November and Greenwich Mean Time arrive, and I'm still ready to walk, even with my five must-do trips for late 2018 completed, which shows that my wavering resolve can still stiffen when this close to the year's finish line, and thus we have two weekends to fill, so a route plot needs to be pulled up from a trip that got misplaced back in March with the long tail of the early season's Winter weather twitching hard. It makes little sense to bring this excursion across the Leeds south and eastern fringe up now, but I don't have any other routes that are closer to home planned, and I'm going to approach it in the reverse direction to that which I'd originally intended as the train strikes are still going to make choosing my finishing points that bit more complicated and the weather isn't showing much chance of being decent past Midday so it makes most sense to not waste a clear hour travelling out to Garforth, with the sole train that stops at Cottingley dropping me off at a shade after 8.20am. So away from the station in the slightly dim light of morning, passing the plant that has been brought in the extend the platforms, joining the footpath that meanders along the side of Cottingley Drive, past the raked terraces of brown houses and down the hillside that largely obscures the Cottingley Towers as we make the-longer-than-you'd-anticipate walk down to the A643 Elland Road, which we cross by that stray terrace of Victorian Houses. Join Millshaw and pace on through the industrial park, still wondering if its sole old building, now the city council's environmental services offices, used to be a school or not before we join the side of the A6110 Ring Road Beeston, where we trace the dual carriageway around to the White Rose Office Park, that presents a rather space-age frontage to the main road and then advance on below the entrance to the similarly named Shopping Centre, crossing the road to meet the path before the very outer edge of Beeston's council estates. Follow the path up to the A653 Dewsbury Road, crossing over to meet the path up to Stanks Hall farm and barn, still not home to the urban farm that they deserve to be, but still hanging on in their space between the main road and the railway line to Wakefield, which we cross over for the third time via the footbridge to meet the rough path-cum-cycleway that skirts around the south-western perimeter of the Middleton estate, which is well hidden away up the hillside above. So too is the notional right of way that I once failed to find that crosses the golf course, which we leave in our wake as we press south on an undulating route that sits mostly concealed by over and undergrowth on the sloping hillside by the railway, which occasionally opens up more views over towards Morley, which are nice new perspectives to gain, before we rise to meet the open pasture below Bodmin Road where a number of Traveller's shire horses seem to be making best use of the common land for their grazing and recumbence.
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| Cottingley station, with platform extension work ongoing. |
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| White Rose Business Park. |
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| Stanks Hall Farm |
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| Horse Meadow by the Middleton Estate. |
We skirt the upper edge of the trees on the rising hillside, too steep to ever attract development and then venture through the enduring West Wood, a properly ancient feeling and gnarly plantation which diminishes to give us another elevated view over towards Morley, and also across the distantly shaded and illuminated hills of West Leeds to show the profile of Rombalds Moor above Airedale, and even to the rolls of Wharfedale hills beyond, a perspective I'd never have expected to see from this quarter. The path divides beyond the next stretch of woods, where we get our sole glimpse of the 1970s estate on the hilltop, and we take the lower path that runs down through Sissons Wood, where we run up close to the alignment of the GNR line to Batley passing to our right in an overgrown cutting, a route which becomes more apparent as we pass from under the trees and an embankment sets off westwards in the direction of the former Tingley Junction, passing over the well-concealed Tingley Viaduct as it passes over the contemporary railway. This sight keeps us company as we rise back up to the higher path, and Morley retreats from view as the route curves around the lower edge of the 1930s parts of the Middleton estate, and our attention forwards looks towards the mill at East Ardsley before we slip down to meet the A654 Thorpe Road, which will now be our companion for quite a stretch, as we continue to touch the southern edge of Middleton's suburbia, passing the Park Avenue bus terminus and playing fields as we go. Pace on past the semis and the Falconer's rest, and there's definitely been some suburban splurging going on down this end of town, with contemporary closes filling the space at the bottom end of the estate, up to that odd block of council houses that seem isolated from its original purpose, which was probably coal mining of we judge by the known histories of this area and then its on into the fields, with a big sky overhead advertising the way to the east, and we can pause of a moment for selfies with the 116m tertiary trig pillar that sits by the roadside. Meet the route of the Leeds Country Way as we run in towards Thorpe on the Hill, with its actual hill being felt more this time around, checking to see that Thorpe Hall, unloved as it is, is still in situ, and not yet redeemed as a hotel or wedding venue, sitting above the former farmsteads of this village, which is soon left behind as we slip away with the Thorpe Lower road. Sharply branching off from Lingwell Gate Lane we make our passage down among the fields towards the M1, where the LCW route is met again, under the massive echo chamber formed by the motorway bridge, and rise towards Leeds Road beyond, and you'd never guess from this current landscape of office units and detached houses that we right in the middle of the site of Robin Hood colliery, which endured on this site from 1854 to 1913.
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| The view to Morley from the Middleton fringe. |
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| Tingley Viaduct hiding in the landscape. |
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| The bottom edge of the Middleton Estate, Thorpe Lane. |
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| The Thorpe Lane Trig Pillar. |
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| Thorpe Hall returning to nature? Thorpe on the Hill. |
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| The Old Halfway House, Robin Hood. |
Meet and cross the A61 by the Old Halfway House Inn, in the middle of Robin Hood village, which arrived here with the coal mining, and evidence of this can be found in the terraces that still sit to the side of Leadwell Lane, now mostly hidden by the suburban growth of this dormitory between Leeds and Wakefield, though the industrial relics are easily located with the notable one being the vast bridge abutment of the former E&WYUR colliery line, where our path runs on into the heart of rhubarb triangle. Past the last row of redbrick council houses we slip into the countryside again, and pass of Carlton Fields, where scattered farmsteads sit among the plots, but find there are still stray terraces by the roadside, suggestive of habitation for colliery workers despite not being particularly close to any mine, so maybe the Rhubarb industry needed a larger workforce than you night think, and that's all there is to see there as soon enough we are crossing over Carton Beck and meeting the signs welcoming us to Rothwell. This really is one of those townlets that you can pass through from all angles, on paths not particularly close to each other and still not be all that certain that you've seen all of it, and we have a completely fresh angle to take as we pass up Carlton Lane among the old terraces and the many later arrivals among them to meet the substantially large village school, and than move on to Marsh Lane and what feel like the heart of Old Rothwell, by the British Oak pub, across the road from the former chapel that has since become the Town Hall of sorts. It's fascinating how the village has building suggestive of so many vintages through its agricultural, industrial and suburban lives, all found mixed in as we pass the end of Commercial Street, the main shopping drag of the village, and the Black Bull inn, the Blackburn Hall and the War Memorial at the Gillet Lane corner. Suburbia grips Oulton Lane as we continue east, soon loosened as we meet the edge of Springhead Park, the gardens of house since lost, which all look pleasingly manicured, and provide a spot to pause for lunch and watch the prep for the Bonfire Night festivities, before we continue along the last stretch of the A654 as it rises above the narrow strip of playing fields along Oulton Beck, and below the bank of trees that conceal the grounds of Oulton Park with its hotel and golf course. This lane that feels like a contemporary bypass, but is in actuality more than a century old, leads to the island junction of the A639 Leeds Road, and here we detour to have a sneak off our direct route to get a close look at St John's church, Oulton, the cathedral of this corner of the county, hidden behind a rather overgrown graveyard, but looming large on the local horizon thanks to its exceptionally tall spire, and all looking very ornate and High Victorian up close with its best face being viewed from the modern cemetery to the south side.
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| The E&WYUR bridge remnant, Leadwell Lane. |
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| The Terrace on Carlton Fields. |
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| Rothwell Town Hall |
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| Springhead Park, Rothwell. |
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| St John's, Oulton. |
We depart this scene via the gate onto the dual carriageway of the A639, crossing over carefully opposite the Three Horse Shoes inn, and start to make our way into Oulton proper, where indications can be found of the old rural community along the sides of the A642 Calverley Lane, clustered around the old Methodist chapel and gradually subsumed by the growing suburbia of Greater Rothwell, reaching as far as the old school on the Aberford Road corner. Join this to pass the not so old Old Masons Arms, and the borough war memorial, which is pretty large considering the populations of the parishes of a century ago, and then we enter the transitional area of growth that takes us on into Woodlesford, passing Lidl and the Ford dealership before we land among the brick terraces that line the road, rolling on to pass the old Midland Hotel, a little far removed from the railway line that surely named it, the enduring Co-op and the Clown House, which was surely a tiny cinema back in the day. As the suburbia to our right gets rather 1980s, we suddenly meet Eshald House sitting among it, one of those overly large Georgian country retreats that lacks an estate and has since become an apartment block, still looking as blackened by ancient soot as its urban contemporaries, and beyond here we get onto familiar territory as we approach the passage below the railway line, past the eastern end of Woodlesford station, thence out of suburbia and on over the A&C Navigation, and the Rive Aire. This is surely one of those stretches that I must have walked a half dozen times over the years, but beyond canal and river, we've got a new path to burn away from the Bridge Farm hotel, and the lodge house of Swillington Park, following the main road uphill, glad that I'm on the opposite side from the descending traffic, which is doing its best to maintain the reputation of the A642 as being one of the insane-est rat runs in the county. It's certainly a pull and a half away from the Aire, certainly in no way comparable to the complete lack of a decline on the way down to the south bank, and it continues past the few scattered rural outliers all the way up to the wagon wheel signs that indicate our arrival in Swillington, which displays its suburbia at the southern end, almost concealing the north lodge of Swillington Park, the country pile lost due to the effects of coal mining in the wide environs. The housing for so much of the village is suggestive of the industry in the latter half of the last century, along with its Miners' Welfare club sat opposite the Grand Indian Lounge in the old pub, and just down from the Black & Tan shaded St Mary's church, possibly the only authentically old building in the settlement, and beyond Church Crescent, the last sweep of houses, we pass the Rocol works and the main road is off into the countryside once more.
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| The Old School, Oulton. |
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| Eshald House, Woodlesford. |
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| The uphill stretch on the A642. |
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| Swillington Park's North Lodge, Swillington. |
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| Church Crescent, Swillington. |
This isn't a completely alien landscape though, as the Leeds Country Way brought us over here, way back when in 2012, as we pace along the roadside past the aggregate works and up to the saddest picnic area in the land, looking 6+ years more overgrown than it did on our last passage, and the road comes to a crest at the throat of Whitehouse Lane, where we can look downstream to the gradually decommissioning Ferrybridge Power Station, and east over to Kippax, still visited only once among all my walking days. Ahead sits Garforth, still larger than I expect it to be, spread in the landscape with St Mary's church at is heart with suburbia on both sides, reaching up the cliff to the water tower at it eastern edge, with the wind turbines that sit beyond Micklefield illuminated in the horizon, a vision to arrest as the day's decent weather fades comprehensively, just as anticipated, and the road declines again, staying with it all the way down to the Holiday Inn, passing the Royal Mail depot before we meet the island on the A63 Selby Road. We cross this, sticking with Wakefield Road as it skirts its way all around the edge of West Garforth, passing between the motor garage and the steakhouse, before tracing a lot of back garden hedges before we start to meet more housing from the village's rural and industrial days, while views across the fields give hints as to the nearby presence of Brookfield House farm and Barrowby Hall, hiding away behind the folds of its parkland. Thence we meet a suburban face for a while, looking over the undeveloped fields, before we run into the older end of town, along the long Cypress Terrace and up to the old Salem Chapel that just sits off the top of Main Street, where the shoppers are predictably out in lunchtime force, while our path continues east with Aberford Road, past the pubs and country club, as well as St Benedict's RC church, running close on Garforth station where we'd be in good time for the ride home. But it's to East Garforth we have to go to close the loop, so we pass over the railway, and carry on past the Tesco and Lidl stores, as well as the Fly Line pub, seeking out the hidden path among the council houses beyond Bar Lane, the sort of rural right of way that has endured as garden access, and seemingly beyond honest good sense, a fine place to disorientate yourself when against the clock to catch a train. Pass around the many yards of The Crescent before coming out by the only old houses on Meadow Road, and heading down into James Close where the sounds of the train arriving and leaving can be heard, before we've found the path to the footbridge, and I guess it always was an ask to get this one down at well under 5 hours. Anyway there are still a many footfalls to make before we close our circuit at East Garforth at just after 1.15pm, and due to strikes the next ride home isn't for a long while, so a choice of buses to ride away will have to do, and anyway I do need to shop as TK Maxx has recently had in a shipment of the walking socks that I like, so that can be my late season treat for keeping going into the cool days of November!
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| Garforth on the Horizon, from Wakefield Road. |
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| The Selby Road - Wakefield Road island. |
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| The terraced face of West Garforth. |
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| Old field paths behind the houses of East Garforth. |
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| East Garforth station and its oh-so-long footbridge. |
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 3641
2018 Total: 528.5 miles
Up Country Total: 3247.9 miles
Solo Total: 3364.1 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2234.8 miles
Next Up: Season #7's Finale - 'A Long Walk to the Chip Shop!'
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