It's nice to gate late notice of passable weather on a day that was looking like it was going to be a washout, and just as well, as I've got one last blank to fill in on my map before my Spring Jollies and a change of focus to lands to the south. So break it out at Micklefield station at 9.10am and start tracking northwards along the Great North Road, to soon detour away from the bulk of the village and to greet the dog walkers on the track over to the crossing on the A1(M), following the driveway to the dog kennels up the hill before striking along the farm track, encountering a wind that feels deeply autumnal. Around the site of some mysterious construction work in the fields and onto the perimeter of Weets Wood and Scott's Wood, which drops the wind from my ears, thankfully. Follow the passage through Ringhay Wood, for moist going and a bluebell carpet, then hitting the field boundary again to meet the Lotherton Hall Estate, which gives you the feeling that you might be trespassing even though the whole estate is owned by Leeds City council. The garden path leads right up to this Victorian - Edwardian pile, and its Norman chapel, before dropping me by the stables block and onto the lane out of the grounds which no traffic uses. Move along Lotherton Lane to meet the track that runs adjacent to The Rein, an ancient embankment that runs for a mile at the very edge of the county, before taking Stocking Lane back to the main road and under the A1(M) and to the edge of Aberford, taking a fresh path around the back of many large gardens to roll up by a swollen Cock Beck, and passing over the footbridge to find the bridleway along Becca Lane. More ancient embankment are hidden in Becca Banks wood, above the beck, seen vaguely before entering the Becca Park Estate, where the tracks keep you well away from the 18th century (and private) house, pushing you onto the farm tracks as the rain briefly comes on before pushing you all the way out to the A64. The main road is avoided thanks to a convenient hard track that covers two of the three fields over to Mandrill Lane, another bridleway that is very damp, and takes you to the perimeter of Bramham Park estate, and I'll not be crossing that today as three country houses in one day would be greedy.
The park boundary leads me to Thorner Road, around the north west side of the estate and along the path of the #770 bus as there aren't any other viable paths in the area, and that's a long walk dodging traffic through the woods and past the lost village of Wothersome before finding the permissive path along the northern edge, giving me views across the estate that hides its house very successfully. Over the A1(M) for the third time, to the lane above Bramham, and straightforward passage through the village doesn't seem possible as I'm dropped into the Milnthorpe Close development, and across Wetherby Road, there's a brief lunching in the Diamond Jubilee garden on Wetherby Road before taking the footpath through the council estate and onto Clifford Road without having seen the village centre at all. I pace on along the pavement over to Clifford, which despite its modest size seems to have an incredibly rich history, still possessing two parish churches, and having been home to many hostelries and early mill operations, now looking like a settlement that really bids hard for every best kept village award going, and has nearly every farm along High Street wearing its best executive makeover. Green Lane leads on to Boston Spa, entered in possibly its most modest corner on Grove Road, but once on the A659 High Street nearly every block of buildings from the Fox & Hounds to the Parish church is worthy of a picture, it's a gorgeous and extremely well preserved Georgian Spa town that still feels very expensive, and like a well kept secret too. I will note that Church Fields is as vile and ersatz as contemporary developments can get, but the town should be proud that it has retained the 1940s bungalows at West End, built to serve the Thorpe Arch munitions works during wartime. Having passed all the way through the town, I head down the lane to Deepdale, a delightful wooded glade that leads down to the edge of the Wharfe, extremely high after Friday nights rains, moving on atop Jackdaw Crags for a lofty riverside walk, before dropping down to the weir to see the river at full force, and it's a pretty awesome sight as it churns as I've never seen it previously. Pause at the 18th century Wharfe bridge to finish my provisions and to contemplate the awesome natural forces at work, most because my target bus rolls over above as I'm checking my timekeeping, and so the last bit of the day is the dawdle up Bridge Road back to High Street to catch the next edition of the #770 that rolls up, all done at 3.40pm.
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1624.4 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 222.2 miles
Up Country Total: 1498 miles
Solo Total: 1385.4 miles
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| Micklefield Station, all NER buildings still present, but needing love. |
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| Ringhay Wood, this must be the time of year to wax lyrical about the Bluebell Carpet. |
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| Lotherton Hall, I really didn't know what to expect here, and got formal gardens and a fascinating late Victorian pile. I was expecting something a lot more 18th century. |
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| The Rein. Ancient Earthworks of uncertain provenance. Field boundary or defensive structure? We should be happy that it has managed to endure in the landscape for so long. |
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| Aberford Bridge, over the swollen Cock Beck. Not Pictured: Locals wading into the stream to retrieve debris threatening to choke the channel. |
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| Becca Banks. More Iron Age earthworks, obvious to the naked eye, but seemingly invisible to the photographic lens. |
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| Becca Park. Imposing Georgian house with privacy guaranteed, there's no way to get closer to it than this. |
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| Mangrill Lane. A rough surface for a major cycling route, maybe the Bramham Park estate doesn't want people coming too near their grounds when Leeds Fest isn't on? |
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| Thorner Lane, with bus stop access to the Bramham Park estate, this is one country pile that has been well designed to ensure its seclusion. |
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| North Lodge, Bramham Park. The only notable building on the whole perimeter, my next trip this way will have to take the right of way through the heart of the estate. The Hall must be seen, damn it! |
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| Bramham Diamond Jubilee Gardens. I'm sure the village has much more exciting views, but I've managed to chart a route which misses all of them. |
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| St Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic church, Clifford. A major place of worship built to service the needs of an immigrant population in the 19th century. It's not a modern phenomena is it? |
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| High Street, Boston Spa. Seriously, every block of this late Georgian town has some architecture to warm the heart and attract the camera. |
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| West End, Boston Spa. The preservation of such a mundane selection of 1940s bungalows and prefabs is another reason for good cheer. Our heritage isn't all expensive and dramatic, you know? |
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| Deepdale, a pleasing wooded glade down to the riverside that is well worth the detour, damp with atmosphere and rich with the aroma of wild garlic. |
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| Wharfe Bridge, Boston Spa. Clearly only one night of heavy rain is enough to get this placid river worked up into a fury. I often wonder if the Wharfe is shallow enough to wade across, won't be trying to find that out today! |
Next Up: Spring Jollies, resuming the Trail to the Coast with my longest distance so far.
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