Elsdon, Steng Cross and Winter’s Gibbet

Eight miles with only 200 metres of climbing but four hours of it, from the great green at Elsdon past the Norman motte and out over the moor to the replica gallows at Steng Cross where William Winter was hung in chains in 1792. Park on the roadside round Elsdon’s green, which is free and generous, though the village has one pub and no shop; there is also a lay-by at the gibbet itself if you would rather see it without the walk. Miles of empty moor track where a dog can run with burns to drink from, but the ground is grazed by sheep the whole way, holds ground-nesting curlew and lapwing from March to July, and the last stretch follows an unfenced moor road with fast traffic.