Alone Beneath The Sky: Cross Gates to Horsforth 11/09/16

13.9 miles, via Seacroft, Whinmoor, Shadwell, Slaid Hill, Wigton, Eccup Reservoir,
Eccup Five Lane Ends, Golden Acre Park, Breary Marsh, Cookridge Hall & Cookridge.

Completion of the Wolds Way demands a celebratory meal at the John Paul Jones in The Bay (named after the American Revolutionary War naval captain, rather than the bassist out of Led Zeppelin), and the last day of holiday away sees the family travel back via Eden Camp, a place well worth visiting, and returning to Morley to celebrate My Parents' 49th Wedding Anniversary with a meal from Full House, providing enough food to keep me fed on Saturday evening too. Sadly hopes that they might have been a taxi service for me to walk the top half of the Washburn Valley come to naught, and that track gets relegated to the 'maybe in the distant future' list, and the folks return to Leicestershire whilst I find myself in the transition weekend of the year which sees the Last Night of the Proms play out and the first weekend of the NFL season start. Still got a Sunday of holiday to use, and as it's not raining this year, the most needs to be made of it, not travelling too far from home, as the reduced levels of public transport conspire to make travelling even a short distance into a minor odyssey, and so we head to Cross Gates for another tour across East and North Leeds, favouring the old roads that have endured among the spread of the city and aiming for a more rural aspect than last time. Off the train at 9.35am, before the shopping centre has fired up for the day and head up the Ring Road past St Theresa's as it still greets morning worshippers, and onwards across Crossgates Roads by Mecca Bingo and the New Travellers Rest to track north on Cross Gates Lane (the failure to be consistent with the district name's spacing is bizarre), once a rural lane that is now a picture of post war suburbia. On to pass over the A64 and to follow the old York Road into Seacroft, but don't get to far on when my camera's batteries run flat and I discover that haven't packed any spares, so 20 minutes of walking time is lost as I'm forced to join the queue outside the local branch of Aldi, hopeful that the ultra cheap cells that they provide will last me for the remainder of the day.

Back on track to see Seacroft village beneath rather friendlier skies than it had in June, catching the cluster of pre estate buildings that remain on the edge of Seacroft Hall's grounds and around Dawson's Court, it's own sort of rural idyll, before pushing up to St James's church and the Green, and to get the best possible angle on the Grange, the most remarkable survivor on the estate. Onwards to pass between the towers of Seacroft Gate, and under the Ring Road via the pedestrian tunnel to join another old lane, Coal Road, that seems to have no obvious mining history along any part of it's length, and as it shadows the A6120 it offers a fine elevated view over the city, one that I'd wager not too many people have noticed and even fewer have sought out deliberately. Anyway, onwards to Whinmoor, the outermost of Leeds's estates, secreted away behind rather a lot of industrial plants, most Unilever's, and sadly it all dates from that point where the city planners were putting in the smallest amount of effort to make their estates aesthetically appealing. Indeed, it's a district that has almost become a punchline about how East Leeds feels like a very long way from home to a boy like me, despite everyone I know who lives here being lovely people, but I do sense a few odd looks from the folks and cars that pass me, I'm guessing that Coal Road doesn't get that much walking traffic. To the countryside beyond Skeltons Lane, with only a few views of the high, flat fields of the Whin Moor, as Coal Road gains a lot of shade and tree cover as it makes its way out to the A58, crossing over to snake downhill to meet Shadwell bridge and the eastern edge of that village, and the westwards track starts along Main Street. It's a classic ribbon settlement, scattered along a single road, with a lot of late 20th century bungalows at its start, but gaining interest with the cottages and farmsteads in the heart of the settlement, around the village hall, St Paul's church and the Millennium Green, conveniently placed for early lunching. Push on, past the Methodist Chapel, Library and the Old Red Lion, getting many more sights of the village than I managed when I barely scratched it last year, and that feels like a settlement seen properly this time around as the road rises to offer a completely fresh vista over the eastern city before we pass the ancient parish boundary stone on Shadwell Lane that has us back in the city again.

Arrive at Slaid Hill, with it smart shopping parade, and its pub The Dexter opening up for the lunchtime trade, and we are now in the more upscale and expensive parts of North Leeds, and it frustrates me that such a district could be so bland to look at, as if none of the house built in the 1980s had any ambition to be interesting to look at. That seems to be the trend for most of the houses along Wigton Lane, so it's good to see the odd couple that have been rendered interesting with massive amounts of over-styling, like the Yellow house with an excess of equestrian statuary or the one on the corner of Plantation Gardens that is guarded by Lions, Chinese Dragons and Cannons. It seems the tasteful and upscale dwellings are actually to be found off Manor House Lane, slipping off into the countryside, over the fairways of Alwoodley Golf Course, and around the back of Leeds Grammar Schools's playing fields, and on to the Manor Farm, which has had an executive makeover, naturally. Past the service entrance to the Grammar School, the lane reduces down to little more than a secluded and shady cycleway down through the woods to the A61, hard to believe it was once a two lane road, all done to prevent it becoming a rat-run, you'd assume, and then it's over the main road to join the access road down to our main target for the day, Eccup Reservoir. Initially constructed in 1843, and expanded to become the largest reservoir in West Yorkshire, the good views all come from the dam and the initial part of the southern perimeter path, as once past the first inlet, a thick hedge of hawthorn and weeds prevents any decent views across the water surface, as if Yorkshire Water had absolutely no idea what to do with a major tourist attraction. So disappointment reigns as attention wanders into the woodlands and towards the greens of Sandmoor Golf course, and depart the perimeter path by the house at the end of Goodrick Lane, and shadow the reservoir to western end as the path skirts Goodrick Plantation, where the water peers through the trees at quite a remove and I feel baffled that such a significant landscape feature could be so ill-served. Anyway, focus turns to the late stretch as the day starts to feel warm once out of the shade, and need for lunch lands hard having failed to find a waterside spot to eat, and once the Dales Way link path is joined a place beneath a convenient tree is needed for late chow time.

Onwards to meet King Lane, far removed from its over-wide section in Alwoodley, joining the slightly elevated path at its side that heads north out beneath the trees, away from Headingley golf course and through the fields to meet the Eccup Five Lane Ends crossroads, which still hasn't seen all of its lanes walked, and meet the Leeds Country Way route for a bit of a blast from the past on the way from Eccup Whin to Golden Acre Park. Don't join the throng out to enjoy the parklands, instead staying on the secluded path below the lake and above the Adel Dam reserve, following the path out to the A660 by the Mercure Parkway Hotel, and realise that the one time that I stayed there was now seven years ago, and then we cross Otley Road to pass up the drive of Cockerhill farm and to make across the field with a causeway across it to meet the Breary Marsh nature reserve. It seems that Paul's Pond is having major remedial work at the moment, and the circumference path is closed, fenced off to prevent access, which provides an over-long official detour, but an unofficial one along the field edges is much easier, with only two fences to clamber over before meeting the footpath again as it enters Cookridge Hall golf course. It's been golf courses all the way through today hasn't it? and at least the route across the fairways is neatly marked out and the revelatory view of the hall is a good one, as are the views back, all in all this is an interestingly creased part of north Leeds. The country club is busy this afternoon, busy enough to be distracting as I lose the footpath out to Cookridge Lane and end up walking out of the main entrance instead, and then I need to pick a route to the finish line, and after picking the route down Green Lane, through the heart of suburban Cookridge, I start to ponder if it would have been wiser to have gone down Tinshill Lane instead. Pass Holy Trinity and the village hall, convinced that the end is close, but being back in the city has clearly screwed up my conception of distances, and the finish line isn't close to the C of E school either, and then the lane kinks a few times, becoming Wood Hill Lane and still doesn't end, convincing me that my train will be missed and I'll be forced to have a consolation drink in the Fox & Hounds. Roll on to Horsforth station, where all my West Leeds trails have piled up, 10 minutes behind schedule, all the time lost at the start of the day, and joy is unrefined to discover that the train is late too, so on board after 3.15pm, having done another satisfactory number on this fair city.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2467.3 miles
2016 Total: 452.9 miles
Up Country Total: 2251.8 miles
Solo Total: 2236.4 miles