Mirfield to New Pudsey 07/03/20

13.5 miles, via Knowl, Old Bank, Sunny Bank, Roberttown, Liversedge (Knowler Hill & 
 Littletown), Royds Park, Spen Lower, Cleckheaton Spen, Gomersal tunnel, Hunsworth, East 
  Bierley, Tong Street, Holme Wood estate, Tyersal, and Pudsey (Delph End & Owl Cotes Hill).

After the most productive of Walking Februaries, the March of this year is probably not going to be quite as serious as most that have preceded it, not least because we've effectively had one of its weekends lopped off, and having done my press towards Calderdale two weeks back, that teaser of the coming year will still not be picked up on as early season going has us keeping closer to home once again to fill in another trajectory between the railway lines to the Calder Valley and the big city of Bradford, especially as the month's weather is looking aggressively mediocre still. So we ride the rails out to Mirfield again, finally putting this station to good to use after so many years away, alighting at a measure after 9.40am, as the effects of Northern Fail's business ripple onward, setting off to the north again, past the Lidl and Bull Bridge to take a right onto the Huddersfield road this time, noting that this corner of the town is called Eastthorpe, which convinces me that this place is a lot of smaller settlements that coalesced into a larger one, even gaining itself a town hall on the Knowl Road corner in the 19th century, which the Salvation Army occupy much of these days. This will be our path up from the low portion of town, elevating us away among a run of proud run of Victorian terraces with the old Liberal Club among them, with the path of the lost L&NWR Leeds New Lines only visible to those who might know what to see in their absence, before we have Knowl Park arriving to the east, offering no sightlines toward the Parish Church, but revealing considerable altitude gained away from the Calder Valley, before we rise on to the urban village of Knowl, with its own smart shopping parade and nursery in the old Wesleyan chapel. Onwards as the lane twists its merry way past the Zion Chapel in its old Sunday school, and the village Community Centre in the old school on Water Royd Lane, getting beyond the reach of the formerly rural and 19th century stretch of Mirfield as we pass the Savile Arms on the Lee Green corner, with Old Bank Road displaying the last run of town houses and terraces on its way up to the Co-op, where our arrival coincides with the morning's fresh bread delivery. Take a left onto Sunny Bank Road, which gets us back onto a directly northwards run, revealing that Mirfield does indeed have a lot of suburbia at it's northern edge, all of it poorly placed for the railway station, but once past the shops around Chelle's Deli-Cafe, we find ourselves close to the A62 as it bypasses Roberttown, and ahead of the Fountain Inn junction we can look east to contextualize our location, high on the west side of the Spen Valley, looking across the fields to the high points of greater Dewsbury.

Mirfield Town Hall (former), Huddersfield Road.

The urban hamlet of Knowl.

Old Bank Road, Mirfield, bringing on the vintages.

The Fountain Inn junction, on the A62.

We'll not be avoiding Roberttown like the Leeds & Huddersfield Road, joining Child Lane as in ventures past the Low Fold industrial estate and into the spread of suburbia at a remove that doesn't seem quite as remote as it did a year ago, soon landing at the Lumb Lane corner and retracing steps up to the New Inn and the Roberttown club, before turning downhill onto the old turnpike as we quit the high side of the Spen Valley, and follow the terraced range down past the cricket field that actually belongs Liversedge's club, and note the impressively vintage Old Hall farm ahead of the vast site of the Spen Valley High School. There are more old houses to note before we merge with the A62 again, especially Duxbury Hall and Headland House, ahead of the toll bar cottage at the corner, where we'll split off onto Headlands Road, where a previous path brought us around the Headlands Industrial estate, where bedding manufacture seems to be a theme for the year, across the from the foot tunnel under the Liversedge Spen goods yard, with the primary school along the lane sitting opposite an abattoir for maximum incongruity, ahead of the elevation up to the A649 Halifax Road, just up from the site of the old railway station. Uphill we stretch for a few short yards, to find what might be the centre of Liversedge, at a height above th valley that is congruent with its name, where the old board school and town hall sit, opposite the tiny Sparrow Park on the Knowler Hill corner with is statue commemorating the Luddite uprising of 1812, with information boards reminding the visitor that unemployment due to mechanisation in the early 19th century could easily result in starvation, and that's a thought to ponder as we descend down, over the tunnel that the Spen Valley Greenway runs, and past the bulk of  Christ Church on its hillside. Tangle with my 2014 passage through this quarter again as we descend past Victaria Mills and over the river Spen, before arriving on the A638 Bradford Road at Littletown, which is more recently familiar as we cross to rise onto the eastern valley side, finding a path up though the bungalows and spartan council houses on Reuben Street and Garden Parade to find our way onto the northern approach of the Spen Valley Ringway, which we won't be following south as our route takes us on alongside the trackbed of the Leeds New Lines that hasn't been yet revived, northwards into the top edge of Royds Park, where the miniature railway on the alignment doesn't seem to be doing any unseasonal winter business.

The New Inn, Roberttown.

The Roberttown Bar House on the Leeds & Huddersfield turnpike.

The Luddite Memorial and the old Board School, Liversedge.

Royds Park, between Liversedge and Cleckheaton.

Field walking over to the top of Spen Bank doesn't appeal, and so follow the track that rises up to the Mount Pleasant equestrian farm, to get some good views over to Cleckheaton before we are led away to meet Gomersal Lane as it passes through a rather dank little glade before we arrive again in Spen Lower, just up from the broken bridge, seeking the track that accesses the works site on the former goods yard to the north of Cleckheaton Spen station, of which a sole building remains among what seems to be an abandoned scrapyard. Across the old railway formation, the access path over the Mann Dam viaduct can be found, with the structure being much easier to admire up close when not shrouded by foliage, and we'll pick up another old route as we descend down the side of the vast embankment on which the L&NWR goods yard was constructed, before we settle onto a low field path that is in turns marshy and broken, which makes me glad that I donned my heavy boots for this trip, as we try to not scare the horses as we are approaching Egypt farm, which seems to have the builders in for some residential redevelopment, and it seems safer to get out to Cliffe road via the driveway rather than the with the ROW. Land where the the Leeds New Lines once passed under the road by the driveway to Lands farm, where parts of the parapets remain and the farmer is out with his dog to give indication of where the right of way path runs down the side of the alignment, which is useful as it's not where it is on the map, but we won't be following it to the letter as we've another relic to be sought, to be found beyond the cattle creep in the embankment, which we pass under via a cattle churned surface before ascending to the track level. A quarter mile or so along the alignment, the railway exited the Spen Valley to the east via Gomersal Tunnel, the most significant structure in the county that hadn't been seen up close on our travels, and it's found beyond the partially infilled approach cutting, where this aborted reclamation work and a lot of seasonal rain has recently caused a lagoon to form ahead of the western end, so we can't even get within 50 yards of the portal to peer into its 810m bore, and judging by the height of the water up the arch projection, it's surely as deep as I am tall, and so that's a striking and wholly unexpected image to claim, the sort that will get 250+ acknowledgements when shared via various disused railway groups on Facebook.

The last remains of Cleckheaton Spen station.

The Cleckheaton Good Yard embankment.

The cattle creep near Lands Farm.

The west portal of Gomersal Tunnel, and its lagoon.

So we retreat to the permitted paths, noting that the only recent footfalls up to the tunnel appear to have been mine, getting back to the walking route north as we cross the beck to seek the path that rises around the fields of Lands Farm where its herd of Highland cattle reside, mostly recumbent and not at all bothered by the passers-by, which is just as well as this isn't a surface that could easily be run across as we crest over to descend down to cross one of the upper branches of the Spen River, uncertain if its the main one, just upstream from a small weir. The path ahead into the bottom of the suburban reach of Hunsworth doe that trick of passing directly through someone's back garden, is if you are walking up their access path before you emerge into the cosy little close of 80s housing on Mazebrook Avenue, parked just to the south of Drub Lane on another route previously seen, where we are led to cross the A58 as it descends into the Spen Valley, following Green Lane as it leads us into Hunsworth proper, past its community centre and recreation ground and then up Hunsworth Lane. The redbrick council houses lead us up to the old village centre, clustered around the Saville Arms (the second such of the day, but with a different spelling), where the green provides us a bench for a brief watering and snacking break, amidst the nicely turned out old heart if it, providng a few desirable residences at not too great a remove from the world, one of which really appears to to be holding Frank Sidebottom hostage in one of its upstairs rooms. The suburban run and the vintage council houses stretch up the lane beyond, which we ascend to meet the crossing of the M62, where you can almost get sight of both the Chain Bar interchange and the A651 bridges, marking us plainly between two earlier paths from this year, and the ascent onto the green ridge at the top end of the valley continues as we pass the site of the Yorkshire Wartime Experience, which pops up on these field annually, as we slip into what feels like an unfamiliar corner despite the presence of nearby routes through Oakenshaw and Birkneshaw Enjoy the hazy reverse view over the district on the rise before finding that we aren't that remote from familiar terrain at all, as the path of the Kirklees Way meets the lane as we hit Copley Springs house, keeping us company for a stretch as we meet the suburban ribbon that stretches south of East Bierley, another village in the district that you'd swear was part of greater Bradford as it reaches off down the lane, albeit only one house deep the whole way.

The Lands Farm Highland Herd.

Suburban growth at the south of Hunsworth.

Hunsworth Village Green.

The M62 in the uppermost Spen Valley.

Tangling with the Kirklees Way, south of East Bierley.

Beyond the stray old terrace on the lane, and the recreation ground, we meet the Village Green, which has us back in a familiar corner as we follow Raikes Lane again as it splits off to lead us past the Cricket Club with the grand old elevated view over Kirklees district, and the New Inn, passing around this suburban corner and the pair of previously burned routes into south Bradford, as we continue up toward the perimeter of the golf course, which surely isn't 18 holes large, right up to the official edge of the city. Enter Bradford by splitting off onto Stead Road, a suburban close trapped behind the Next distribution centre and the Princes soft drinks factory, which leads us to our least impressive bit of railway walking, as a footpath traces an unidentifiable section of the GNR Ardsley- Laisterdyke line, behind the Wynsor's Shoes and Iceland stores which sit at the side of the A650 in Tong Street, which we cross to seek our way forwards among the stone terraces, which we cross to land in front of the shopping parade across from the Holme Lane inn and next to Holme Lane. Our path continues into the Holme Wood estate with the earliest going of Broadstone Way slipping among the terrces that still surround the Prospect Mill site, before taking on the air you'd expect past the URC and the Top Shops complex, with the lane dividing the vintages of the estate, looking 1950 and redbrick to the west of it, and a whole lot grayer and more prefabricated to the east, and it's good to see that some residents are doing their best to look house proud while the estate suffers from a litter problem that seems endemic. The lane bottoms out by the estate's community hub, and rises on, past the WMC, St Christopher's church and the other shopping complex, passing the recreation ground that offers a view over those two tower block that hide from view at almost every angle, and up into some actually would-be leafiness to distract from the sea of off-white stucco, as we meet the arbor-clad West Field island, or traffic calming facility, where shirehorses graze below the branches, just to the south of the estate's top edge at Tyersal Lane, where new housing has encroached onto the fields that were bare in 2014. Development hasn't claimed the former railway alignment though, with the view over the infilled bridge to Broad Lane junction still remaining, as we scratch the edge of Bradford further as we join Dick Lane and enter Tyersal, pacing in front of the front of the Sutton estate with its barely perceptible curved road face and parklands, opposite the old and darkened terraces that are gradually being joined by newer residential developments on the eastern periphery of the city's still largely industrial band.

East Bierley Village Green.

The saddest old railway walk, ever, Tong Street.

The Top Shop, Holme Wood.

The West Field island, Holme Wood.

Dick Lane, Tyersal (Bradford).

Take a right turn onto Arkwight Street, passing the fields of Tyersal FC, and arrive at the infilled bridge at Cutler's Junction, where we depart Bradford, which probably won't be visited again until the late season, and enter Leeds district, where this suburb of Tyersal faces the wrong city and cannot be accessed through its own borough, which poses all sorts of questions about its development in the mid 20th century, with the rising lane showing up a lot place that have the builders in as we rise up to the hill crest by the park and club. The lane becomes bridleway beyond, only good for farm access as we again approach Pudsey's hillside, getting a good view across to Tyersal embankment as it piles its way across the valley as we are led on to the Wild Grove farmsteads, where we lose our hard surface underfoot and join the Leeds Country Way path as it sharply descends towards Tyersal Beck, not enjoying the muddiness when I distinctly recall cobbles on this track, stones that we eventually find though I could swear that many of the setts have been dug out since we passed up this way in 2012. Hit the bottom by the Gibraltar Mill site, now occupied by the Omega Stone works and the Valley Stables equestrian farm, from where we immediately have an ascent to do, up a conveniently direct path below the loftily perched terraces of Delph End, to meet Bradley Lane, where the steepness hasn't prevented the growth of Pudsey right up to its precipitous hillside edge, rising to cross Waterloo Road by the Kinder Haven nursery, and to continue up hill via the suburbia on Sunnyridge Avenue. Meet Owlcotes Road, just a the top of it's steep decline towards Hill Foot, and Thornbury through which our path would have traveled before a very late change of route plans, where we take our way down hill before we meet the bridleway that slips away north, behind the only old terrace on the lane, which leads behind the back gardens of the Hillfoot Crescent and Drive, perched at the eastern edge of Owlcotes Hill as it rises off to the east of us, before we arrive behind the plantation beyond it, where local scamps seem to have set up their afternoon hideaway from the grown ups beneath its trees. Land by another old route, from 2016 I think, as we meet the other path that converges by the remains of the Owlcotes Farm hamlet, which is barely visible on the ground after it was swept away, with only it's lane enduring, mostly as a mudslide on the way down to the A647 Stanningley Bypass - Ring Road, beyond which New Pudsey station lies, where we arrive at 2.40pm, the worst possible place to be in the schedule to catch one of the four hourly trains into Leeds, meaning a whole 20 (Twenty!) minute wait is in order in the afternoon sunshine.

Arkwright Street, Tyersal (Leeds).

The Wild Grove farmsteads.

Delph End, Pudsey.

The Owlcotes Road Terrace, Pudsey.

The descent from Owl Cotes hill to the A647, and New Pudsey.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4348.7 miles
2020 Total: 82.2 miles
Up Country Total: 3885.7 miles
Solo Total: 4034.5 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 2942.5 miles

Next Up: An untraced path from last year, between Calder and Colne.