Alone Beneath The Sky: Wakefield Way #2 - Bretton Park to Horbury Bridge 06/06/15

9.8 miles, via Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bank Wood, New Hall, Overton and Middlestown.

Self at Bretton Park

I don't feel like I've had my A-Game on all week prior to this weekend, so I'm glad I've only got a short section of the trail to do right now, not requiring an early start but I still don't get onto the trail until 10.50am, thanks to horrible connections at Wakefield Bus Station and a slo-ow ride out to Bretton Park on the #96. So almost elevenses time already once we get going, entering the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on the path that shadow the edge of the River Dearne channel to the north of the Bretton Lakes, and a fearsome wind comes on, just to add another degree of difficulty to the day when I feel like I'm running at only 90% already, and the fields offer more sheep than sculpture, and my philistinism kicks in as Henry Moore is one of those artists whose works really fail to engage me. The track follows the lawn in front of Bretton Hall, down to the bottom corner of the park, where the 123454321 sculpture in breezeblocks and one of Anthony Gormley's figures high atop a tree are the most engaging works to be seen, and the northward cue of the path takes me around the YSP's perimeter offering views to the west last seen when on the Kirklees Way last year. At the top lane, our path joins the track across the northern pastures of Bretton park, with the wind kicking in hard as it ascends, but the views across the Dearne Valley compensate, and I'm struck that despite knowing that Wakefield and Kirklees district share a border, I did not expect them to have so much in common at this particular corner.

Ups and downs will be the course of the day, rising to Bower Hill Plantation before hairpinning downhill past Bower Hill farm and descending all the way to the A636 Denby Dale Road, and then slip into Kirklees itself, to pass around Bentley Grange farm and its fields full of Medieval bellpits for Iron mining, before hitting the field walk over to Bank Wood beck, with the track of the Kirklees Way only one field distant. Pass back into Wakefield district and, through Bank Wood on a rising track, passing the inviting avenues of trees which could easily get you lost, passing through ancient charcoal workings on Furnace Hill before hitting the track through wheat and barley up to Bank Farm and beyond to the A637 Bar Lane, feeling bad that I described this district as the flattest and least interesting in west Yorkshire. The road walk provides excellent views to north ands south, a quite unexpected ridge walk (which I have already passed over twice, before we cut downhill again past the water tower and through the pasture of long grass down to New hall Lane, passing HMP New Hall, with its small hamlet of wardens houses and a crossing lane that was surely a colliery incline in the past, before rising up to New Hall Farm, to the path atop the hill above Overton. Views across the Calder valley are gained, as well as a microwave tower and a trig point above the Denby Grange sports fields, before descending on Old Road to drop out onto the A642 New Road next to the National Coal Mining museum (for England) at the site of Caphouse Colliery, another site that I haven't managed to visit in all my years up country. The wacky turns of the day continue as the route descends sharply on the NCM's perimeter path, passing across the beck into Kirklees once again and taking a path around Hazlegreave farm which features far too much close contact with cows, before descending to Wood Lane, in the shadow of Thornhill Edge, and then rising again on the lane.

Thence downhill again, on the bridleway on the ancient flagged path of Brigg Lane, almost down to Mug Mill farm before heading uphill again on the farm track before cutting a field walk across the fields of Emroyd common, gaining a good view over towards Ossett, and back to Thornhill, with the track having added a path shaped like bunny ears to no immediately obvious end. Enter the woods outside Middletown, following the perimeter path to eventually find the way into the village for the only serious bit of urban walking for the whole day, passing along Nell Gap Lane and Thornhill Lane to cross the A642 again by the pair of pubs and the old Co-operative building before hitting the field boundary again to Sandy Lane, gaining sight of Horbury's spires, and another field to the top edge path through Sun Wood along the startlingly deep (relatively) cleft of Stoney Cliff beck. Pass through the odd mill hamlet of Coxley and drop down to the beckside, passing along the off-road cycling tracks and paths through Coxley wood down to the suburban Water Lane, emerging onto the A642 for the last time under the shadow of Horbury Viaduct and pacing the path previously seen to conclude opposite the Bingley Arms on the island betwixt Navigation and Calder at Horbury bridge, at 3.20pm. Slow going for a short distance, not having doe a sub-10 mile trip in high season for a long while, and I'm not feeling all that sharp after all those ascents and descents, a long path travelled to end only 4.5 miles from the day's start, hopefully future excursions will feature more useful mileages travelled, rather than crazily loopy paths designed to show the very best scenery of the district.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1722.1 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 319.9 miles
Up Country Total: 1595.7 miles
Solo Total: 1510.1 miles

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, featuring Bretton Hall and the work of Henry Moore.

Bretton Park looking south, property of the district since 2007 and well loved,
with views aplenty, and much closer to Kirklees than you'd have thought.

Bower Hill farm, on the descent from the first climb of the day.

Medieval bellpits, Bentley Grange. Industrial remains of this vintage are unusual
survivors, the sheer quantity to be found in these fields is little short of extraordinary.

Bank Wood, ascending again, and the most obvious path
is not necessarily the correct one.

The A637 Bar Lane. Not the most predictable of scenic routes in the area,
but high on the Dearne & Calder watershed provides an unexpected panorama.

New Hall incline. It just has to be an old colliery railway,
they never built remote lanes this straight and direct!

The NCM, former Caphouse Colliery, Overton. The West Yorkshire coal field
extended into corners I hadn't anticipated, and somehow we got the national
museum ahead of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Durham!