Denby Dale to Batley 27/05/19

13 miles, via Lower Cumberworth, Skelmanthorpe, Emley, Flockton Green, Overton, 

 Middlestown, Thornhill, Thornhill Lees, Savile Town, Dewsbury, and Batley Carr.

After what felt like my longest break away from home in a while, which was my first proper holiday in two years, we return to the more mundane matters of walking locally again, returning to the previously unseen byways that still litter Kirklees District, and after all that nice weather that sat comfortably over the days in Derbyshire, it all looks rather mediocre as we return to West Yorkshire and tune up for our Bank Holiday Monday stroll. We ought to not be surprised by this turn of events by now, by travelling through the early morning rain as it falls on Dewsbury and Huddersfield hardly gets me feeling inspired as I seek an early jump off so that there night be r'n'r time available at the other end of the day before we get back to work after so many days away from it, and thus we land at Denby Dale station at 8.35am, with most of the borough still asleep and with us setting a course northwards after so many trips going south. We'll not really see anything of the village as it clusters in the upper Dearne Valley, instead taking the exit that leads us past the old goods shed and the yard of a builders merchant to find the walkable path that leads though the linked closes of Bromley Bank and Bluehills Lane, which I can only hope were developed on a brown-field site as this is the sort of suburban-living-in-the-countryside that I find so repellent, which is only used as a path route today as it lets us join Cumberworth Road about halfway up from the valley. Land on this lane as the glum start to the day passes, with a stiff breeze from the northwest sending the weather on over the Dearne Valley and its high southern side as we go north, with sunshine coming on as we rapidly wander into Lower Cumberworth, a much more rural sort of village, where the Kirklees Way brought us on an east-west path in 2014, and thus we've briefly adds another few square miles to the experience field as we pass the Forester's Arms and hit the descending Shelley Woodhouse Lane, which soon has us out among the more scattered houses again. Here we pick our path, joining Ponker Lane, with its awesome name and convenient footway to lead us up the rising lane over Ponker Hill toward Ponker farm, cresting by the covered reservoir and giving us that view to the Emley Moor masts that might be their best angle before the lane starts to descend in Skelmanthorpe, where most of the suburban houses at the town's edge seem to boldly protest the future development of any more suburban houses on the greenbelt land at the top end of Cumberworth Road.

The Long Walk to Leicester #5 - Rowsley to Belper 23/05/19

17.3 miles, via Northwood, Churchtown, Darley Bridge, Oker, Matlock, High Tor, 

 Matlock Bath, Cromford, the Cromford Canal, High Peak Junction, Robin Hood, 

  Whatstandwell, Ambergate, and Scotches (plus the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail Leg #3).

Long Distance Trek

means Selfies!

#5 at Rowsley

Take two days out from the trail to allow the legs a rest and to blog to my hearts content in the down time, and also to do holiday stuff, because I'm on holiday, which has Tuesday spent riding the train at Peak Rail, because it's not a trip away without visiting a preserved line (which would make Dad happy, for sure) and then Wednesday is spent getting in the industrial heritage in at Cromford Mills, where the concept of factory manufacture took off in the late 18th century. With holiday whims satisfied, we can thus get back in the walking saddle on Thursday, knowing that another 17+ mile day lies ahead, with weather that promises a lot of sunshine and heat, in complete contrast to the already distant feeling trip over the Dark Peak only five days back, taking off in the Parental Taxi with a bag full of food and liquids that I know I'm going to need for a jump off at the Grouse & Claret in Rowsley at 9.05am. We're right by the side of the A6, which as we know is one of Leicester's main roads and could rightly be followed for the remainder of my Long Walk, but we know there wouldn't be as much fun in that, and the Derwent Valley Heritage Way will offer a much more peaceful take as it ventures down Old Station Close, to the sight of the second and longest enduring of Rowsley's stations, lost under industrial units since its 1968 closure, and we could walk the cycle path on the railway formation south from here, but the way wants us to venture into the beech woodlands by the side of the river, and so that's the way we head. A nice and shaded start to the day, feeling that it's much longer walk down to the newer Peak Rail station than it felt when we drove down there, and only slight landscape hints are felt during our passage, and oddly, we miss seeing the confluence of the River Wye as it flows in from the west, and it's odd that such a major branch of the Derwent could arrive invisibly, especially as I knew that I was looking for it.

The Long Walk to Leicester #4 - Bamford to Rowsley 20/05/19

14.4 miles, via Shatton bridge, Goose Nest wood, Leadmill bridge, Coppice wood,

 Grindleford bridge, Horse Hay coppice, Froggatt wood, Frogatt, Calver, Bubnell, Baslow,

  Chatsworth Park, and Calton Lees (plus the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail Leg #2).

Long Distance Trek means Selfies!

#4 at Bamford

Sunday makes for a nicely chilled out day away as we spend it settling into our rather curious cottage in Winster, one which has two double bedrooms, a dining room that seats six, but a living room with only space for two armchairs, so it'll be fine for Mum and myself to fill for the week, and the village itself has a tonne of charm, with many stone cottages crammed together on its hillside, largely borne of the lead mining industry and sat around the National Trust's very first property, the 15th century Market Hall. Thus relaxed, we are ready to go again on Monday as the weather showed a marked spike in improvement, tootling our way back up to the Hope and Derwent Valleys to resume the trail, not getting out quite as early as I'd would have liked, due to Mum accidentally breaking our cottage's shower, and me managing somehow to successfully fix it, landing us at Bamford station for a 9.30am start, hopeful that I haven't seen too much of today's passage already on our way back. Anyway, I can guarantee that this will be a much shorter and gentler trip than Saturday's escapade, as we make our way back over retraced steps over Mytham Bridge and past the Hope Valley Garden centre to resume the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, at Shatton bridge, leading into the dead-end village of Shatton and taking us over the lowest crossing of the River Noe, the main watercourse of the Hope Valley itself, which flows to our left as we pass around an equestrian paddock as we make for the Derwent's bank. Where the Noe converges with the Derwent is where the latter becomes considerable, as both drain an extensive area of moorland, and thus we have a large channel to follow as we join the undulating an occasionally high bank of the river, skirting along the edge of the broad pasture below the rises of Offerton Moor to the south, following it around Kentney barn before we get a reveal of the local Dark Peak company behind us, with Lose Hill and Win Hill flanking Crookstone Moor, the eastern edge of the Kinder Scout plateau. Bamford Edge also muscles into the view as we press on, but there's not so much to see going forwards as the bank gets tight and undulating until we get a reveal of the hillsides above Hathersage, a proud Derbyshire village that looks like it will remain completely unseen from this trail, hidden away on the north-eastern bank, with only signage indicating its presence somewhere beyond the coverage of trees and the string of stepping stones.

The Long Walk to Leicester #3 - Penistone to Bamford 18/05/19

17.5 miles, via Cubley, Sheephouse Height, Midhopestones, Ewden, Smallfield, 

 Bradfield Dale, Bole Edge Plantation, Strines, Moscar, Ladybower Reservoir, 

  and the Thornhill Trail (plus the Derwent Valley Heritage Trail Leg #1).

Long Distance Trek

means Selfies!

#3 at Penistone.

It's a weird feeling to organise a holiday for the family without having Dad around to enjoy it too, but after his passing getting away for a week was one of the first thoughts for the future that Mum and I shared, and with a legacy having come my way, affording a few weeks away over the coming years shouldn't dent my finances at all, and as Mum has gotten her driving confidence going again, added to getting herself a sat-nav app, her being my taxi for a week of walking across Derbyshire should be as straightforward as is possible. Getting going is the first order of business then, leaving Morley at ouch o'clock in the morning, and leaving Mum as custodian of my flat and the baggage as I make for the trail that will link my local wandering fields to the Midlands, which probably aren't as far away as my brain would think, riding the rails and cursing this month of May that still hasn't brought any consistently decent weather, arriving at Penistone for an 8.45am jump-off, under gloomy skies and clouds that look like they could threaten rain at a moments notice. We thus start our resuming path into the unknown by slipping onto the Trans Pennine Trail path which heads south of the station and reveals the platforms of the former MS&LR Woodhead route, which were coated in trees when we visited in 2014 and haven't seen a regular passenger service since 1970, and we then slip down Eastfield Avenue to make our way through the town, rising among the terraces on Church Street to pass around the other side of the parish church of St John the Baptist. Land on the High Street opposite the pubs and the Co-op, and am struck that folks seem to already be out in force despite the early hour and we press on south as the stone houses slip from townhouse style to a scale more modest, and occasionally rural before the lane takes a dip and slips solidly into suburbia, gaining the name of Mortimer Road as it goes. The rise away from the Don valley resumes as we climb towards the bottom end of town, and there's more to Penistone than you'd expect clearly, meeting the council estate at Cubley, right about where the Barnsley district bus terminates and we start to slip into the countryside, past the Cubley Hall hotel and pub, and into the elevated fields that lie beyond, shrouded in an uninviting grey haze, which sadly gives us little by way of gaining a contextual view into the landscape around-abouts.

Deighton to Silkstone Common 11/05/19

16.8 miles, via Bradley, Colne Bridge, Upper Heaton, Kirkheaton (Moor Top), 

 Whitley Park, Grange Moor, Flockton, Emley, Clayton West, Hoyland Bank, 

  High Hoyland, Cawthorne Park, Cawthorne, and Silkstone. 

Nearly two weeks into May and it still isn't feeling warm yet, further enhancing the feeling that the seasons of 2019 could well be broken, though things are looking a little better for the weekend than they had during the prior few days of persistent rain and temperatures in single digits, and this lingering chill is what prevents me getting out early for a pre-9am start, even when I have a 16+ miles day to look forwards to, my first properly long trek of the year. The surprise of the day probably has to be the fact that I've never walked from Deighton station during all my years of wandering, as it lies on the local service out of Morley and provides a handy jumping off point in Huddersfield's eastern suburbs, and it's here we'll alight after 9.25am, with a course prepared across the heart of Kirklees district, an area we've largely neglected during these weeks of wandering in its eastern quarter. The first thing to not here is the branch from the railway that forms the branch to Kirkburton, on which the modern station stands, with its bridge under Whitacre Street still in situ, and the next to note is the view up the Colne Valley, in which Huddersfield mostly hides, with its high banks thickly coated in woodlands despite the urban growth of the town. Despite having never travelled to or from this station before, we're hardly in unknown territory, as we're only a short way up from Leeds Road and the Huddersfield Broad canal, and only a little way down from the Birkby-Bradley greenway, which we cross as we head north into some very randomly developed suburbia and up to the green that was once the middle of rural Deighton village. It's all a very different prospect now, and we'll not be taking the direct route to the crossing of the River Colne as there are more roads to be seen than the shortest possible route, and thus we'll strike a path up Keldergate to pass through Deighton's council estate, a mass of bungalows and modest semis that end abruptly as the lane slips through the lower reaches of Bradley Gate wood, which lead us into Bradley, naturally. There's even more council houses down here too, and a lot more painted stucco as well, giving it a look like that of Nether Hall, the estate local my old corner of Leicester, though it has a lot more greenery and leafiness to give it some visual flair before we run out onto the A6107 Bradley Road, where we head east, on among the stone terraces and rural outliers that have been consumed by the town.

Ravensthorpe to Dodworth 05/05/19

14.4 miles, via Thornhill Lees, Thornhill (Combs), Horbury Bridge, Netherton, Great Cliff, 

 Dennington, Woolley Edge, Haigh, Kexborough, Barugh, Barugh Green, and Higham. 

The planned two days of walking over the long May Day weekend gets scuppered before we even get to Saturday, as it seems that our impromptu Lakeland Fell climbing excursion has done me some damage, leaving me with sore muscles in my thighs, the ones that usually don't get exercised when I walk normally, which still ache as we press on though the early days of May, and thus cause me to drop plans for Monday and move my main walk on to Sunday in order to get a day's rest in before hitting the trail. So we rise with a plan to do West Yorkshire to South Yorkshire again, and only out of force of habit do I check the train times for my return leg before travelling, and find that there will be no trains at all on the Penistone Line, when they had been plainly advertised just the day before, and as the replacement bus services are running earlier that the normal schedule that means we'll have to do this trail at the hurry up, so as to not endure a too late finish. So onwards to Ravensthorpe, that odd station between Dewsbury and Mirfield that doesn't seem to have a lot of obvious purpose, where we depart at 9.15am, with a route projected to take us from the Calder to the Dearne and the very southern edge of its catchment, the river here hidden by the former goods shed and the enduring industrial plant on its bank, as we rise to join Ravensthorpe Road and set off eastwards, away from the industry that sits on it north side and on amongst the long parades of semis that form the outer reaches of greater Thornhill and greater Dewsbury. Thornhill Lees is the sort of place to really ponder how suburbs develop, especially the older ones that so obviously sit at a slight remove from their neighbours, and despite having paced much of the length of Lees Hall Road on a previous trip it seems deeply unfamiliar as we pace on, between council houses and stone terraces, with the lane feeling extra quiet thanks to it having been closed to all traffic for some serious roadworks. The looming proximity of Thornhill's wooded upland isn't really felt until we've passed the Morton House club and the Thornhill Lees village hall, and the suggestions of the possibility of a bright day is teased as the sun tries to break through the band of cloud above to illuminate the curved terrace on the Ingham Road corner, but frustratingly the prevailing light wind looks like we aren't going to have much more sunshine to walk directly into as high grey cloud rules the day to the west.