Alone Beneath The Sky: Garforth to Ulleskelf 29/10/16

11.8 miles, via Aberford Road, Collier Lane, Lead, Towton & Kirkby Wharfe.

Thirteenth consecutive day of activity due after having no rest days at all last weekend, but the inspiration to walk is still strong as we enter the run-out groove of the 2016 season, and a later start is always welcome too, when your walk is dictated by having only one train that it is plausible to catch to get beck home again as your gaze falls to the terrain east of Leeds and seeing which spaces still need lines drawn across them. So start out from Garforth, still one of my favourite former NER stations, at just before 10am, walking out onto Aberford Road and setting a course to the north-east, pacing the pavements of the A642 with retail and light industry occupying the north side with the various estates of East Garforth to the south, not one of the more exciting roads, but the primary school converted to a curry house and the former toll house and weighbridge are worthy of note. It's going to be roads for most of the day, so as we enter the countryside the hope is strong that the footways might endure for a decent distance, and the way ahead is clear as we pass over the M1 at Junction 47, and the traffic free path continues as we carry on along the B1217 up to the edge of the Parlington Estate. Nicer weather in the air might have enhanced the views to the Hook Moor windfarm, but even in the haze Park House farm looks like a site that could be renewed and rendered extremely desirable with a bit of restoration and TLC, and the path continues alongside the estate wall, passing Wakefield Lodge, one of the many perimeter houses on the estate, and it does get me pondering why this particular parkland is on the slate for potential residential development, as it would surely be of greater use if employed recreationally. Leave the estate behind as we meet the old Great North Road, now the local route between Micklefield and Aberford, and the footway continues to take us below its modern replacement, the A1(M), before petering out at the entrance to the Hook Moor windfarm, and I don't feel an urge to wander among the turbines today, even if they do look pretty to me and contribute a particularly distinctive landscape feature in these parts.

Glimpse towards Aberford and the parades of pylons provide the interest as traffic is dodged on Collier Lane on the way to the edge of the Lotherton Hall estate, one which is much more loved than Parlington, with its parklands mostly concealed by a thick bank of trees, and not much of the estate is even visible from the access roads by the Lodge house, and we'll not be taking any interest in their costume museum or wedding fayre today. Push on, past Lotherton Farm and the path previously travelled as the lane pass through the earthworks of The Rein and out into North Yorkshire, staying with the road as it undulates a descent down towards Lead, offering up the sole tree on the Towton battlefield to give you some location context. There's not much more of Lead to see than there was the last time we came this way, the hall looking a little larger from the main road, but the focus still lands mostly on the church, isolated in it field and on the Crooked Billet (named for the Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, maybe?) where late morning tea would appeal, as would the small battlefield museum, if it wasn't for having schedule to keep. Press on as the lane rises, away from Cock Beck and up towards Lead Mill farm, which was never a leadmill despite the name, and the Castle Hill farm has a pretty decent view up here too, but all our attention goes forwards, aside from glances towards Saxton off to the south as we approach the Towton Battlefield once again. I was a Wars of the Roses novice when I came here last year, but now I'm pretty sure that I could perform a pretty decent narrative of the battle as I traverse across the Yorkist lines, past Towton Dale and the Bloody Meadow, up to Dacre's Cross and the Lancastrian lines, after reading up on its events it would be fair to say that the bloodbath of 29th March 1461 is one that dwells strongly in my mind. Follow the groove by the road to pass on to meet the A162 and the way into Towton Village, which has grown its suburban appendages rather sympathetically, and the time of day has me fancying stopping in the Rockingham Arms, but lunch will have to wait until we've travelled on a bit further, for after we've had a trespass to access the former NER Church Fenton - Harrogate line at Towton bridge, where the road crossing needs a closer examination, as does the wrecked car at the base of the cutting, possibly one of the oddest vehicular abandonments anywhere in the county.

Feed up before turning onto the B1223, our first road change of the day, and that will lead us east, below the Grimston Park estate, looking a lot more like a deer park from this side, with the views from Raw lane offering site of the folly tower and the extensive fields of the livery stables of Kirkby Grange on its southern side, all of it looking more engaging than the flatlands to the south. Detour away, as time allows it, to follow the tree-lined lane up to Kirkby Wharfe, as it was briefly seen from a distance when walking the river but deserves a closer look when we are in the vicinity again, and it's curious little place, hard to tell if it was an ancient settlement that got attached to the estate or the other way around. It's pretty modest in size, but upscale in aspect, the White House by the village green being the best of the houses, and the church of St John the Baptist could be ancient with Victorian additions or be all 19th century, so the landscape mystery thickens, altogether very charming but too close to the Wharfe to be desirable, and its worth doing a whole village tour before moving on. Cyclists passing on the lane suggest that the Grimston Park estate might be more accessible than I'd thought, but as we are heading in the other direction we'll worry about that another time, returning to the road for a passage over Dort's Dike at New Bridge and following the tree lined New Road on to the playing fields outside Ulleskelf, the lane rising to pass over the railway line between Church Fenton and York. This is actually the finish line for the day, but there's plenty of time for a village tour, following the B1223 out of the bottom of the village and around among the drainage ditches to the south side, though finding the path to the eastern extremity, where we visited before is beyond me as the map fold of E290 presents too many navigational difficulties. Bell Lane leads us on to Main Street, by the towering Old Hall and the end of Ings Lane, looping back in to the village to pass among the many farmsteads and houses showing some of that Ainsty look that I love so much, passing St Saviour's and the village hall, as well as a bunch of railway cottages before finding I'm probably too late for drinks in the Ulleskelf Arms. Still, on to the station at 2.50pm with time to spare, pondering that this village must have retained its obscure and ill-served station as it is on the wrong side of the Wharfe for those who would travel to York, and I'll have a session of trainspotting as the many express services thunder past on the Leeds to York lines before we can take our ride away on the 15.13 on the slow line to Sheffield, just because we can.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2554 miles
2016 Total: 539.6 miles
Up Country Total: 2327.2 miles
Solo Total: 2298.7 miles