Back to the West Riding after my jollies, and time for a change of focus after spending most of the first four months of the season in the lands to the north-east of Leeds, it's now time to head into the heart of Wakefield district for the height of the walking year, and using Bank Holiday Monday to cut a new trail between those two cities seems a good way to start. It's a modest distance, so we don't need an early start, departing Leeds station via the New Station Street entrance at 10.35am, taking the steps down to the passage along the side of the railway arches to Lower Briggate, mostly for the sake of variety, before hitting Call Lane to make for the Centenary footbridge (not sure which one it celebrates) over the River Aire to Brewery Wharfe. It's longer a virtual ghost town, last decade's residential developments having now filled up, but it lacks the neighbouring Tetley Brewery these days, and the trip through early 21st century city living continues as I cross Crown Point Road to walk through the Clarence Dock development, which sits well around the old canal wharf but fails to stimulate the senses as it seems to have been constructed in the same shade of grey as the sky. Student living now sits at the top of Clarence Road in the form of Liberty Dock, but light industry and post-industrial wastelands soon take over this outer edge of Hunslet, dominating the landscape from the A61 South Accommodation Road flyover and down Atkinson Street and National Road, all looking like its waiting for development of some kind to come this way.
Meet the A639 Low Road as alternatives are not forthcoming, and again misidentify the Punch Clock corner as the route of the main road to Wakefield, that comes on the next turn on the rising road that holds the remaining abutment of a bridge that is the only major remnant of the GNR Hunslet Goods line on this side of the Aire. Continue, over the railway and along the footways around Junction 7 of the M621, rising over that motorway and the M1 along the side of the A61 and past the Leeds Valley business park before making the turn to the quieter Wood Lane and finding no indication of why there are a pair of whale Jawbones on the corner of the road to Rothwell. Pass through the edge of the housing development that has claimed the site of St George's hospital, where only the clock tower endures, before walking down the residential Low Shops Lane to finally hit a country footpath which leads me into the fields of the Rhubarb Triangle, and over to the site Low Shops colliery and to the footpath that shadows the weed choked cutting branching from the E&WYUR coal lines. Pass across the triangle junction and off among the bungalows of Northfield Place on the fringe of Robin Hood before striking along Westfield Road for more railway observance and rhubarb on the way over to Carlton, and that's a village that passes from view almost as soon as its encountered. Ouzlewell Green road offers agriculture, housing and industry along its wonderfully named length before we pass under the M62, and enter Wakefield district via Low Moor Road, which leads to the edge of Stanley, and the one bridge on the Methley Joint Line that I didn't see on last year's visit can be found along my descent of Long Causeway.
On through Stanley's council houses, drawing the conviction that my trails seem to be drawn to meet on Lime Pit Lane, this being my fourth visit to this corner of the village, and this time make my way through the Stanley Marsh nature reserve, past the lake (on the Deep Drop colliery site) and across the wildflower meadow to find the permissive path on the golf course edge that shadows the A642 to the Ferry Lane junction. Retrace February's footsteps in retrograde to Finkin Lane, and then strike the footpath that leads along the field boundary and across pasture to arrive on Bar Lane on the north edge of Pinder's Fields, on the north edge of Wakefield. The long causeway (!) footpath follows the perimeter of Pinderfields Hospital, and I knew that the site had been extensively redeveloped, but was not aware of just how much of the old hospital had gone, and a detour is necessary to take a close look at the so 'Parklands Manor', the old section of building that shows all the warmth of a prison, rather than a desirable residence. Pinderfields Road and Lower York Street offer the Home Zone urban residential experiment before a crossing is made of Marsh Way, next to the bus station, and from there it's a short dash to the finish, down Rishworth Road between the old County Hall and Town Hall, down Cliff Parade and betwixt that trio of unoccupied buildings forming a plaza opposite Westgate station. All done at 2.40pm, nearly within the 4 hour window that I set for myself and delighted that the soreness that beset me on the end of my holidays has not endured, and a good thing too, as I intend to make June and July count this year.
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1697.5 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 295.3 miles
Up Country Total: 1571.1 miles
Solo Total: 1458.5 miles
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| Centenary Bridge, Leeds. But Which centenary though? If the dedication plaque says so, I must have missed it! |
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| Clarence Dock, Leeds. Primo City Living that cries out for colour. To think when I first visited the Armouries back in 1996, it were nowt but industrial wasteland round here... |
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| Hunslet & Victoria Mills, Atkinson Street. These buildings need redemption, please don't replace them with 21st century apartment complexes, we've already got enough of those! |
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| Wakefield Road bridge abutment, GNR Hunslet Goods line. I haven't run out of railway remnants to find around the city just yet! |
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| St George's Park, Rothwell. Once the district isolation hospital, it passes into residential use with only the clock tower remaining, I have fears that Seacroft hospital could be going the same way soon. |
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| The E&WYUR Low Shops Colliery Branch, Robin Hood. See, still not run out of railway remnants but the overgrowth here prevents a couple of hundred metres of actual Railway Walking. |
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| The Rhubarb Triangle Farm & Shop, Ouzlwell Green. That's a name that says it all, really. |
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| Long Causeway Bridge, Methley Joint Line, Stanley. Alright, no more railway remnants, for today... |
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| Stanley Marsh nature reserve. The Deep Drop colliery site gains a lake and foliage aplenty in the century since its closure, and provides Stanley a lung amongst the many council houses. |
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| Between Stanley and Wakefield, and this district lacks good high points to get a panoramic view, so this will have to do for today. That mysterious building near Junction 30 on the M62 is now finished, still no idea what it is. |
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| Parklands Manor, Pinder's Fields. The old Hospital survives as plush living for the 21st century, but has all the homely qualities that a former mental institution might have. An isolated clock tower endures here, too. |
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| Mulberry Plaza, Wakefield. It's probably got a different name, but I'm not aware of it, so as long as these building want for a use, I'll call it what I want to. |
Next Up: Fifth and Final circular trail in West Yorkshire starts, the Wakefield Way!
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