Northcliffe and Heaton
Shipley
The POC at Northcliffe Park & Heaton Woods is on a 1:7500 map.
Unfortunately the course is in poor condition with several markers missing see Course Update at bottom of page for details
Parking
The car park is beside the main Northcliffe Park gates on the A650, just north of the junction with the A6038 on the West side BD18 3BX. From there the Start and Finish post is through the main park gates and 100m uphill.
If full, there is ample street parking nearby, particularly off the north side of the A650. Park with consideration to the residents. It is best to avoid parking on the A650 even if legal to do so.
What 3 Words: tunnel.discouraged.dream
Details
You can run or walk between the controls in any order you want or you can follow some of the courses recommended below. You may get a bit muddy on any of the courses – the more so the longer the course is - it is worth wearing old trousers and some shoes with a bit of grip. On the harder course you may encounter some steep and slippery slopes where shoes with good grip will really help.
Please note that the longest and hardest course involves using minor roads and is not suitable for unaccompanied children.
Introducing children
Use the Easy course first. Explain how to keep the map Northed (North arrows point between the bowling green and tennis courts from the start.) and walk with them round a couple of posts (eg F and I) pointing out map features on the way. They can then have a go, in small groups, at finding, say, S and Q. Then give each group a challenge, perhaps timed, of finding five or six posts, which could include those they have already found. After that, with older children, move on to a harder exercise. The easiest strategy is to give them a time limit, say an hour, and tell them to get as many posts as they can in the time (but do not include the controls in Heaton Woods M, P & O because of the roads crossed). Alternatively, set up a small race with teams of six in three pairs, with each pair having to find a post or pair of posts and return to a central point and handover to the next pair.
Recommended Courses
Easy, 1.1km: S-Q-B-I-F
Fairly easy but further, 2.0km, I-K-A-H-B-Q-S
Makes you think, 2.7km , J-T-D-L-K-H-E-C-U-G-S
Hard and steep, 4.9km, D-T-H-U-G-M-P-O-E-L-J
The ultimate: get round all the posts in any order in the shortest time.
Update: Jun 2025
Missing: B D E L O P Q
NB The thicket by G has been cut down so it's now on the S side of a copse.
There is no longer a recognisable clearing where J is; it's just in the middle of a block of forest.
The platform that U is on is overgrown with what could be mapped as Forest: walk.