Alone Beneath The Sky: Morley to Dewsbury 12/02/19

5.1 miles, via Birks, Tingley Common, Woodkirk, Chidswell, Shaw Cross, and Eastborough.

The 2019 season gets underway, later than I'd intended but earlier than expected after the recent unfortunate turns of events, and we'll start my eighth season of walking by staying close to home, as a look at my cumulative map of all my walking years has shown up rather too many blank spaces to the south of Morley, places that I'd thought I'd seen in detail over the years, but it turns out I hadn't, so doing that during an extra week off work seems like absolutely the best thing to do. We could have gotten an earlier start but the appeal of a lie in was strong, and thus we don't get to the start line at Morley Town Hall, by the Metro sign at the top of the pedestrianised run of Queen Street until 10.20am, with the day still feeling glum and chill as we head down the route south, immediately making note of Beryl Burton Gardens, off to the west side, having noted correctly her cycling prowess and Yorkshire status when I passed through Knaresborough in 2017, but failed to note that she only rode from that town, and that she was actually a daughter of this borough. That puts her in the same bracket of local notability as former PM HH Asquith, and also Ernie Wise whose statue we'll also pass as we make out of the town centre to South Queen Street, past the New Pavilion theatre and the back of St Pauls church, before meeting the High Street - Bridge Street island where the railway viaduct used to pass overhead on the run into Morley Top station, and then we press on through the district of town that amusingly goes by the name of Birks before running past the bus terminus and the buildings of Tingley Mill, that have finally been given the clean up and residential makeover that they've been due for a long damn time. Cross Bradford Road and make out of town with suburbia for company as the A6029 Rein Road take us out over the M62, teasing views over Kirklees district as we go, passing the Woodkirk academy and grazing the edge of the estates of Tingley Common before we meet the A653 Dewsbury Road, which will carry us on our way for most of this morning's trip, joining its south-westwards course past the Bulls Head and down hill as we move into the shadow of the former railway embankments of the GNR to the north of the former Woodkirk station.

Beryl Burton Gardens, Queen Street, Morley.

The Tingley Mill bus terminus.

The M62 bridge teasing views towards Kirklees.

The GNR embankment by the A653 Dewsbury Road.

It's a small revelation that I get as we rise past Woodkirk Valley Country club, where you might enjoy a game of Zorb Football or Footgolf, and that's that I don't think I've ever travelled down this stretch of dual carriageway in all my years up country in any capacity, which is a major surprise for a trunk route so close to home, the only local passage being when the Leeds Country Way brought me over it from the yard of St Mary's church over to the old station site in 2012. For a borough that had little substance before the 20th century, Woodkirk's parish church certainly has an extensive graveyard, seemingly stretching all the way to the Leeds - Kirklees district boundary, where housing seems to take hold of the road, which could lead you to believe the Greater Batley has spread out onto these high fields but the reality is that this is urban growth that is only one semi deep, with open fields aplenty beyond to west and east. Meet the Batley-Wakefield road by the Babes in the Wood inn, which is all boarded up at present and a fixer-upper for the would be publican, and then its on, into the low sun beyond Emley Moor mast as the semis continue along the main road as it undulates its way on to the border with Greater Dewsbury, with only the Lowfield Terrace and Orchard House suggesting anything along the roadside of a vintage older than the 1930s. Views start to open up to the west, giving sight down towards Batley across the playing fields and forwards towards Hanging Heaton with its church prominent, and the proper outer edge of Dewsbury is met as the side roads of Chidswell spread beyond Leeds Road and things get rather urban again as we pass the Mount Tabor community church and Shaw Cross infant and nursery school, as well as the curved terrace on the corner of the Batley-Ossett road. Shaw Cross could easily tempt us over towards Hanging Heaton and St Paul's church, but we have a direct line to burn, down Leeds Road among the many stone fronted semis and long terraces that have stretched out onto this hillside above the lower Calder valley, presenting enjoyable ironstone hues and the odd old farmstead to spot, along with sideways glances to see the spire of All Saints church in Ossett, before we meet the Tesco Express in the old pub and the beginning of the steep decline of the lane.

St Mary's, Woodkirk.

The Babes in the Wood on the Leeds-Dewsbury-Batley-Wakefield crossroads.

The Mount Tabor community church, Chidswell-Shaw Cross.

The semis and terraces of Greater Dewsbury along Leeds Road.

The A653 starts its descent through Crackenedge.

The road settles into a deep walled and tree fringed groove as it manages its decline down through Crackenedge, at a pitch that's certain pretty challenging for a major road, proving that the builders of the old turnpikes had the sort of focus for directness that was shared with the Romans, and slopes like this shouldn't come as a surprise to me as I do know that I live on a hillside high on the divide between the Calder and the Aire. As we meet the Crown inn, we drop inside the path of the Kirklees Way, as well as getting sight of the woods that coat the steep sides of Crackenedge, where I did my best to get lost on my 2014 circuit, the road settling into a twistier and more open descent as it passes into the eastern edge of Dewsbury town proper, naturally calling itself Eastborough, giving multitudinous looks over the rooftops to the north before we run out of Leeds Road by the spired Junior and Infant school and across the Ring Road from the equally spired Baptist Church. There's also a lost railway tunnel somewhere under here too, but that's not easy to see, so that can be ignored as we cross the A638 to find the path that takes us down to the site of the GNR's Dewsbury Central Station, where the road now runs across the bridge at railway level and the Station hotel and front entrances endure below, not the first time I've seen it, but looking a lot brighter than it did when we passed this way five seasons back. We are also on the edge of Dewsbury Market, it's hall being a fine construction in iron and glass that is nowhere near large enough to contain all the stalls that spread out into the market place beyond, stretching out along Foundry Street as we skirt away from the commercial centre of town, but still manage to find the impressively lofty Kingsway arcade to pass through as we make a shortcut to Northgate and up behind the hall of the Dewsbury Pioneers Industrial Society. That's the one with the clock tower that isn't the town hall, from where Branch road drops us at the side of the Ring Road again, where that impressive parade of warehouses faces the railway station, where we can wrap this sub two hour day, and first leg of this week's local triangle, at 12.15pm, a bad time to line up a train, but this is a station that's busy enough to not be boring, so I'll have a train-spot of the passing units as I wait that would surely make My Dad proud.