Alone Beneath The Sky: Apperley Bridge to Leeds 26/03/16

9.7 miles, via Calverley Bridge, Newlay, & Kirkstall.

Back Up Country again, for a long Easter Weekend that seems to be apt to deal the best weather onto the days that I won't be walking (Friday and Sunday) and leaving the cruddy stuff for the days when I'm hitting the trail, so there's gonna be quite a bit of attempting to stay ahead of the rain as my quest to visit every railway station in West Yorkshire resumes. Apperley Bridge in a new arrival on the scene this year, one of three scheduled to enter service in 2016, and that's an extra wrinkle to add to this particular quest, and whilst it's not on the site of the original station, it's a fresh drop off point between Leeds and Shipley to use, secreted below the bridge that carries the old access road to Esholt Hall, and a handy starting point for a walk along the River Aire back into the City. So onwards at 9.55am, off through the carpark to get back to the A658 Harrogate Road, last seen only a couple of weeks back, and above the site of the original Midland Railway station (1846-1965) we find our way onto Woodlands Drive to pass up and over the line branching to Ilkley and to wander among the many expensive villas that have grown up and become hidden along this semi-private road. Footpaths lead down to the riverbank, via playing fields and freshly silaged grasslands to pick up the path last seen when walking the Leeds Country Way in 2012, but the scenario is pretty dissimilar now, as the remnants of the Boxing Day floods still scar the landscape. Plastic bags and paper still coat the low hanging branches of the waterside trees and dried grass is knotted up in every link of fence to be seen, and on the southern side there's heavy scouring on the banks and even a couple of trees have been felled, I'm guessing that this is one mess that no human hands are going to clean up. Drift away from the bank around the sewage works, but keep on towards Leeds this time around, returning to the waterside to pass below the impressive pair of railway bridges and to take in the fenced off lands to the north where a farm and former industrial park are getting the residential redevelopment treatment as Woodlands at Horsforth Vale, not yet sufficiently complete to have alarmed the new residents as the floodwaters of 2015 surged up to and through its perimeter fence.

The next point of interest is Calverley Bridge, the three arched construction of 1775 that might be the forgotten crossing on the Aire, now only used by walkers and cyclists since the Ring Road took its traffic away, a volume that it would have been completely unsuited for, a fact brought home by passing beneath the high and graceful arches that carry the A6120. More flood residue to observe as the path continues to the east, but abandon the river as it swings south towards Rodley, instead taking the short route over the protruding tongue of land, the size of which is brought home by the depth of the cutting that the railway passes through as it traverses its way to the city. Pass over it and into the suburbia of Newlay, where contemporary development has mixed in among the Victorian villas without any obvious scheming, and the way back to the river via Newlaithes Road and Newlay Grove is circuitous and sloping, which makes you wish for a planned riverside path in this quarter. Back to Newlay Bridge again, and continue away from the weir alongside the river down Rein Road, on a very leafy path that shadows the goit channel that ultimately fed the Kirkstall Forge site, the perimeter of which forces us up to the A65 Abbey Road, where the long and high perimeter wall can be followed with traffic and the trees of Hawksworth Wood keeping us company. I'll blather about Kirkstall Forge to anyone who'll listen, a former ironworks and monastic establishment that endured in industrial use for over 800 years, and now gradually redeveloping as upscale living for the would-be out of towners, one which might hopefully offer more riverside walks for those who might not wish to reside there in the future. Abbey Road leads us to an obvious destination, Kirkstall Abbey and its park, the former 12th century Cistercian foundation that is still able to attract the throng on a glum Saturday, and it always amazes me that so much of the church and the monastic buildings have endured, especially as it was dissolved in 1539 and has spent 500 years of disuse so close to a city that could have easily absorbed large quantities of dressed stone. Good to finally get it into my walking territory, and plenty of pictures are taken despite me already knowing it well enough, and kudos to Leeds City Council for getting the whole site permanently open too, as this is a place all Loiners should know and love!

As the Aire flows away over Kirkstall weir, we can follow the goit channel the once fed the local mills and that leads neatly down to the Kirkstall Valley Retail Park and to Bridge Road, and it looks like the A65 might be the red route for the remainder of the day, but signage indicates a way back to the goit channel past the local Morrison's and that gives a more peaceful and industrial aspect for a wander all the way down to St Anne's Mill. It looks like a path might continue down the riverside below there, but it peters out eventually, at least providing more sights of the post-flood detritus before we have to backtrack to the A65, but not much further along is the way down to the Burley Mill goit, about half of which provides walking below tree cover before we get back to the A65 as the rain comes on and I wish there were some sort of coherent mapping of the paths and nature reserves along this particular stretch of the Aire. Meet the point where the river inundated Kirkstall Road back in December, the sharp kink where the river runs in close to the roadside, and the shopping parades around the Cardigan Arms finally looks like they've had a proper clean up and the sandbags that were still out in January have finally been put away. Pass down past the Cardigan Fields leisure complex, where many hours youthful were spent, back in the day, and move on past the Sun Inn (former) and below Kirkstall Viaduct, built in 1849 and still elegantly carrying the railway to Harrogate, high above the Aire valley, and still one of those structures that the city doesn't appreciate enough. On to the city then, down that side of Kirkstall Road where industry still endures and riverside development still hasn't quite started up yet, despite sites like the Arla dairy and the bus depot having passed out of use quite some time ago. Across the Inner Ring, where the Yorkshire Post offices once dwelled and make my way down to the City Island apartment complex, where I'm convinced a path resides among the flats between river and canal, and one does but the fact that it has a mag-locked gate on it suggests it's not public, but it's open today so it's all good. Detour at Whitehall Road as the fences that obscured the views of the old Leeds Central station approach viaduct have been removed, and that's worth a photograph or twenty, still looking in good nick despite 50 years of disuse, and a nicer day might have warranted a proper trespass. Still, last footfalls pick up the path to Whitehall Riverside, feature of the first and last walks of 2015, rolling on to Leeds station for a 1.45pm finish and another sub-10 mile day, hopeful that Spring might come into the air soon to get my mileage total ticking over a bit more quickly.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2092.4 miles
2016 Total: 78 miles
Up Country Total: 1895.7 miles
Solo Total: 1862.3 miles