12.3 miles, from Morley Hole, via New Brighton, Dartmouth Park, Howley Park, Howley Hall,
Lamplands, Upper Batley, Brown Hill, Birstall, Field Head, Moorside, Adwalton, Gildersome,
Hart Hill, St Bernard's mill, Rooms, Daffil Woods, Churwell (Lane Side), Daisy Hill,
Chapel Hill and Banks Hill.
In our final episode of 'June doesn't know what the hell it's doing' we get it dropping three midweek days of unbroken sunshine and high temperatures which are concluded by one of the most epic cloudbursts that I have ever experienced (and I should know because I was right out in it when it happened), and as the weekend lands it decides that it's going to shift our climate back into that of early Spring rather than Summer, presenting weather of teeming rain than might inspire me to stay at home in normal circumstances, but as we know, we are in a world that's far from normal, and I need my routine of stretching to keep my head in good order. So to Morley Hole we head, waterproofs donned against the persistent drizzle, for a 9.10am start, aiming to get this tour done at the hurry-up to stay ahead of the threat of storms in the afternoon, starting out up the causey into New Brighton, because original routes are proving hard to come by now, risking early injury on the slippery setts before we head south via the way to Corporation Street, which we cross and find a couple of un-walked roads through the estate beyond, Highcliffe Road and Gerard Avenue, which pass St Francis' RC school along the way to Scatcherd Lane. Steps are retraced again past the cricket and rugby clubs and on into the upscale Victorian suburbia that surrounds Dartmouth Park, before we actually do locate the route along New Park Street, which leads us among its terraces towards Fountain Street before not actually joining it, instead slipping down the back lane of Oak Road, which gives access to a whole block of suburbia that would otherwise go unnoticed as it leads us to a ginnel behind the old chapels on the corner of Bruntcliffe Road, on which we land by the Halfway House inn at the top of Scotchman Lane. Over the A650 and again onto familiar pavements, down among the suburban ribbon out of town and over the M62 before we split onto the route of last year's Long Walk, angling down the farm track and across the fields on the site of the original Howley Park quarries, getting none of the views down to Batley and across Kirklees that we enjoyed in 2019 as we pass above Morley tunnel and between its vents, meeting a crowd of grazing horses and foals at the bottom corner of the field where we join the path that skirts the perimeter of Howley Hall golf course, where the well-grown vegetation shows up a greater risk of giving you a soaking than the rainfall does.
Sunday 28 June 2020
Sunday 21 June 2020
Morley South-East Circuit 20/06/20
10.9 miles, from Morley Hole, via Troy Hill, Town End, Birks, Tingley (Upper Green &
Baghill), West Ardsley (Beggarington Hill & Common Side), Woodhouse lane, East Ardsley,
The Fall, Thorpe on the Hill, Ardsley Junction, Sissons Wood, West Wood, Owlers, Gillroyd,
Low Town End, and Corporation Street.
My calendar tells me that this Saturday is the first day of Summer, though I'm sure that it isn't due until the following day, meaning that the seasons might have shifted around without having informed me, not that anyone seems to have informed June of what season it is meant to be either, as we experience three days of chilliness that might have you thinking about putting the heating back on before promising an increase in warmth and brightness for the weekend that never quite arrives, and thus I'll look again to local paths as I'm still feeling wary about striking further afield despite the relaxation of lockdown. There's another three loops to do around Morley for now, and we'll start out at 9.05am at Morley Hole and pace that usual route out to the bottom of Queen street, where we split off between Body & Sole and Tasty Balti to ascent the flight of steps up to Troy Hill, a right of passage for many local school kids back in the day, which elevates us onto the seventh and last of the local hills, where we pace around the tree shroud that conceals the still derelict shell of St Mary in the Wood, before heading onto Commercial Street, the town's back lane of interest which hides away such features as the Congregational school, the public library, and at least three other chapels in this famously non-conformist town. Beyond Peel Street it takes on the industrial landscape of mills and factories, while also concealing an animal hospital and a Thai restaurant on the way down to the Commercial inn, where we slip over Fountain Street and head up High Street, to pass the former Sycamore Hotel, as my interests turn to locating Morley's lost pubs, leading us up to the top of Magpie Lane and the island at the bottom of Chartists Way, where so many of this last month's paths have piled up, hitting the rise onto Bridge Street by the site where the Albion inn used to reside. This route out of town seems all a bit familiar, as is the way with doing a lot of local walking, but we sneak our views off towards Leeds to the north as we hit the top of the Aire-Calder ridge, as well as noting the VW Beetle dressed as Herbie in one back yard, tallying off another former chapel opposite the Mormon Temple and emerging by the now completely refitted Tingley Mills, where we cross the tangle of the A650 junction at Tingley Bar, or Birks, before we join the A6029 Rein Road, that suburban lane that sets off from town with great purpose but then never really goes anywhere.
Baghill), West Ardsley (Beggarington Hill & Common Side), Woodhouse lane, East Ardsley,
The Fall, Thorpe on the Hill, Ardsley Junction, Sissons Wood, West Wood, Owlers, Gillroyd,
Low Town End, and Corporation Street.
My calendar tells me that this Saturday is the first day of Summer, though I'm sure that it isn't due until the following day, meaning that the seasons might have shifted around without having informed me, not that anyone seems to have informed June of what season it is meant to be either, as we experience three days of chilliness that might have you thinking about putting the heating back on before promising an increase in warmth and brightness for the weekend that never quite arrives, and thus I'll look again to local paths as I'm still feeling wary about striking further afield despite the relaxation of lockdown. There's another three loops to do around Morley for now, and we'll start out at 9.05am at Morley Hole and pace that usual route out to the bottom of Queen street, where we split off between Body & Sole and Tasty Balti to ascent the flight of steps up to Troy Hill, a right of passage for many local school kids back in the day, which elevates us onto the seventh and last of the local hills, where we pace around the tree shroud that conceals the still derelict shell of St Mary in the Wood, before heading onto Commercial Street, the town's back lane of interest which hides away such features as the Congregational school, the public library, and at least three other chapels in this famously non-conformist town. Beyond Peel Street it takes on the industrial landscape of mills and factories, while also concealing an animal hospital and a Thai restaurant on the way down to the Commercial inn, where we slip over Fountain Street and head up High Street, to pass the former Sycamore Hotel, as my interests turn to locating Morley's lost pubs, leading us up to the top of Magpie Lane and the island at the bottom of Chartists Way, where so many of this last month's paths have piled up, hitting the rise onto Bridge Street by the site where the Albion inn used to reside. This route out of town seems all a bit familiar, as is the way with doing a lot of local walking, but we sneak our views off towards Leeds to the north as we hit the top of the Aire-Calder ridge, as well as noting the VW Beetle dressed as Herbie in one back yard, tallying off another former chapel opposite the Mormon Temple and emerging by the now completely refitted Tingley Mills, where we cross the tangle of the A650 junction at Tingley Bar, or Birks, before we join the A6029 Rein Road, that suburban lane that sets off from town with great purpose but then never really goes anywhere.
Monday 15 June 2020
Mytholmroyd Bubble Walks 1 & 2 13/06/20 & 14/06/20
3.2 miles, from Cragg Road, via Mytholmroyd Bridge, the Rochdale canal, Brearley,
Scout Scar, Hall Bank and Hoo Hole.
& 1.9 miles, from Cragg Road, via Scar Bottom, Caldene Bridge, the Rochdale canal,
Hawksclough Bridge, Caldene Bridge (again), and Mytholmroyd bridge.
Wednesday evening brings a surprise, a pleasant one for a change, as an announcement from HM Government is made, which from the following Saturday allows single adult households to form a 'support bubble' with another household without any social distancing rules applying, and within half an hour of this being made public, I get an e-mail invite from my good friends in Calderdale, suggesting that I might travel out to stay with them in Mytholmroyd for the benefit of renewed sociability and the mental health of those that enforced isolation has taken a toll on. I seize this opportunity with joy, and would probably have been ready to jump on a train on Friday evening after another frustrating working week, but we'll stay within the official rules for now, and claim my travel as essential, by heading over on Saturday morning, to land with IH & AK in time for a brew for elevenses and for a lunch of locally sourced bacon and egg rolls, and just being able to chew the fat in a domestic setting, and to sit down with friends for a meal feels like the most enormous of releases, having not done either since February. We need to exercise ourselves too, of course, as Calderdale offers many paths, and it's unpredictable weathers ensure that when we head out from our base on Cragg Road at 12.45pm, we've all donned light waterproofs in anticipation of coming rain, while the clouds hang hazily above the sides of the valley as we amble down into the village, along the downstream flow of Cragg Brook, past the Shoulder of Mutton and under the railway viaduct to note which stores on New Road have endured or suffered before we meet Mytholmroyd bridge, over the Calder and just upstream from St Michael's church. Here we pause to examine the building work that is still ongoing after the boxing day floods of 2015, having widened and heightened the river channel to create a pool below the Cragg Brook confluence, a plan which didn't pan out with the heavy rains of earlier this year as it had failed to consider the potential amount of water ingress on the dry side of the wall, and thus remedial work is ongoing, to be examined as we progress on along the A646 Burnley Road, past the Russell Dean furniture store, the business that completely rebuilt its premises after the flooding in order to stay local, in the direction of the other Mytholmroyd bridge, by which the Red Lion inn still stands disused and sadly derelict.
Scout Scar, Hall Bank and Hoo Hole.
& 1.9 miles, from Cragg Road, via Scar Bottom, Caldene Bridge, the Rochdale canal,
Hawksclough Bridge, Caldene Bridge (again), and Mytholmroyd bridge.
Wednesday evening brings a surprise, a pleasant one for a change, as an announcement from HM Government is made, which from the following Saturday allows single adult households to form a 'support bubble' with another household without any social distancing rules applying, and within half an hour of this being made public, I get an e-mail invite from my good friends in Calderdale, suggesting that I might travel out to stay with them in Mytholmroyd for the benefit of renewed sociability and the mental health of those that enforced isolation has taken a toll on. I seize this opportunity with joy, and would probably have been ready to jump on a train on Friday evening after another frustrating working week, but we'll stay within the official rules for now, and claim my travel as essential, by heading over on Saturday morning, to land with IH & AK in time for a brew for elevenses and for a lunch of locally sourced bacon and egg rolls, and just being able to chew the fat in a domestic setting, and to sit down with friends for a meal feels like the most enormous of releases, having not done either since February. We need to exercise ourselves too, of course, as Calderdale offers many paths, and it's unpredictable weathers ensure that when we head out from our base on Cragg Road at 12.45pm, we've all donned light waterproofs in anticipation of coming rain, while the clouds hang hazily above the sides of the valley as we amble down into the village, along the downstream flow of Cragg Brook, past the Shoulder of Mutton and under the railway viaduct to note which stores on New Road have endured or suffered before we meet Mytholmroyd bridge, over the Calder and just upstream from St Michael's church. Here we pause to examine the building work that is still ongoing after the boxing day floods of 2015, having widened and heightened the river channel to create a pool below the Cragg Brook confluence, a plan which didn't pan out with the heavy rains of earlier this year as it had failed to consider the potential amount of water ingress on the dry side of the wall, and thus remedial work is ongoing, to be examined as we progress on along the A646 Burnley Road, past the Russell Dean furniture store, the business that completely rebuilt its premises after the flooding in order to stay local, in the direction of the other Mytholmroyd bridge, by which the Red Lion inn still stands disused and sadly derelict.
Sunday 7 June 2020
Morley West Circuit 06/06/20
9 miles, from Morley Hole, via Chapel Hill, Rooms, Farnley Wood, Upper Moor Side,
Barker Hill, Gildersome Moor Head, Cockersdale, Nethertown, Lumb Bottom, Adwalton,
Birstall Retail Park, Howden Clough, Birkby Brow wood, Scott wood, Dartmouth Park,
and New Brighton.
After our warm spikes and bright days at the end of May, it's entirely predictable that June responds by becoming its usual unpredictable self as rains washes over with the increased cloud cover, and the temperature start to drop, maintaining its reputation as the 'Flaming' month in the pejorative sense, with the first weekend offering a choice of days that are either changeable and windy, or calmer but overcast, which a colleague of mine suggests we might be looking forwards to a Summer like we had in 2007, when it rained consistently from mid June to the following Spring. 2020 can do without a seasonal turn like that, and I'll seize the changeable turns of Saturday morning for my fifth and final trip around the immediate environs of Morley borough, looking to the western side as we head out to Morley Hole for a start at 9.05am, getting going with our familiar passage past Morley Manor, Victoria Mills and the Cheapside parade on our initial trajectory, while noting the oft-overlooked presence of the former Brunswick Arms this time, before we strike a path up Chapel Hill, ascending a sixth of the town's seven, while also noting the ghost signs on the end wall of the Conservative club, easily the best in the area. We'll not be doing much that's too original in today's early going, rising past the old Co-op and Herbert Asquith's house on the way past the old chapel and the run of terraces on the way to the Nelson Arms corner on Victoria Road where we cross the A643 by St Peter's church and join Rooms Lane, as it describes the suburban growth of the town as we press north, up to Springfield Mill park and the tip of Clark Springs wood and on to meet the long stone wall that used to surround a couple of old houses, now lost, which seem to have had nothing to do with either of the mill sites out here. So we progress out of town, on Morley's definitive road to nowhere, over the M621 bridge with its view to the city, and on past the end of the metaled surface, diving into the rural landscape past Lister Cottages and between both the farms that call themselves Rooms, before we come down over the Leeds New Lines, where railway walking won't be a feature of this circuit, noting that the site of Gildersome station has been scoured level, like someone has a brownfield development in mind for it, despite it having been fallow for 55 years now, and then we press on to the A62, among the greenery that conceals the fact there was once a colliery on this corner.
Barker Hill, Gildersome Moor Head, Cockersdale, Nethertown, Lumb Bottom, Adwalton,
Birstall Retail Park, Howden Clough, Birkby Brow wood, Scott wood, Dartmouth Park,
and New Brighton.
After our warm spikes and bright days at the end of May, it's entirely predictable that June responds by becoming its usual unpredictable self as rains washes over with the increased cloud cover, and the temperature start to drop, maintaining its reputation as the 'Flaming' month in the pejorative sense, with the first weekend offering a choice of days that are either changeable and windy, or calmer but overcast, which a colleague of mine suggests we might be looking forwards to a Summer like we had in 2007, when it rained consistently from mid June to the following Spring. 2020 can do without a seasonal turn like that, and I'll seize the changeable turns of Saturday morning for my fifth and final trip around the immediate environs of Morley borough, looking to the western side as we head out to Morley Hole for a start at 9.05am, getting going with our familiar passage past Morley Manor, Victoria Mills and the Cheapside parade on our initial trajectory, while noting the oft-overlooked presence of the former Brunswick Arms this time, before we strike a path up Chapel Hill, ascending a sixth of the town's seven, while also noting the ghost signs on the end wall of the Conservative club, easily the best in the area. We'll not be doing much that's too original in today's early going, rising past the old Co-op and Herbert Asquith's house on the way past the old chapel and the run of terraces on the way to the Nelson Arms corner on Victoria Road where we cross the A643 by St Peter's church and join Rooms Lane, as it describes the suburban growth of the town as we press north, up to Springfield Mill park and the tip of Clark Springs wood and on to meet the long stone wall that used to surround a couple of old houses, now lost, which seem to have had nothing to do with either of the mill sites out here. So we progress out of town, on Morley's definitive road to nowhere, over the M621 bridge with its view to the city, and on past the end of the metaled surface, diving into the rural landscape past Lister Cottages and between both the farms that call themselves Rooms, before we come down over the Leeds New Lines, where railway walking won't be a feature of this circuit, noting that the site of Gildersome station has been scoured level, like someone has a brownfield development in mind for it, despite it having been fallow for 55 years now, and then we press on to the A62, among the greenery that conceals the fact there was once a colliery on this corner.
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