13.8 miles, via Shipley, Windhill, Idle Moor, Thackley, Greengates, Calverley, Farsley,
Bagley, Coal Hill, Bradley Hill, Swinnow, Hough End, Farnley Reservoir, Silver Royd Hill,
Blue Hill, Green Side, New Wortley, and Holbeck.
After last weekend's deeply unseasonal warmth, normal service is resumed as we land on the last weekend of British Summer Time, as things look a whole lot gloomier and greyer as our walk down the Aire Valley gets set to resume, and despite the need to make the most of the daylight hours and to not have to end the day chasing the fading sunlight, we set out an hour later than initially planned to that the morning's rains might have had a chance to pass. Fortunately for us, the last of the early drizzle is just departing the air as we land at Saltaire station, ready to strike on to the south-east at 10.10am, feeling saddened that we aren't going to see this proudest of Victorian townlets in the best of lights again, but countering that thought with the knowledge that if you really want to see Saltaire at its brightest and best-est, you should be here in summertime, along with every other urban day-tripper in these parts. So we start, away from Victoria Road and down the steps to the level of the yard of Salt's Mill, which looms large and only slightly Italianate above us to our left as we press to the east, pondering that's it's still odd that I've never been inside it to see the Hockneys and whatever else is contained within, passing the towering chimney and moving on past the low range of buildings that house the Early Music store and the large bicycle emporium. This leads us to Salt's Mill Road and the main car park for Saltaire, in the post industrial space around the Leeds & Liverpool canal, which is also home to the offices of HMRC, strangely, though hints of the late 19th century industry endure at the waterside, and beyond we meet the Victoria Mills, Shipley's sizable companion to the more famous one upstream, now in residential use, and then we meet the views up to Shipley town centre as we cross the A6038 Otley Road between Airedale Mills and the Noble Comb. Up the side street of View Croft Road we head, around the Boatmans Wharf flat block, where I first looked at a property to buy back in 2006, and up the steps to the towpath of the canal, crossing it via Gallows Bridge and emerging through the stone shops and houses beyond to land on the side of the A657 Leeds Road, which will be our companion for a chunk of the day as it takes us away from the long curve of the valley of the Aire. We start off by passing under the contemporary railway bridges and over Bradford Beck to pass the enduring site of Shipley Windhill station, still intact despite the demolition threats, and rise up through the Windhill end of Shipley, passing the branch library, the board school and the Traveller's Rest inn before the road starts to elevate us significantly, as we pass the basilica of Christ Church before we pass the older limits of the town and slip firmly into 20th century suburbia with flat blocks and semis clinging to the fringes of Idle Hill.
I'm still amazed that Bradford's town planners fancied developing residential estates on such steep and unfriendly ground, but this road has been significant for a long time, even having had trams running on it a century ago, and so living here seems sensible to the more modern of minds, and there are views to be had too as we rise to be level with Baildon, high on the north side of the valley, though the views back are not so good in this glum weather, illustrating well how Airedale can be so easily discounted as a picturesque location. We level off for a short while as Leeds Road crosses the gap that still endures beyond the Idle Moor estates, passing the Cote farms and the Cyprus garage before we start to rise again into Thackley slipping in between the terraces and villas that cluster atop this hill, where the Great Northern Inn advertises the lost presence of the railway that passed up here, with the road beyond the summit meeting the overgrown cutting and kinked bridge of the lost line down to Laisterdyke. There will surely be much more to see of Thackley once Bradford returns to our urban walking plans but for now we'll see this bit of the roadside a second time as we start our descent from this finger of land that causes the Aire to flow far to the north of it, passing Immanuel College, Ashfield Works and a good few villas with a view around the Simpson Green corner as we take a distinctly south eastward shift, before we start downhill markedly towards Greengates with a view forwards to the next ascent through Calverley. Meet the Apperley Road junction by the George Inn and the RC church and then head down between the Greenside and Albion Mills sites to follow the pavement along New Line past the Albion Inn and up between the old schools to the A658 Harrogate Road crossroads by the Greengates War Memorial, crossing over to take the last steps in Bradford as we pass the long terrace with the local Liberal club at its heart, meeting Leeds District and the LCW path as we pass over Carr Beck. Here, on the edge of Calverley, we depart from the A657 to give ourselves an entirely suburban aspect on the village as we first pace Ravenscliffe Road as far as the mill on the corner, before burrowing deep into leafy suburbia as we elevate ourselves up Crowther Avenue to St Stephen's Road and then shift pavements to meet Carr Hill Drive as it rises uphill. Here the short stub of a cul de sac offers us a view west over the fields for a last look in the direction of Rombalds Moor and the Aire-Wharfe Gap, and then we rise on, to meet Upper Carr Lane, and the outer edge of this village that I've picked so many different routes through, arriving just below what looks like a considerable stables block, but actually turns out to have once been a waterworks of the Bradford Corporation, and thence its on through the suburbia again, below the rising bulk of Holly Park mills, at the highest edge of Calverley.
We're not quite done with the back roads of this place as we roll up on the Woodhall Road corner as we've still got footfalls to make among the semis along Foxholes Lane, making our way down to Shell Lane and the heart of the villa district to find the footpath that still endures between the fences of gardens that have failed to consume an old right of way, a path that barely sees any contemporary use if the amount of dead leaves choking it are any indication. Alight on the unmetalled Monson Avenue to arrive on Calverley Lane by the lodge of the long lost Brookleigh House, taking the B6156 pavement as it leads behind the Calverley Arms, and on into the fields that endure on the Leeds side of the Woodhall hills, gradually declining to get a view over towards Cookridge and Horsforth to the north, along with the long sweep of the Aire valley as it takes its long meandering loop past Rodley, again showing up the many woodlands that fringe it even as it starts to penetrate the larger city. We continue, rising with the lane past the Wood Hill houses and the Palmers Plant Nursery, getting views of the Tinshill and Beecroft Hill masts on the opposing hillsides before we meet the A6120 Ring Road, which is crossed rather easily as the road continues beyond, where the outer suburban edge of Farsley is met, having absorbed every available field up to the roadside, and beyond we can finally find a place to stop for lunch, out of the way of the persistent breeze on the edge of the recreation ground. Only a 10 minute stop for feeding, but it's long enough to get over-run by late season aphids whilst sat on the grassy bank below the canopy of trees, and so we have to free ourselves of the coating of insects as we descend with the suburbia to the bottom of Farsley Town Street, where we peel left to follow Bagley Lane again as it really is one of the few viable passages through this crinkliest part of West Leeds, as it leads us to Springfield Mills, which still endure on the Coal Hill Lane corner. Up the hill beyond we head, past the flats complexes that have grown on the Bank Bottom and Broom mill sites, rising on past the enduring Cape Mills to get that view back over Bagley and Farsley that really is one of the best urban views in this city, before we ascend to the junction of Intake Lane for our last view to Airedale before our passage takes us decisively away from the river that we haven't really been tracing for the last three hours. South-east-ish we now go, past the West Leeds Academy, through the vaguely defined district of Bradley Hill (or Intake?), sitting to the west of Bramley and north of Stanningley, though we can claim a sort of proximity to the latter as we pass its recreation grounds, utterly devoid of life as the wind howls across its playing fields, before we head on into the depths of West Leeds, and rock up where Leeds & Bradford Road and Broad Lane converge by the Halfway House inn, and a rather Art Deco looking factory on the Swinnow Lane corner.
We head on, as the road leads us to the Stanningley Road corner by the fire station and the Fitness Mill, and thence on, under the impressively scaled bridge on the line to Bradford Interchange and through the extensive industrial estate that has filled all the space between the railway and the Ring Road - Stanningley bypass, and here we can ponder that actual location of the district of Swinnow, which seems to be a point of contention among West Leeds folk as maps would locate it to the north of here, while its apparent location seems to be to the south of the A647's dual carriageway. It's here that its most distinctive tower blocks lie, and beyond Swinnow Road (another clue) is where the most characteristic part of the Swinnow Moor estate can be found, not really showing up huge aesthetic appeal in its semis and flats blocks, but providing a home to the Swinnow public house, which ought to be the best evidence to the location, unless local folks would like to invade the comments to prove me wrong. We are now definably on the 'walking roads that have not been otherwise seen' stretch of the day as the road crests and heads downhill to pass Park Spring primary school and down the tree coated bank of Hough End, behind houses that overlook the valley of Farnley Beck, which appear to have their car ports and ground floors at the top to accommodate them sensibly in the declining topography, a fascinating thing to observe before the road drops down to meet Pudsey Road by the Wickes store. We join Wood Lane beyond as it ascends, away from the paths by Farnley Beck through Park Spring Woods, past the redeveloped quarry site and up to a lofty vantage point, where the old country cottages on this old lane have gradually been consumed by the relentless suburbia, switching downhill onto the equally 'ancient by you'd never guess it' Water Lane as it passes down among the semis to Butt Lane and to our last contact with the Ring Road for the day. We also pass the edge of the fourth side of Farnley reservoir as we press east, without really getting a view of it beyond the trees as we pace down to cross Tong Road and move on to the bottom of Stonebridge Road and here we rise again here, between the Buzz Bingo hall and the extremely derelict Stone Bridge Mill, up Silver Royd Hill past the factories and terraces to almost merge with Tong Road by the Brick Inn before we take another sharp turn to Blue Hill Road. This lane offers lofty views over the fields of the West Leeds CLC, and RUFC, towards Farnley Park on the other side of the valley, as well as many more suburban houses, some of which have just the craziest gardens that cling to the valley side with driveways that must surely be impassable in inclement weather, and even get a view towards Morley sitting on its not-too-distant hillside as we go, drawing 2018's walking field closer to home again, at long last.
Turn with the road switch to Fawcett Lane, passing the desirable and derelict Prosepct House and passing the lower edge of Western Flatts park, which feels like probably the wildest of the West Leeds parks as we pass under the trees that do their best to hide the Cliff House of 1846, one of the most endangered of houses in the city, unused since the school it houses closed in 1998, and derelict since being gutted by fire last year, a pile that the city council ought to redeem, as it has been in their ownership for nearly 90 years. The rolling parklands lie beyond, followed as we descend to meet Lower Wortley Road, which we join to rise again through Green Side, past the Hanover Arms and along the long terraces that face the church of St John the Evangelist to finally get sight to Leeds city as we meet the corner of Dixon Lane, the first path we've crossed from this year's trails, and we start our beeline through Lower Wortley as we trek on down Oldfield Road past the Oldfield hotel and the Queen Inn, down to the Asda store. There's fine views to be had of St Bart's Armley to be had from along here before we slip among terraces and the slum redevelopments that replaced them, before passing around the northern edge of Wortley Rec, and passing under the bridge on the disused Wortley West curve, which prevents trains running directly from Wakefield to Bradford, and then on through the heart of the Wortley Triangle past the GNR engine shed site to emerge into the bottom corner of New Wortley from under the very deep bridge on the line to Interchange. Switch onto Copley Hill and pass under the tangle of railway bridges at the east end on the triangle, and arrive on a familiar path at the top of Whitehall Road that takes us past the old school at Dean court and over the inner Ring road via the footbridge to land us in Holbeck by the Dunelm Mill store and then its on into this land of commercial units down Spence Lane to find the old bank on the Holbeck Lane corner that indicates a lost former character of the district from a century plus ago. Indications of the old industries can be spotted as we progress as the Urban Village is yet to come this way yet, passing the very derelict Low Hall mills before switching onto Water Lane to pace alongside the Hol Beck, which has had some very serious flood defences installed along its length to attempt to prevent a repeat of the watery chaos of December 2015, passing under the southern end of the Holbeck railway triangle as we go, making that a bit of a feature of the day as its our third such encounter. Pass under Holbeck viaduct via another route as we run up by the colourful and informative murals that have been put on the ends of the former factories at this end of Holbeck Urban village, taking the familiar route through its centre as we pass Tower Works and the pair of gastropubs before passing into the tall shadow of Bridewater Place and finding another angle to admire the 1777 warehouse by the first lock of the Leeds & Liverpool canal, where we regain contact with the river Aire after so many hours away from it. Only a short stride through Granary Wharf to complete the day beyond there, concluding at Leeds station's south entrance at 3.20pm, with the warm afternoon sun still bringing it on as I ascend to the platforms feeling a small amount of amazement that I got all the walks I'd prioritised for the late season done, having made it back to local terrain with two weekends still to spare.
After last weekend's deeply unseasonal warmth, normal service is resumed as we land on the last weekend of British Summer Time, as things look a whole lot gloomier and greyer as our walk down the Aire Valley gets set to resume, and despite the need to make the most of the daylight hours and to not have to end the day chasing the fading sunlight, we set out an hour later than initially planned to that the morning's rains might have had a chance to pass. Fortunately for us, the last of the early drizzle is just departing the air as we land at Saltaire station, ready to strike on to the south-east at 10.10am, feeling saddened that we aren't going to see this proudest of Victorian townlets in the best of lights again, but countering that thought with the knowledge that if you really want to see Saltaire at its brightest and best-est, you should be here in summertime, along with every other urban day-tripper in these parts. So we start, away from Victoria Road and down the steps to the level of the yard of Salt's Mill, which looms large and only slightly Italianate above us to our left as we press to the east, pondering that's it's still odd that I've never been inside it to see the Hockneys and whatever else is contained within, passing the towering chimney and moving on past the low range of buildings that house the Early Music store and the large bicycle emporium. This leads us to Salt's Mill Road and the main car park for Saltaire, in the post industrial space around the Leeds & Liverpool canal, which is also home to the offices of HMRC, strangely, though hints of the late 19th century industry endure at the waterside, and beyond we meet the Victoria Mills, Shipley's sizable companion to the more famous one upstream, now in residential use, and then we meet the views up to Shipley town centre as we cross the A6038 Otley Road between Airedale Mills and the Noble Comb. Up the side street of View Croft Road we head, around the Boatmans Wharf flat block, where I first looked at a property to buy back in 2006, and up the steps to the towpath of the canal, crossing it via Gallows Bridge and emerging through the stone shops and houses beyond to land on the side of the A657 Leeds Road, which will be our companion for a chunk of the day as it takes us away from the long curve of the valley of the Aire. We start off by passing under the contemporary railway bridges and over Bradford Beck to pass the enduring site of Shipley Windhill station, still intact despite the demolition threats, and rise up through the Windhill end of Shipley, passing the branch library, the board school and the Traveller's Rest inn before the road starts to elevate us significantly, as we pass the basilica of Christ Church before we pass the older limits of the town and slip firmly into 20th century suburbia with flat blocks and semis clinging to the fringes of Idle Hill.
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| Salt's Mill, Saltaire. |
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| Victoria Mills, Shipley. |
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| Gallows Bridge, L&L canal, Shipley. |
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| Christ Church, and Windhill. |
I'm still amazed that Bradford's town planners fancied developing residential estates on such steep and unfriendly ground, but this road has been significant for a long time, even having had trams running on it a century ago, and so living here seems sensible to the more modern of minds, and there are views to be had too as we rise to be level with Baildon, high on the north side of the valley, though the views back are not so good in this glum weather, illustrating well how Airedale can be so easily discounted as a picturesque location. We level off for a short while as Leeds Road crosses the gap that still endures beyond the Idle Moor estates, passing the Cote farms and the Cyprus garage before we start to rise again into Thackley slipping in between the terraces and villas that cluster atop this hill, where the Great Northern Inn advertises the lost presence of the railway that passed up here, with the road beyond the summit meeting the overgrown cutting and kinked bridge of the lost line down to Laisterdyke. There will surely be much more to see of Thackley once Bradford returns to our urban walking plans but for now we'll see this bit of the roadside a second time as we start our descent from this finger of land that causes the Aire to flow far to the north of it, passing Immanuel College, Ashfield Works and a good few villas with a view around the Simpson Green corner as we take a distinctly south eastward shift, before we start downhill markedly towards Greengates with a view forwards to the next ascent through Calverley. Meet the Apperley Road junction by the George Inn and the RC church and then head down between the Greenside and Albion Mills sites to follow the pavement along New Line past the Albion Inn and up between the old schools to the A658 Harrogate Road crossroads by the Greengates War Memorial, crossing over to take the last steps in Bradford as we pass the long terrace with the local Liberal club at its heart, meeting Leeds District and the LCW path as we pass over Carr Beck. Here, on the edge of Calverley, we depart from the A657 to give ourselves an entirely suburban aspect on the village as we first pace Ravenscliffe Road as far as the mill on the corner, before burrowing deep into leafy suburbia as we elevate ourselves up Crowther Avenue to St Stephen's Road and then shift pavements to meet Carr Hill Drive as it rises uphill. Here the short stub of a cul de sac offers us a view west over the fields for a last look in the direction of Rombalds Moor and the Aire-Wharfe Gap, and then we rise on, to meet Upper Carr Lane, and the outer edge of this village that I've picked so many different routes through, arriving just below what looks like a considerable stables block, but actually turns out to have once been a waterworks of the Bradford Corporation, and thence its on through the suburbia again, below the rising bulk of Holly Park mills, at the highest edge of Calverley.
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| Trying to get an Airedale view from Idle Moor. |
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| The Great Northern inn, Thackley. |
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The descent from Thackley and the ascent to come.
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| The Albion inn, Greengates. |
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| Ravenscliffe Mill, Calverley. |
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| The view from Suburban Calverley. |
We're not quite done with the back roads of this place as we roll up on the Woodhall Road corner as we've still got footfalls to make among the semis along Foxholes Lane, making our way down to Shell Lane and the heart of the villa district to find the footpath that still endures between the fences of gardens that have failed to consume an old right of way, a path that barely sees any contemporary use if the amount of dead leaves choking it are any indication. Alight on the unmetalled Monson Avenue to arrive on Calverley Lane by the lodge of the long lost Brookleigh House, taking the B6156 pavement as it leads behind the Calverley Arms, and on into the fields that endure on the Leeds side of the Woodhall hills, gradually declining to get a view over towards Cookridge and Horsforth to the north, along with the long sweep of the Aire valley as it takes its long meandering loop past Rodley, again showing up the many woodlands that fringe it even as it starts to penetrate the larger city. We continue, rising with the lane past the Wood Hill houses and the Palmers Plant Nursery, getting views of the Tinshill and Beecroft Hill masts on the opposing hillsides before we meet the A6120 Ring Road, which is crossed rather easily as the road continues beyond, where the outer suburban edge of Farsley is met, having absorbed every available field up to the roadside, and beyond we can finally find a place to stop for lunch, out of the way of the persistent breeze on the edge of the recreation ground. Only a 10 minute stop for feeding, but it's long enough to get over-run by late season aphids whilst sat on the grassy bank below the canopy of trees, and so we have to free ourselves of the coating of insects as we descend with the suburbia to the bottom of Farsley Town Street, where we peel left to follow Bagley Lane again as it really is one of the few viable passages through this crinkliest part of West Leeds, as it leads us to Springfield Mills, which still endure on the Coal Hill Lane corner. Up the hill beyond we head, past the flats complexes that have grown on the Bank Bottom and Broom mill sites, rising on past the enduring Cape Mills to get that view back over Bagley and Farsley that really is one of the best urban views in this city, before we ascend to the junction of Intake Lane for our last view to Airedale before our passage takes us decisively away from the river that we haven't really been tracing for the last three hours. South-east-ish we now go, past the West Leeds Academy, through the vaguely defined district of Bradley Hill (or Intake?), sitting to the west of Bramley and north of Stanningley, though we can claim a sort of proximity to the latter as we pass its recreation grounds, utterly devoid of life as the wind howls across its playing fields, before we head on into the depths of West Leeds, and rock up where Leeds & Bradford Road and Broad Lane converge by the Halfway House inn, and a rather Art Deco looking factory on the Swinnow Lane corner.
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| Finding the sneaky route through Calverley. |
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| The Airedale view from Calverley Road. |
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| Farsley Rec. |
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| Springfield Mills, Bagley. |
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| The Farsley - Bagley view, from Coal Hill. |
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| The Halfway House, Broad Lane / Leeds & Bradford Road. |
We head on, as the road leads us to the Stanningley Road corner by the fire station and the Fitness Mill, and thence on, under the impressively scaled bridge on the line to Bradford Interchange and through the extensive industrial estate that has filled all the space between the railway and the Ring Road - Stanningley bypass, and here we can ponder that actual location of the district of Swinnow, which seems to be a point of contention among West Leeds folk as maps would locate it to the north of here, while its apparent location seems to be to the south of the A647's dual carriageway. It's here that its most distinctive tower blocks lie, and beyond Swinnow Road (another clue) is where the most characteristic part of the Swinnow Moor estate can be found, not really showing up huge aesthetic appeal in its semis and flats blocks, but providing a home to the Swinnow public house, which ought to be the best evidence to the location, unless local folks would like to invade the comments to prove me wrong. We are now definably on the 'walking roads that have not been otherwise seen' stretch of the day as the road crests and heads downhill to pass Park Spring primary school and down the tree coated bank of Hough End, behind houses that overlook the valley of Farnley Beck, which appear to have their car ports and ground floors at the top to accommodate them sensibly in the declining topography, a fascinating thing to observe before the road drops down to meet Pudsey Road by the Wickes store. We join Wood Lane beyond as it ascends, away from the paths by Farnley Beck through Park Spring Woods, past the redeveloped quarry site and up to a lofty vantage point, where the old country cottages on this old lane have gradually been consumed by the relentless suburbia, switching downhill onto the equally 'ancient by you'd never guess it' Water Lane as it passes down among the semis to Butt Lane and to our last contact with the Ring Road for the day. We also pass the edge of the fourth side of Farnley reservoir as we press east, without really getting a view of it beyond the trees as we pace down to cross Tong Road and move on to the bottom of Stonebridge Road and here we rise again here, between the Buzz Bingo hall and the extremely derelict Stone Bridge Mill, up Silver Royd Hill past the factories and terraces to almost merge with Tong Road by the Brick Inn before we take another sharp turn to Blue Hill Road. This lane offers lofty views over the fields of the West Leeds CLC, and RUFC, towards Farnley Park on the other side of the valley, as well as many more suburban houses, some of which have just the craziest gardens that cling to the valley side with driveways that must surely be impassable in inclement weather, and even get a view towards Morley sitting on its not-too-distant hillside as we go, drawing 2018's walking field closer to home again, at long last.
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| The tower blocks of Swinnow. |
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| The Swinnow, Swinnow Moor. |
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| The not actually bungalows, Hough End. |
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| Suburbia on the ancient lanes of West Leeds. |
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| Stone Bridge Mill. |
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| Blue Hill Road. |
Turn with the road switch to Fawcett Lane, passing the desirable and derelict Prosepct House and passing the lower edge of Western Flatts park, which feels like probably the wildest of the West Leeds parks as we pass under the trees that do their best to hide the Cliff House of 1846, one of the most endangered of houses in the city, unused since the school it houses closed in 1998, and derelict since being gutted by fire last year, a pile that the city council ought to redeem, as it has been in their ownership for nearly 90 years. The rolling parklands lie beyond, followed as we descend to meet Lower Wortley Road, which we join to rise again through Green Side, past the Hanover Arms and along the long terraces that face the church of St John the Evangelist to finally get sight to Leeds city as we meet the corner of Dixon Lane, the first path we've crossed from this year's trails, and we start our beeline through Lower Wortley as we trek on down Oldfield Road past the Oldfield hotel and the Queen Inn, down to the Asda store. There's fine views to be had of St Bart's Armley to be had from along here before we slip among terraces and the slum redevelopments that replaced them, before passing around the northern edge of Wortley Rec, and passing under the bridge on the disused Wortley West curve, which prevents trains running directly from Wakefield to Bradford, and then on through the heart of the Wortley Triangle past the GNR engine shed site to emerge into the bottom corner of New Wortley from under the very deep bridge on the line to Interchange. Switch onto Copley Hill and pass under the tangle of railway bridges at the east end on the triangle, and arrive on a familiar path at the top of Whitehall Road that takes us past the old school at Dean court and over the inner Ring road via the footbridge to land us in Holbeck by the Dunelm Mill store and then its on into this land of commercial units down Spence Lane to find the old bank on the Holbeck Lane corner that indicates a lost former character of the district from a century plus ago. Indications of the old industries can be spotted as we progress as the Urban Village is yet to come this way yet, passing the very derelict Low Hall mills before switching onto Water Lane to pace alongside the Hol Beck, which has had some very serious flood defences installed along its length to attempt to prevent a repeat of the watery chaos of December 2015, passing under the southern end of the Holbeck railway triangle as we go, making that a bit of a feature of the day as its our third such encounter. Pass under Holbeck viaduct via another route as we run up by the colourful and informative murals that have been put on the ends of the former factories at this end of Holbeck Urban village, taking the familiar route through its centre as we pass Tower Works and the pair of gastropubs before passing into the tall shadow of Bridewater Place and finding another angle to admire the 1777 warehouse by the first lock of the Leeds & Liverpool canal, where we regain contact with the river Aire after so many hours away from it. Only a short stride through Granary Wharf to complete the day beyond there, concluding at Leeds station's south entrance at 3.20pm, with the warm afternoon sun still bringing it on as I ascend to the platforms feeling a small amount of amazement that I got all the walks I'd prioritised for the late season done, having made it back to local terrain with two weekends still to spare.
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| Cliff House, Western Flatts park. |
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| The Oldfield Hotel and the Queen inn, Green Side. |
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| The Wortley West curve Bridge. |
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| Railways piling up at Copley Hill. |
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| Low Hall Mill, Holbeck. |
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| The reinforced Hol Beck, and the Matthew Murray mural. |
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| Tower Works, final getting the Urban Village makeover. |
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| The Airedale trail concludes, at Granary Wharf, Leeds. |
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 3627.3
2018 Total: 514.8 miles
Up Country Total: 3234.2 miles
Solo Total: 3341 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2221.1 miles
Next Up: A local trek, originally scheduled for March and only recently remembered.
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