Wakefield to Wombwell 07/05/22

16.6 miles, via New Brighton, Thornes Park, Thornes, Calder Island, Pugneys Country Park,

 Stand Bridge, Kettlethorpe, Pledwick, Slack, Chapelthorpe, Hall Green, Woolley Moor, 

  Woolley, Woolley Edge, Windhill, Staincross, Athersley & New Lodge, Monk Bretton, 

   Cliffe Bridge, Cundy Cross, Monk Bretton Priory, Grange Bridge, Stairfoot, Aldham Junction,

    Bradberry Balk, and Wombwell Main.

Having taken the entire May Day weekend off from the trail, and using two-thirds of it for some important social interactions, we look to my favourite month of the walking year to get the mileage going again, and we need to get going beyond our established boundaries as we press into the High Season, pushing outside the bubble of walking experience and seeking new destinations in the south and east, indeed we’ve already got a list of 24 potential targets to aim at, so we need to get a move on if we’re going to get deep into that plan across the length of the summer. We thus start our new seasonal escapdes from Wakefield Westgate station at 9.35am, descending Mulberry Way behind the Arts Centre to Westgate itself, passing under the railway bridge as we strike westwards, south of the prison complex and on to the side of Ings Beck in its roadside channel before crossing to Lawfield Lane by its prominent chapel and passing the local primary school and the residential cluster of New Brighton before we meet Thornes (et al) Park, joining the path that rises across its centre, shadowing the access road to the campus of Wakefield college, and west of the Lowes Hill motte. Crest over the top of the parkland and descend the tree lined promenade route down between the playing field and mini golf course to exit onto Thornes Lane by the tennis courts and lodge café, following our route from a few weeks back as we head east and pass under the Denby Dale Road bridge again, and then keep on with the A636 as it strikes south, through the industrial commercial band that fills the space down to the Calder & Hebble Navigation, and Calder Island, before we pass over the river Calder itself and carry on down that illusory ribbon of houses that seemingly extends the city into the fields beyond. At the Swan & Cygnet traffic island, we split off to join the ahistoric A6186 Asdale road as it passes around the western edge of Pugneys Country Park, with its vast boating lake and miniature railway, offering views across to Sandal castle on its hill as we find ourselves among open fields and hawthorn hedges, despite still being within the greater city as we come around to the Asda store at Stand Bridge, and find ourselves tangling with the Wakefield Wheel cycling route as it splits off onto St George's Walk, by the Roman Catholic church of St Peter & St Paul. 

Allerton Bywater to Pontefract 27/02/22

 5.6 miles, via Allerton Ings, Castleford (Bridge), Glass Houghton, Pontefract Park, 

  and Tanshelf station. 

When you nab yourself a long weekend, your mind immediately thinks that your day off work has to be the one to use for any outdoor exploits, but when the situation presents a Monday that looks like hot garbage, it makes much more sense to move this to the Sunday, especially when there's only a relatively brief catch-up to be had and the weather is looking massively superior, and although the transport options are much more limited, it's going to be a 90 minute trip to the starting line regardless of the day, via the TPE to Leeds and the long ramble of the #168 bus. We thus alight at the Blands Avenue bus stop at 11.50am, at the end of the Wood End estate and across from the riverside ponds so that we might replicate the walk along Leeds Road through Allerton Bywater, past the primary school, the terraced triangle and the parish church of St Mary the Less, this time under a wash of bright sunshine, before Station Road leads us past the colliery memorial, unseen last time, and on past the splurge of suburbia on the brownfields to the north and on past the Railway Terraces and Letchmire Pasturees to the A656. We strike south here, with the Roman Road taking us across the apron of level fields that form Allerton Ings, with dampness still apparent all around, in the marshlands and arable fields, with the former gravel pits and workings to the east having filled with the floodwaters of the preceding weeks, ahead of the road kink that takes us over the Aire & Calder Navigation's Castleford Cut, past the enclave of terraces and industry on Lock Lane and over the mighty Aire, flowing with the force of two rivers as it heads eastwards beneath Castleford Bridge. Avoiding the town centre to the west, we'll continue south with Bridge Street as it leads us under the wide railway bridge and sticking with the A656 Pontefract Road as it rises up past St Joseph's RC church and school, past the ends of the mining vintage terraces that array to the south of the town and uphill beyond the The Magnet inn, between the playing fields of Castleford Academy and the urban wild park around Smawthorne Marsh as we crest our way over the ridge that the town has grown over during the last century, well away from the flooding risks posed by the river to the north. 

Brighouse to Bingley 12/06/21

14.8 miles, via Lane Head, Slead Syke, Hove Edge, Broad Oak, Hipperholme, 

 Common Wood Head, Jum Hole, Lane Ends, Stone Chair, Cock Hill, Hunger Hill, 

  Queensbury, Hill Top, Fox Hill, Mountain, Raggalds, Keelham, Denholme Clough, 

   Denholme Gate, Denholme Mills, Denholme, Lodge Gate, Doctor's Bridge, 

    Manywells Height, Cullingworth Gate, Cullingworth, Cow House bridge, Hill End, 

     Harden, Low Park, Birkey Bank Wood, Holme House Wood, and Ireland bridge. 

I'd hoped that the passing of my 5,000th mile in the walking career would be marked somewhere dramatic, in a landscape worthy of the achievement, but the location I'd had in mind for a while would involve a long trip away, and right now I'm still not in the mood to cram myself onto a Dales-bound train with all the others who've grown to love the great outdoors during these pandemic times, and thus we'll save that idea for another day, as I've still got three more 5,000 mile targets to hopefully attain before we get to turning 50, still three years distant from now. Thus we ride to Brighouse, as our westward progress up the Calder valley continues for another start new start line as we aim our routes towards the Aire still, alighting at 8.55am under gloomy skies, some 40 minutes ahead of the day's sunshine, and we're short of original route to take when heading north, over the River Calder via the A641 bridge, between the climbing walls on the mill and flour silo on Mill Royd Street, and over the Calder & Hebble Navigation via Anchor Bridge, beyond the western end of the town and joining the tangle of the main roads as we rise to the island at the end of Ludenscheid Link. The new path thus starts as we rise with the A644 Halifax Road, rising through the villa district of the town, with the Brighouse Library and Art Gallery sitting in the midst of the smart houses, as does the ambulance station, and the Success Chinese takeaway, which is a nice auger for the day's progress, with our northwesterly trajectory taking us beyond the terraced district of town, to the south of Lane Head Rec, and on into the swelling suburbia, which has grown around the urban hamlet of Slead Syke and the associated big houses concealed in their grounds. Uphill all the way feels like it's going to be the order of the day as we rise past the Charles Kershaw nurseries, as the suburban front falls away from the west side of the road, as we draw up close to the valley edge above the passage of Red Beck below, while the road still manages to roll some as we meet the urban village at the top of Brighouse, Hove Edge, where we are flashed a view of the ridge passage to come to the north, ahead of passing St Chad's church and the Dusty Miller inn, all dressed up to mark the arrival of the Euro 2020 tournament, a year behind schedule but still feeling like its come too early.