13.5 miles, via Kexborough, High Hoyland, Clayton West, Scissett, Skelmanthorpe,
Shelley Woodhouse, Shelley, Kirkburton, Storthes Hall, and Farnley Tyas.
As we've now shifted into British Summer Time, we should rejoin the trail feeling hopeful that the worst of the cold days should have passed, and the projection for this day's trip is fine, but distinctly lack the temperature peaks of the last weekend, which has me wondering just how many more False Springs we're going to get before the actual one arrives, and thus we make no effort at an early start as days hadn't been getting bright early before the clocks changed and mornings will be probably glummer and cooler longer with everything moved an hour on. So back to the criss-crossing of Kirkless that made up so much of a busy and very satisfying March, and after three such treks we are starting to run short of places to travel to or from in the east, when we still have a plethora of options to the West, and having exhausted all the viable place in Wakefield District, we thus have to move into South Yorkshire to start this trip, meaning actually having to pay for the ride at both ends of my journey and reacquainting us with a place last seen as the loose end of a walk from 2014. So off the stopping train to Sheffield we get as we arrive at Darton station at 10.15am, right on the outermost northern edge of Greater Barnsley's suburbs, and still rather unsure whether the original Darton village or the contemporary settlement has its bulk on the east or west side of the railway, which we process beside down the terraces of Station Road and then pass under to join Church Street, immediately passing over the River Dearne, which despite its miles gained since rising to the west of here still hasn't formed a particularly broad channel. This lane has the feel of being the old village High Street as we pass the Co-op and the old Sunday School, and soon rising up the shopping parade towards the old Vicarage and All Saints church, with its yard brimming with daffodils, up by the A637 Barnsley Road, which we cross with some difficulty by the Rose & Crown in and then continue rising into the suburban enclave to the east of the motorway along Churchfield Road. Pass over the M1 and gain height enough to locate ourselves at the edge of the channel of the Dearne as it flows south past Woolley Edge, and then set ourselves westwards, establishing another new southern boundary to our field of walking experience far below the loops of the Wakefield and Kirklees circular trails as we press on into the suburban enclave of Kexborough.
I always feel oddly far from home when trekking outside West Yorkshire, knowing that my MetroCard is useless for travel and any bail out will cost me money, thoughts to exercise me as we pass through suburbia that would be anonymous if it wasn't for the fact that these South Yorkshire houses are so different from anything to be found to the north, a variety that always astonishes, and past the Methodist church and the Spa branch we meet the heart of this consumed village, where farmsteads cluster by the road by the Social Club and the White Bear inn, to give a bit of ancient colour and rural flavour to the area. Skies are still feeling gloomy and the air still chill as we press out of town on the still rising lane, past the school on the hillside that can be seen at a great distance from here, and out into the countryside along Upper Field Lane giving us a contextual view south to see the M1 snaking past Hugset Wood while the lay of the land mostly conceals Barnsley, with only its outer suburbs sitting visible around, and here we run out of footway and thus have to challenge the traffic as we settle into a deep groove flanked by hawthorn hedges that well conceal our location for quite a way. Eventually we rise to the top of this high ridge, some 170m up, which locates us above the woods that sit to the south of Bretton Park, and able to take in the full length of Woolley edge to its southern end at Mapplewell, revealing a distant view across Wakefield and forward to the tops of the Emley Moor masts peeking above the top of Hoyland Bank in the west, while the woodlands of Cawthorne Park gradually work their way up to the roadside from the south, concealing the view in that direction. Then road declines some before rising again once the trees fall away, revealing the view towards High Hoyland village, which sits beyond a long sweeping rise of the lane, revealing some fine looking former farm building sitting among its few suburban arrivals, and altogether puts on a grand face as the sun emerges into the day to illuminate it, where just the right amount of rural atmosphere is maintained and the commuters are left to live somewhere else, and being on a high bank also means there's a view to be had to the south. Various small rivers flow across this landscape, all still branches of the Dearne, so it's not quite the next river valley down, but it's my first good view of it since my passing glances from the Kirklees Way in 2014, and hopefully 2019 will provide me with a few good routes across it, adding it to my experience field, a view to absorb as far as the hillsides that separate it from the Don valley to the south, as we pass the Cherry Tree inn and take the junction that will lead us west out of the village and back to the Dearne valley proper.
It's an uphill slog along the pavement of Bank End Lane to reach the high fields at the top of this ascent, where Winter Hill farm, and a few other cottages, sit at 210+m up as we head over the crest of Hoyland Bank, but don't get a view reveal to the north until we've slipped onto the descending road and get sight north to that horizon that has been admired twice from closer to home, with water towers and spires confirming distant locations that start to vanish in the haze, while a closer view towards Bretton Common confirms my belief that there really is no notable habitation upon it. Losing height as we skirt the plantations on the bank, we return into West Yorkshire and can get a reveal of the masts on the far side of the Dearne Valley, while we descend on towards Clayton West, which appears rather well hidden from this end, where farmsteads are scattered among the fields above it and the lane leads us past rural terraces before we land in this small town where the suburban arrivals have done their best to blend in among the rural residences in this quarter. High Street is certainly a fine lane to arrive along as we drop down through the village that really gives me an issue with the need for an adequate description that sits well for places that are clearly larger than rural villages but smaller that country towns, admiring the many stone houses as we pass the pair of shopping parades and former Baptist Church and School as we land ourselves on the Kirklees Way route as we land on Church Lane and retrace steps past All Saints and note that the Shoulder of Mutton inn has closed and redeveloped as housing. Press on past the URC the that sits prominently on the high bank of the village, surrounded by the terraces and cottages that industry cased to grow out here, and mostly look away from the less appealing suburbia that has grown on the south side of the lane as we carry on down behind the grounds of Spring Grove house, itself behind the mill on the main road that sits on the Scissett-Clayton West boundary, which we cross as Chapel Hill ends as we precess our way past the former village school and the Marshall Mill development before we cross the Dearne as it sneaks behind the local terraces. We land ourselves on the A636 Wakefield Road again, which we cross by the newsagent and the 17th century dated farmhouse, admiring the factory façade behind us before we skirt around the yard of St Augustine's church, passing the war memorial on the corner before we start up the other side of river valley by pushing up Busker Lane as it leads uphill, below the grounds of the Joseph Norton Academy, while drawing us to views up to the Emley Moor masts and back across the valley to the path we've travelled.
There's a few proud houses and villas that have settled on this lane beyond Scissett, it seems, but before all our attention can settle on the well lit side of Emley Moor and its descending fields, we arrive among much more suburbia, and are gradually led on into the large village cum small town of Skelmanthorpe, which is possibly the most well concealed settlement in the district as it hides from view from just about every surrounding vantage point, with the B6116 being the only notable road that passes through it, and being seemingly beyond apparent suburban viability, from my perspective at least. There's certainly a lot of it to find though as past the Windmill Inn, we've got council houses and mid century semis with a view along Commercial Road, along with rural villas and terraces and a burgeoning new housing development called the Paddocks too, so there's clearly a good reason for people to live out here beyond the formerly rural aspects and the later industries that once thrived out here, indeed I have bit of family history here too, as it's that place that My Dad's Uncle Ronnie lived out his later years, before his assumed passing, a couple of decades back. The main road passes above the industrial part of town that lies below the descending terraces, while we pass among the stone houses and cottages of different suggestive vintages before we meet the former cinema that houses the squash club and the shopping parades around the Co-op store. Admire the 1642 dated farmhouse and the craft brewery, before we pass the town council offices and the Grove Inn at the top of Station Road before we start to press out of town up Huddersfield Road as the house gradually shed age as we pass, retaining stone faces right until we meet the bungalows to the town end by the local Shelley College, which oddly has the name of the next village over. Being well elevated, we still have a grand panorama of the Emley Moor masts, clearly showing up their contrasting styles as we pass through the open fields and I start to ponder why I've completely failed to catch sight of the Kirklees Light Railway as we've passed by, guessing that it must run beneath us as the road passes through a wooded depression before emerging among the cottages and farmstead that form the hamlet of Shelley Woodhouse. We also get a change of perspectives that gives us a first view of that high moor between the Dearne and Don valley to the south of us, as well as looking across Shepley village towards Holme Moss, and finally getting a reveal of the embankment of the former Clayton West branch in the valley of Shepley Dike below, while we figure that still travelling without lunch on this long a trail was a poor idea as we settle in the yard of Emmanuel church on the eastern edge of Shelley for a heavy snacking break.
We come in close to an old path as we move on past the vicarage and the garden centre to enter Shelley, which still has the feel of a rural settlement perched on its high bank once we've passed it first corner and gained the southward perspective between the two roads descending into the valley, getting a completely fresh look at the village as we shadow the Back Lane that we paced in 2014, pausing at the corner of Far Bank by the village hall to look beyond the suburban enclave to the west and on to Holme Moss and Meltham Moor, on the distant Pennine horizon. Swing northwards with the lane, feeling some cheer that Shelley has mostly kept its suburban splurge away from the main road, presenting dark stoned cottages and terraces along Huddersfield Road around the surely inauthentically named pub The Flying Ferret, passing out of the village as the lane starts to decline into the valley without a name which provides a view of the extensive woodlands to its west and forwards to the suggestions of Huddersfield's southern edges, while a look back uphill to Emley Moor show that the masts have switched sides from their apparent arrangement from earlier in the day. Past Wood Nock farm, we meet the southern edge of Kirkburton, where several streets of council house have been built, really rather a long way out from Greater Huddersfield, while a rather snazzy and adventurously designed house sits beyond the fields opposite, and we sidle into the townlet as we pass around the yard of All Hallows church, secluded by tall trees and a high wall before the road declines sharply between the old vicarage and police station to land us on the main drag by the George Inn, in an amazingly appealing corner of tall terraces and hidden yards. The road declines further, placing the church much higher than most of the village, and passing the Co-op again as the old routes pile up suddenly, and retrace our path of five years ago along North Road, with my eyes feeling much more prepared to see the formerly industrial aspect of this most appealing of villages, which still mostly displays a 19th century face to the main road. Pass into the green space that separates the village from the spread of Highburton, which we graze as we pass the bottom of Slant Gate, where a cycle store occupies and old factory, and then descend more as the B6116 reaches its end as it declines around the Springfield Mill site, and the cul de sac that sits on the former L&NWR Kirkburton station site, of which I know nothing remains, though that doesn't stop me detouring up the steep footpath above the Penistone Road junction to see if the footbridge over the station throat is still in situ like my ancient E288 map claims, which it isn't anymore, rendering this particular route transgression almost completely pointless.
Get back on track as we drop back down to the A629, and briefly walk along its side to the corner where the Spring Grove Tavern & B'n'B sits, and we slip down from it along Storthes Hall to continue our way west, down among the former mill sites at Dean Bottom, and passing over Woodsome Beck, our third encounter with this watercourse on this year's travels and its fourth different name that I can account for, before we start the push up the other side of the valley, away from the green fields and the views back to the east and on into the cover of trees. These are the woods that we observed from a couple of miles back, which blanket this portion of the valley and mostly conceal the grounds of Storthes Hall, the late 18th century pile that can be seen from various points across the valley, but can be only glimpsed through the forest of tree trunks on the rising bank above the road, a site that was once part of the extensive hospital site that grew on the estate through the 20th century. The larger part of this psychiatric establishment, or mental hospital or even lunatic asylum stood where the DIGS student accommodation flats now dwell, rather a long way away from Huddersfield University but existing a self contained sort of village now in its own wooded glade that largely conceals it from the road, though a parade of houses including semis and terraces stretches alongside the lane, rather incongruously until you consider that they must have been built to accommodate hospital staff up until the facility's closure in 1991. A more modern close sits beyond, indicating that development is still growing around this brownest of brown field sites, and it looks like the lands around the administration building, which is one of the few buildings of the Storthes Hall hospital to remain, is being set for more urban growth in the not too distant future, I'm sure a visit in a few years would have the site looking virtually unrecognizable. Still, definitely worth having a late re-plan to send my route up here, as we continue on up the hill to meet the small woodland at the top of the lane, where we join the Farnley Road to feel like we've come up close to the highest point of the day, where we feel that a view across the fields of freshly blooming rapeseed ought to offer us a view towards the Holme Valley, though we can't quite get one. Instaed we can pass Moor House look down the decline around Range Dike back into the valley we came out of, and across to Emley Moor on our reverse horizon before setting focus forwards to Farnley Tyas, spread over the hilltop despite its modest size, just beyond the route plotted for today but close enough for an impromptu visit while we are still decently ahead of our schedule.
The frustration of the day is that despite at the day's mid afternoon peak, the day really hasn't gotten warm, like we light expect as we arrive in British Summer Time, as the blue skies should at least hav us feeling the heat instead of the bite of cold air that we've been feeling since that burst of False Spring that we had last weekend, but still we are getting to see Farnley Tyas up close and ahead of schedule, one of those places that keeps turning up on Kirklees walking literature. It's immediately a place to charm the visitor, sat upon the hillside to the south of Castle Hill and displaying all that appeal that comes with a stone built village, and despite new builds arriving off Manor Lane to the east, there's little to spoil the look of the centre around the Golden Cock inn and the spired St Lucius's Church, which along the village school all have commanding views over towards the Victoria Tower on its Motte and Bailey off to the north, all well worth a look while the sun shines. Press out of the village along Butts Lane, where the council houses and assisted living bungalows have been hidden, to pace along the edge of the village playing fields to get back to Moor Lane and off this flat hilltop, pressing west once again as we pass Farnley Moor farm and School Wood, as we move towards the destination of the day after the road crests at 270m up and the tops of Meltham Moor and the Marsden and Slaithwaite Moors add themselves to the western horizon, and as we pass through the bank of trees of Royd Wood, above Runlet End house, we get a panoramic reveal across the Holme Valley, and up to the upper Colne Valley too, with Holme Moss and Black Hill looming a whole lot larger than they did a couple of hours back. Cross Hall Ing Lane and note what might be the third party of Scouts that I've seen out orienteering on these hills, and start the steep and final descent of the day down Brockholes Lane, slipping into a deep and tree lined groove that obscures the views down the valley, though the hills rise above impressively and the rural idyll is filled with sounds coming from the nearby rifle range, where properly high powered weapons are being fired off and the bullets literally tear the air. A lot of metres further down we come upon the railway bridge over the lane, and spot the train heading south towards Barnsley, which means we're in good time to conclude, passing under the line and up Ridings Fields on the edge of Brockholes, a tiny village suburb that now owns the closest station to Holmfirth, still some miles away and not actually looking like it will be on the schedule for a while after so proudly trumpeting my arrival in the Holme Valley, but that's where the day will wrap at 3.25pm, opposite the residentially preserved station building and feeling thrilled with my progress through the first 100 miles of the year.
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 3755.5 miles
2019 Total: 105.1 miles
Up Country Total: 3362.4 miles
Solo Total: 3469.2 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2349.3 miles
Next Up: A Weekend Off for Sociability, and then The Long Walk to Leicestershire can start.
As we've now shifted into British Summer Time, we should rejoin the trail feeling hopeful that the worst of the cold days should have passed, and the projection for this day's trip is fine, but distinctly lack the temperature peaks of the last weekend, which has me wondering just how many more False Springs we're going to get before the actual one arrives, and thus we make no effort at an early start as days hadn't been getting bright early before the clocks changed and mornings will be probably glummer and cooler longer with everything moved an hour on. So back to the criss-crossing of Kirkless that made up so much of a busy and very satisfying March, and after three such treks we are starting to run short of places to travel to or from in the east, when we still have a plethora of options to the West, and having exhausted all the viable place in Wakefield District, we thus have to move into South Yorkshire to start this trip, meaning actually having to pay for the ride at both ends of my journey and reacquainting us with a place last seen as the loose end of a walk from 2014. So off the stopping train to Sheffield we get as we arrive at Darton station at 10.15am, right on the outermost northern edge of Greater Barnsley's suburbs, and still rather unsure whether the original Darton village or the contemporary settlement has its bulk on the east or west side of the railway, which we process beside down the terraces of Station Road and then pass under to join Church Street, immediately passing over the River Dearne, which despite its miles gained since rising to the west of here still hasn't formed a particularly broad channel. This lane has the feel of being the old village High Street as we pass the Co-op and the old Sunday School, and soon rising up the shopping parade towards the old Vicarage and All Saints church, with its yard brimming with daffodils, up by the A637 Barnsley Road, which we cross with some difficulty by the Rose & Crown in and then continue rising into the suburban enclave to the east of the motorway along Churchfield Road. Pass over the M1 and gain height enough to locate ourselves at the edge of the channel of the Dearne as it flows south past Woolley Edge, and then set ourselves westwards, establishing another new southern boundary to our field of walking experience far below the loops of the Wakefield and Kirklees circular trails as we press on into the suburban enclave of Kexborough.
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| The Sunday School, Darton High Street. |
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| The Wooley Edge ridge, above the Dearne and the M1. |
I always feel oddly far from home when trekking outside West Yorkshire, knowing that my MetroCard is useless for travel and any bail out will cost me money, thoughts to exercise me as we pass through suburbia that would be anonymous if it wasn't for the fact that these South Yorkshire houses are so different from anything to be found to the north, a variety that always astonishes, and past the Methodist church and the Spa branch we meet the heart of this consumed village, where farmsteads cluster by the road by the Social Club and the White Bear inn, to give a bit of ancient colour and rural flavour to the area. Skies are still feeling gloomy and the air still chill as we press out of town on the still rising lane, past the school on the hillside that can be seen at a great distance from here, and out into the countryside along Upper Field Lane giving us a contextual view south to see the M1 snaking past Hugset Wood while the lay of the land mostly conceals Barnsley, with only its outer suburbs sitting visible around, and here we run out of footway and thus have to challenge the traffic as we settle into a deep groove flanked by hawthorn hedges that well conceal our location for quite a way. Eventually we rise to the top of this high ridge, some 170m up, which locates us above the woods that sit to the south of Bretton Park, and able to take in the full length of Woolley edge to its southern end at Mapplewell, revealing a distant view across Wakefield and forward to the tops of the Emley Moor masts peeking above the top of Hoyland Bank in the west, while the woodlands of Cawthorne Park gradually work their way up to the roadside from the south, concealing the view in that direction. Then road declines some before rising again once the trees fall away, revealing the view towards High Hoyland village, which sits beyond a long sweeping rise of the lane, revealing some fine looking former farm building sitting among its few suburban arrivals, and altogether puts on a grand face as the sun emerges into the day to illuminate it, where just the right amount of rural atmosphere is maintained and the commuters are left to live somewhere else, and being on a high bank also means there's a view to be had to the south. Various small rivers flow across this landscape, all still branches of the Dearne, so it's not quite the next river valley down, but it's my first good view of it since my passing glances from the Kirklees Way in 2014, and hopefully 2019 will provide me with a few good routes across it, adding it to my experience field, a view to absorb as far as the hillsides that separate it from the Don valley to the south, as we pass the Cherry Tree inn and take the junction that will lead us west out of the village and back to the Dearne valley proper.
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| Kexborough |
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| Upper Field Lane |
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| The Ascent to High Hoyland |
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| The Cherry Tree inn, High Hoyland, and just a hint of the view! |
It's an uphill slog along the pavement of Bank End Lane to reach the high fields at the top of this ascent, where Winter Hill farm, and a few other cottages, sit at 210+m up as we head over the crest of Hoyland Bank, but don't get a view reveal to the north until we've slipped onto the descending road and get sight north to that horizon that has been admired twice from closer to home, with water towers and spires confirming distant locations that start to vanish in the haze, while a closer view towards Bretton Common confirms my belief that there really is no notable habitation upon it. Losing height as we skirt the plantations on the bank, we return into West Yorkshire and can get a reveal of the masts on the far side of the Dearne Valley, while we descend on towards Clayton West, which appears rather well hidden from this end, where farmsteads are scattered among the fields above it and the lane leads us past rural terraces before we land in this small town where the suburban arrivals have done their best to blend in among the rural residences in this quarter. High Street is certainly a fine lane to arrive along as we drop down through the village that really gives me an issue with the need for an adequate description that sits well for places that are clearly larger than rural villages but smaller that country towns, admiring the many stone houses as we pass the pair of shopping parades and former Baptist Church and School as we land ourselves on the Kirklees Way route as we land on Church Lane and retrace steps past All Saints and note that the Shoulder of Mutton inn has closed and redeveloped as housing. Press on past the URC the that sits prominently on the high bank of the village, surrounded by the terraces and cottages that industry cased to grow out here, and mostly look away from the less appealing suburbia that has grown on the south side of the lane as we carry on down behind the grounds of Spring Grove house, itself behind the mill on the main road that sits on the Scissett-Clayton West boundary, which we cross as Chapel Hill ends as we precess our way past the former village school and the Marshall Mill development before we cross the Dearne as it sneaks behind the local terraces. We land ourselves on the A636 Wakefield Road again, which we cross by the newsagent and the 17th century dated farmhouse, admiring the factory façade behind us before we skirt around the yard of St Augustine's church, passing the war memorial on the corner before we start up the other side of river valley by pushing up Busker Lane as it leads uphill, below the grounds of the Joseph Norton Academy, while drawing us to views up to the Emley Moor masts and back across the valley to the path we've travelled.
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| Winter Hill farm, Hoyland Bank |
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| Above Clayton West and the Dearne Valley |
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| High Street, Clayton West |
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| Spring Grove House, Clayton West / Scissett |
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| St Augustine's Scissett |
There's a few proud houses and villas that have settled on this lane beyond Scissett, it seems, but before all our attention can settle on the well lit side of Emley Moor and its descending fields, we arrive among much more suburbia, and are gradually led on into the large village cum small town of Skelmanthorpe, which is possibly the most well concealed settlement in the district as it hides from view from just about every surrounding vantage point, with the B6116 being the only notable road that passes through it, and being seemingly beyond apparent suburban viability, from my perspective at least. There's certainly a lot of it to find though as past the Windmill Inn, we've got council houses and mid century semis with a view along Commercial Road, along with rural villas and terraces and a burgeoning new housing development called the Paddocks too, so there's clearly a good reason for people to live out here beyond the formerly rural aspects and the later industries that once thrived out here, indeed I have bit of family history here too, as it's that place that My Dad's Uncle Ronnie lived out his later years, before his assumed passing, a couple of decades back. The main road passes above the industrial part of town that lies below the descending terraces, while we pass among the stone houses and cottages of different suggestive vintages before we meet the former cinema that houses the squash club and the shopping parades around the Co-op store. Admire the 1642 dated farmhouse and the craft brewery, before we pass the town council offices and the Grove Inn at the top of Station Road before we start to press out of town up Huddersfield Road as the house gradually shed age as we pass, retaining stone faces right until we meet the bungalows to the town end by the local Shelley College, which oddly has the name of the next village over. Being well elevated, we still have a grand panorama of the Emley Moor masts, clearly showing up their contrasting styles as we pass through the open fields and I start to ponder why I've completely failed to catch sight of the Kirklees Light Railway as we've passed by, guessing that it must run beneath us as the road passes through a wooded depression before emerging among the cottages and farmstead that form the hamlet of Shelley Woodhouse. We also get a change of perspectives that gives us a first view of that high moor between the Dearne and Don valley to the south of us, as well as looking across Shepley village towards Holme Moss, and finally getting a reveal of the embankment of the former Clayton West branch in the valley of Shepley Dike below, while we figure that still travelling without lunch on this long a trail was a poor idea as we settle in the yard of Emmanuel church on the eastern edge of Shelley for a heavy snacking break.
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| The Windmill inn, and the eastern edge of Skelmanthorpe |
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| Skelmanthorpe High Street |
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| The Emley Moor masts from Skelmanthorpe's west end |
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| The loose association of Shelley Woodhouse |
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| Emmanuel Church, Shelley |
We come in close to an old path as we move on past the vicarage and the garden centre to enter Shelley, which still has the feel of a rural settlement perched on its high bank once we've passed it first corner and gained the southward perspective between the two roads descending into the valley, getting a completely fresh look at the village as we shadow the Back Lane that we paced in 2014, pausing at the corner of Far Bank by the village hall to look beyond the suburban enclave to the west and on to Holme Moss and Meltham Moor, on the distant Pennine horizon. Swing northwards with the lane, feeling some cheer that Shelley has mostly kept its suburban splurge away from the main road, presenting dark stoned cottages and terraces along Huddersfield Road around the surely inauthentically named pub The Flying Ferret, passing out of the village as the lane starts to decline into the valley without a name which provides a view of the extensive woodlands to its west and forwards to the suggestions of Huddersfield's southern edges, while a look back uphill to Emley Moor show that the masts have switched sides from their apparent arrangement from earlier in the day. Past Wood Nock farm, we meet the southern edge of Kirkburton, where several streets of council house have been built, really rather a long way out from Greater Huddersfield, while a rather snazzy and adventurously designed house sits beyond the fields opposite, and we sidle into the townlet as we pass around the yard of All Hallows church, secluded by tall trees and a high wall before the road declines sharply between the old vicarage and police station to land us on the main drag by the George Inn, in an amazingly appealing corner of tall terraces and hidden yards. The road declines further, placing the church much higher than most of the village, and passing the Co-op again as the old routes pile up suddenly, and retrace our path of five years ago along North Road, with my eyes feeling much more prepared to see the formerly industrial aspect of this most appealing of villages, which still mostly displays a 19th century face to the main road. Pass into the green space that separates the village from the spread of Highburton, which we graze as we pass the bottom of Slant Gate, where a cycle store occupies and old factory, and then descend more as the B6116 reaches its end as it declines around the Springfield Mill site, and the cul de sac that sits on the former L&NWR Kirkburton station site, of which I know nothing remains, though that doesn't stop me detouring up the steep footpath above the Penistone Road junction to see if the footbridge over the station throat is still in situ like my ancient E288 map claims, which it isn't anymore, rendering this particular route transgression almost completely pointless.
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| Shelley perches on its high bank |
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| The Flying Ferret, Shelley Town End. |
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| The outer edge of Greater Huddersfield? |
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| The George Inn corner, Kirkburton. |
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| The Cycle Store at the bottom of Slant Gate. |
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| The former Kirkburton L&NWR station throat |
Get back on track as we drop back down to the A629, and briefly walk along its side to the corner where the Spring Grove Tavern & B'n'B sits, and we slip down from it along Storthes Hall to continue our way west, down among the former mill sites at Dean Bottom, and passing over Woodsome Beck, our third encounter with this watercourse on this year's travels and its fourth different name that I can account for, before we start the push up the other side of the valley, away from the green fields and the views back to the east and on into the cover of trees. These are the woods that we observed from a couple of miles back, which blanket this portion of the valley and mostly conceal the grounds of Storthes Hall, the late 18th century pile that can be seen from various points across the valley, but can be only glimpsed through the forest of tree trunks on the rising bank above the road, a site that was once part of the extensive hospital site that grew on the estate through the 20th century. The larger part of this psychiatric establishment, or mental hospital or even lunatic asylum stood where the DIGS student accommodation flats now dwell, rather a long way away from Huddersfield University but existing a self contained sort of village now in its own wooded glade that largely conceals it from the road, though a parade of houses including semis and terraces stretches alongside the lane, rather incongruously until you consider that they must have been built to accommodate hospital staff up until the facility's closure in 1991. A more modern close sits beyond, indicating that development is still growing around this brownest of brown field sites, and it looks like the lands around the administration building, which is one of the few buildings of the Storthes Hall hospital to remain, is being set for more urban growth in the not too distant future, I'm sure a visit in a few years would have the site looking virtually unrecognizable. Still, definitely worth having a late re-plan to send my route up here, as we continue on up the hill to meet the small woodland at the top of the lane, where we join the Farnley Road to feel like we've come up close to the highest point of the day, where we feel that a view across the fields of freshly blooming rapeseed ought to offer us a view towards the Holme Valley, though we can't quite get one. Instaed we can pass Moor House look down the decline around Range Dike back into the valley we came out of, and across to Emley Moor on our reverse horizon before setting focus forwards to Farnley Tyas, spread over the hilltop despite its modest size, just beyond the route plotted for today but close enough for an impromptu visit while we are still decently ahead of our schedule.
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| Woodsome Beck (or Shepley Dike, or Thunder Bridge Dike, or...) |
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| Storthes Hall hiding in its woodlands |
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| The Storthes Hall Hospital houses |
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| The Storthes Hall Hospital Administration Building |
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| Blooming Rapeseed fields above the Holme Valley |
The frustration of the day is that despite at the day's mid afternoon peak, the day really hasn't gotten warm, like we light expect as we arrive in British Summer Time, as the blue skies should at least hav us feeling the heat instead of the bite of cold air that we've been feeling since that burst of False Spring that we had last weekend, but still we are getting to see Farnley Tyas up close and ahead of schedule, one of those places that keeps turning up on Kirklees walking literature. It's immediately a place to charm the visitor, sat upon the hillside to the south of Castle Hill and displaying all that appeal that comes with a stone built village, and despite new builds arriving off Manor Lane to the east, there's little to spoil the look of the centre around the Golden Cock inn and the spired St Lucius's Church, which along the village school all have commanding views over towards the Victoria Tower on its Motte and Bailey off to the north, all well worth a look while the sun shines. Press out of the village along Butts Lane, where the council houses and assisted living bungalows have been hidden, to pace along the edge of the village playing fields to get back to Moor Lane and off this flat hilltop, pressing west once again as we pass Farnley Moor farm and School Wood, as we move towards the destination of the day after the road crests at 270m up and the tops of Meltham Moor and the Marsden and Slaithwaite Moors add themselves to the western horizon, and as we pass through the bank of trees of Royd Wood, above Runlet End house, we get a panoramic reveal across the Holme Valley, and up to the upper Colne Valley too, with Holme Moss and Black Hill looming a whole lot larger than they did a couple of hours back. Cross Hall Ing Lane and note what might be the third party of Scouts that I've seen out orienteering on these hills, and start the steep and final descent of the day down Brockholes Lane, slipping into a deep and tree lined groove that obscures the views down the valley, though the hills rise above impressively and the rural idyll is filled with sounds coming from the nearby rifle range, where properly high powered weapons are being fired off and the bullets literally tear the air. A lot of metres further down we come upon the railway bridge over the lane, and spot the train heading south towards Barnsley, which means we're in good time to conclude, passing under the line and up Ridings Fields on the edge of Brockholes, a tiny village suburb that now owns the closest station to Holmfirth, still some miles away and not actually looking like it will be on the schedule for a while after so proudly trumpeting my arrival in the Holme Valley, but that's where the day will wrap at 3.25pm, opposite the residentially preserved station building and feeling thrilled with my progress through the first 100 miles of the year.
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| Farnley Tyas, and the Golden Cock |
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| The Reveal of the Meltham, Marsden and Slaithwaite Moors. |
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| Holme Moss and the wrinkles of the Holme Valley |
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| Steeply descending around the rifle range. |
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| Brockholes station preserved on the unused up platform. |
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 3755.5 miles
2019 Total: 105.1 miles
Up Country Total: 3362.4 miles
Solo Total: 3469.2 miles
Miles in My 40s: 2349.3 miles
Next Up: A Weekend Off for Sociability, and then The Long Walk to Leicestershire can start.
You really should have tbis published as a 'Walkers Guide' as its a great read and gives you a taste but also an urge to do the walk and see the sights on the photos in person :)
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