaged low-box as I dawdled onwards and admired the spectacular views that this side of Yorkshire had to offer.

It wasn’t long before a Ranger pulled up alongside me, also in a Hilux, and we had a good chat about the Moor, Rights of Way and off-piste vandalism by all groups; walkers, bikes and 4x4s. By the time we’d finished putting the world to rights, Muddy Madam and Lilly had passed us and were already out of sight.

Houndkirk Road varies in width, from just about wide enough for one vehicle to three car widths, and it’s in these wider sections that you have the option of driving along a smooth bit, or the more challenging rocky sections. I tried the challenging bits and the Hilux dismissed them with ease.

The last time I drove along Houndkirk I remember thinking that it had to be one of the busiest green lanes that I’ve ever driven, the amount of walkers, cyclists, quads and trail bikes that passed me by was amazing, even on a weekday. Today was a Sunday, and it was quiet, I was past by one dog walker and a cyclist. The cyclist was on an electric mountain bike, so I flagged him down and asked him a load of question about it as I’m quite interested in buying one.

After mithering him I figured I’d better catch up to Muddy Madam and Lilly, who were both visible in the distance. This next section is fairly flat and narrow with some wide holes that would create , there are some wide holes, that after rain creates some huge puddles. Overall Houndkirk Road is a nice easy lane with a mixed of surface sands and rocks that offers some spectacular views.

Lane 2

From Houndkirk we headed towards Castleton and our second lane, SK1582-02. The last time I drove this lane I was in my old 300Tdi Discovery and writing for Land Rover World at the time - so a while back.

Driving from east to west there’s a slight incline and the surface is hard enough, not really challenging, but as you climb further up, on the left hand side there’s quite a bit of evidence of off piste motorcycle and 4x4 use, there was also a huge pile of builders rubble that had been dumped.

The lane is wide enough to squeeze by, but I jumped out first and checked for any nails or screws that could have caused a problem. From here the lane becomes quite narrow and rocky, so if you’re planning on driving this lane, you’ll need a lowbox and none of those silly low profile tyres!

Lane 3

Next were Dirtlow Rake and Rowter Lane which are covered by the same UID, SK1282-02. Again, heading from east to west Dirtlow Rake begins with a slight incline on lose stone, there’s the odd rut but nothing taxing, especially in the Hilux, in fact a well driven Ateca or Yeti could manage it easily enough. Heading up towards there’s a disused quarry on the right where there’s more evidence of off-piste driving, but there’s now strategically placed boulders to discourage the numpties amongst us.

Once it flattens out it becomes nice hard packed surface and like Houndkirk, has some wide holes, that after rain creates some huge puddles. There’s the odd gate to open and shut, but just take your time and enjoys the views.

Further along there’s a sharp right turn, and from there on its Rowter Lane which is a very well maintained gravel track with even more great views.

That was it, the end of a great afternoon’s adventure, there was no man and machine battling against nature as we fought hard against treacherous ancient byways, nothing like that. We simply trundled our way along lovely public rights of ways, keeping to the tracks and being polite whilst enjoying the views.