South Leeds & Middleton Circuit 13/03/21

15.3 miles, from Morley station, via Daisy Hill, Churwell, Cottingley Hall, Royds Farm Ind Est, 

 Beeston Royds, Gelderd Road, Monk Bridge, Granary Wharf, Camp Field, Crown Point 

  retail park, Pottery Field, Hunslet Moor, Middleton Railway, Middleton Park (Belle Isle 

   railhead, & Broom Pit), Middleton, Thorpe Lane, Tingley Common, Glen Road playing fields, 

    and Magpie Lane rec. 

We've passed the first anniversary of the declaration of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and we find ourselves still constrained by the restrictions of National Lockdown, still in a situation which I'm sure none of us through we'd find ourselves after 12 months, but as HM Government is not looking to offer any meaningful release for the remainder of this month, we need to plot out things for our walking year on a local bubble basis for the next three trips, and thus the breakout of the season is held back while I seek parklands or other points of interest in the vicinity if Morley. South Leeds is thus the target for the day, as I've never done a there and back to the city before, and we don't get started early as the morning is looking aggressively mediocre, with wind being the major issue as we don't get to the starting line at Morley station until 10.10am, and setting off on a northbound and clockwise path that leads us up the steps to King George Croft and on to the ascent of New Bank Street up to Daisy Hill, and we haven't got much further along, onto the dirt path through the valley, before the day's issues start to take hold. As soon as we start to descend on the muddy slope, my feet slip from under me, planting me on my backside as I realize that I don't have my walking stick with me, before finding that traversing up the field path towards Broad Oaks is much harder going than expected as the soil is extremely damp, and once on the lane I find that my camera has decided to get fritzty and under-responsive as the farm track out to Elland Road is traced, meaning my photography is going to slow me down further as is the wind as it blows in hard from the southwest. Cross the A643 feeling muddy and mightily frustrated, all ready to quit on the trip before we've barely traced a mile as we continue on to seek the footpath beyond the end of Daffil Road, that leads us onto the end of Smools Lane, and into the top of Churwell's suburban spread and urban woods, tracing the Daffil Wood path until we reach a split off onto an older right of way that leads us out into the open fields on the side of the M621, which have still managed to resist both phases of Churwell's suburban expansion. With the motorway droning away to the side of us, we pass alongside a large leveled off area which seems to be formed of colliery spoil, before we are compelled to descend with the path as the valley space below Farnley Wood hill, formed by its beck, crosses the landscape, offering a view to the city and a slippery service that I lose traction on again, hurting two different muscles in my right leg as I slither downhill, cursing my rotten luck noisily as we come down by the most recent development of the Churwell new village at Fairfield Rise. 

Atop Daisy Hill for the n-th time...

The Broad Oaks driveway, leading to Elland Road.

The other path, Daffil Woods.

The green space that endures, by Churwell New Village.

Meet the beck's passage and observe that the Snittles farm site is already vanishing beneath new housing, as we cross over the water course and rise up Digpal Road to meet Cottingley station where we could bail from the route, but instead resolve to continue even if we are going to be walking on one good leg, crossing over the footbridge and joining the route of Cottingley Drive as it skirts its way around the edge of the Dulverton block of the Hall estate, where no one seems to have risen despite it being 11am, as if these local know that the weather is going to soon worsen. We meet the foot tunnel under the motorway which leads us to the path into the Royds Farm industrial estate, through which the now obliterated flying Farnley Junction once rose, but now just offering us packaging factories, truck yards and more thing of that ilk at a short remove from the side of the A62 Gelderd Road, the ideal landscape to be in as a persistent and annoying amount of rain starts to fall, as we head on through the light industry of Beeston Royds up to the passage over the A6110 Ring Road, to be greeted into the city by the looming sentinels of the Porsche and BMW dealerships. The A62 offers the only obvious route into the city from this angle, heading in on the only major road in Leeds that has never had residential development of any kind grow along its length, despite its regional significance, as it's a mix of light industry, car storage yards and commercial ventures along its whole length, as well as having Wortley Beck meander its way through somewhere under this landscape, ahead of us passing under the railway bridge on the line down to Wakefield and Doncaster, just the best sort of place to be when the skies hang cold and heavy. More interesting heritage can be located further along, as the high embankment of the abandoned railway line to Holbeck (or Wortley) viaduct throws a large plate girder bridge over the road, a route that deserves a through look over on a nicer day than this, ahead of us passing the site the Leeds Cattle market, of which the sole vintage remnant appears to be slated for demolition, though a section of its signature wall does remain, on the perimeter by the island where the A58 merges in, just ahead of the Adam's Court complex, the old school that the sole reminder that residential Holbeck once reached this far west.

Tracing a path around the Cottingley Hall estate.

Royds Farm Industrial Estate.

Gelderd Road, featuring no houses.

The Wortley (or Holbeck) Viaduct route.

At the edge of the city, we cross over the familiar footbridge that feels a quarter mile long to get inside the inner ring road, passing under the combining railway lines as we skirt around the Armley Gyratory, seeking a quite spot off to its east where a small remnant of the old Holbeck High Level station can be found, now sealed off and no longer offering access to Sutton Street by the print works, while still offering a reminder of the suburban city once served by two lost stations at a very short distance outside, the Low Level one being to the east of the Wellington Road bridges. Our primary focus point for this trip can be found on Grainger's Way, beyond the remarkable survivors in the Leeds & Thirsk vintage railway roundhouses and workshops, where the Monk Bridge development is growing at a pace, dropping a quartet of residential towers onto the old railway lands that have been unused for very long while, which I'm guessing will eventually look like the City Island complex across the way, and also overshadow the old railway buildings, so we need to get them photographed again while the possibility for natural illumination is there, which it is as the day suddenly brightens. So that gets the mood up as we pass around again to locate the path down to the side of the Leeds & Liverpool canal, pacing alongside the back of the railway workshops until we can pass over to the main towpath by St Ann Ings lock, joining the steady stream of wanderers which makes me feel like my allegedly socially distanced walks through lockdown are actually encountering more people than I would otherwise, which has us passing under the soon-to-be obscured Viaduct that ran into Leeds Central, noting that the south abutment of the canal bridge to the NER's Low Level goods yard has been lost in the development process. We'll wander a bit here, off the canal path and around the sole office building of the Latitude complex and down the side of the Whitehall Road to get the best view of the viaduct, which is finally going to get the high rise garden treatment, which I hope will be accessible, and while it's really good to see it getting re-used after 50+ years of dereliction, it's frustrating that I never bothered to trespass around the site since the Monk Bridge works site was levelled more than a decade ago as the opportunity to see it up close and un-madeover is now lost.

Holbeck 'High Level' Foot Tunnel.

The Monk Bridge development, from Graingers Way.

The Leeds Central viaduct, with access lift.

The Monk Bridge development, from Whitehall Road.

Rejoin the canal path, and pass by the River Aire at as close a proximity as I've managed in a long while, noting how busy it looks after the midweek rain that I barely noticed, passing under the Leeds station throat and on below its southern perimeter to get a close look at another point of local interest, as the Tower Works site is getting the redevelopment treatment,too, with its interior having been flattened aside from one workshop building, to hopefully gain some new features that complement the prominent chimneys that render the site picturesque, unlike some if its unfortunate neighbours. We'll slip away from the head of the canal at Granary Wharf, by passing over the channel at Office Lock, and wander down the Canal Wharf road, among the Lego office buildings down to the 18th century warehouse at its end, oft noted as my favourite vintage building in the city, where we'll pass out onto the end of Water Lane, under the shadow of Bridgewater Place and below the deflecting screens put in place to mitigate the effects of high winds as the whip around the skyscraper, which we can feel the effect of coming in from the south west. We've also got an ugly bank of cloud coming on, but we aren't going to bail over the river via Victoria Bridge, instead keeping on through Camp Field as we skirt the city centre, crossing over Victoria Road to Great Wilson Street, and passing ASDA house, the supermarket's HQ building as the city-bound traffic gets tangled up with the roadworks at the Meadow Lane crossing, because digging up every road in the city seems to have been Leeds's major contribution to our pandemic year, coming up by the lowest perimeter of the Tetley's Brewery site, which still wants for a reuse purpose since its demolition in 2012. Before we depart the city, we need to seek shelter in the lea of a  convenient building as the predicated rainstorm flashes over, snaring a dry spot by the Crown Point retail park while I have my lunchtime brew, before the dampness passes and we can spot the historical interest point at the head of Kidacre Street, in the car park of the ONE Leeds City office park, where the Middleton Railway had its city coal yard and terminating railhead, feeding the city's 18th century growth in the heat of the Industrial Revolution.

Tower Works, Holbeck, getting the redevelopment treatment.

The Canal Warehouse, Camp Field.

ASDA House, Great Wilson Street.

The Middleton Railway terminus (former), Kidacre Street.

Nought remains of it now, though the line does run on through the site of the Leeds Corporation gasworks to the south, still part of the modern gas supply system but not accessible to the curious walker, and thus we'll take interest in the site to the east, the retail park that covers the site of the Midland Railway's original Leeds station terminus, and goods yard complex, of which nothing remains among the many outlet stores, though the retaining walls and cutting at its throat remain in place, plainly visible if you sneak down the Crown Point access road at its south end. We'll stick with tracing this relic as we carry on southbound, passing over Ivory Street bridge among the roadworks(!), and grazing the edge of Hunslet's extensive industrial quarter at Pottery Field, passing another school that the sole reminder that this area used to also be residential a century ago, before we switch up Leathley Road to pass over the cutting again, to note that it's gotten rather overgrown and has developed its own lagoon since we passed over it back in 2014, before we start looking for the Middleton Railway again as we alight on Jack Lane. The odd angle of the building on the Dewsbury Road corner is a big hint as to the location of the line's level crossing point, but the better view is gotten by peering through the gate to the access road into the gasworks site, as that follow the railway alignment exactly, which makes its inaccessibility all the more frustrating, and once we rise over the old North Midland line by the A653 bridge, we cab easily spot the abutments that are the remains of skew bridge that once passed over it at an acute angle, once again a really obvious feature, if you know what you're looking for. Beside the M621, we'll pass down New Craven Gate, with its light industrial units and music studio which is audibly employed today, finding that it's not a stub of an old road obliterated by the motorway's construction, even though the Middleton Line did pass behind its buildings above the modern railway line, suggestibly visible as we peer over walls and an excess of over growth at it's southern end, near to Hunslet Junction where the Midland terminus line and the various access lines to the Hunslet locomotive works split off on the north side.

Midland railway station throat, Crown Point retail park.

The flooded approach cutting, from Leathley Road.

The Middleton Railway route into Leeds Gasworks.

Hunslet Junction, the Middleton Line elevated on the left.

The southwards route has been devoured by the passage of the M621, as has so much of Hunslet's landscape, and our path has been rendered complicated by the construction of the Leeds Eastern Link road, which means we have to get off trajectory for quite a distance to cross the A61 by a secure crossing point, right up by Jack Lane again, before pinning ourselves to the side of the fast roads on the way down to the long footbridge that ties the district to neighbouring Beeston, and to the Hillidge Road bridge, where I'd still need a lot of convincing that Hunslet railway station once sat. Finally we get off the knot of main roads approaching Leeds as we drop down the side of the playing fields at Hunslet Moor, and pass under the traffic island at Junction 5 on the motorway, where we can finally get back on track with tracing the Middleton Railway's entire route, meeting the end of the preserved section by its workshops and Hunslet Moor station, where the footpath skirts around its site, where most of their locally produced steam engines are hidden from view, while not much else goes on around abouts either. Carrying on south, we pass under the M621, as does the preserved line, to meet the stub siding that isn't an ancient relic of the route, which probably coincides with the motorway construction despite its appearance, and we track onwards, as another wave of gloom comes on, tucking in behind the industrial estates off Dewsbury Road as the railway embankment rises and the path gradually moves away from the alignment, uphill alongside the rough and open fields that the Belle Isle estate has never crept into, as well as the overhead passage of the GNR Hunslet Goods Line and it's junction with the Middleton Railway that have been utterly erased from the landscape. It's a good path to have to yourself, as no one else seems to be enticed out under these locally gloomy skies, and we rise up to and over the Old Run Road bridge, looking back the railway descending down to the distant, and still illuminated, city behind us, before we stretch around the hairpin path as it switches back in front of the Cockburn John Charles Academy, returning to the railside as we pass the South Leeds stadium and the sports complex around it, and under the footbridge down from the school, which probably has the best access to sporting facilities in the entire county.

The Hunslet - Beeston footbridge on the M621.

Hunslet Moor station, Middleton Railway.

The M621 tunnel and stub siding, Middleton Railway.

The Middleton Railway running down to Leeds.

We get drizzle in the air again as we rise up into Middleton Park, gaining a better walking surface as we pass the transition point, due to the funding for paths coming from the parks budget rather than the highways's one, noting that some local kids seem to prefer the railway as their walking route downhill, which makes sense when it's absent of trains, and the dampness thankfully doesn't persist as we come around to the Belle Isle railhead, where we can snag a bench again for a refueling, while checking the maps to trace the now lost portion of the railway up to Broom Pit, off to the south. A direct path tracing isn't available, as the steepest section, originally operated by a rack railway, has been thoroughly landscaped away, and the route up through the open fields to the east of Middleton Wood soon shows up a lack of viability as springing water flowing across the grass has created a virtual bog, impassable at all three points that I try to test it out, forcing us to beat a retreat to the hard track against the risk of face-planting in the mud or irretrievably losing a boot in the mire. So on to the track we traced a fortnight ago, actually closer to the railway line than the one we'd tried to walk, looping up around the trees until we get a clear route into the field below the colliery and brickworks site, were it's a short trot downhill to the viewpoint towards the city, with benches for those few who'd choose to visit this half of Middleton Park, where the panorama can be taken in as the late winter chill starts to grip the day, before we rise with the hill again, across the Broom Pit site, where the only evidence of mining is the presence of a number of capped shafts hiding in the rough turf. Beyond the landscaped woodlands, we still have more railway to trace though, as a tramway once ran further uphill towards Middleton village, to feed it with coal, and some good imagination is needed to spot it as it once rose across the eastern edge of the parkland's southernmost common pasture, rising towards the council estate on a route that you can't really see on the ground at all, as we instead shift along the more easily accessible paths, around a properly fenced in animal enclosure and departing the park by the Manorfield Hall community centre on Newhall Road.

South Leeds Stadium.

Too much damp on the open field ascent to Broom Pit.

The Brrom Pit view point and Middleton Wood.

Spot the tramway on Middleton Park's southern pasture.

Join Manor Park Drive as it leads us into another rather 1970s portion of the Middleton estate, where we can meet the route of the tramway much more clearly as it emerges by the angled block of houses at the bottom of Manor Park Rise, alongside which its incline clearly ran on a plainly visible embankment, up over Manor Park Road and on, traced by a long flight of steps up to Newhall Gardens, and on to Town Street on an access path that I'd honestly wonder how many local folk would be aware of the historical significance of, even as it carries on into the close of Staithe Gardens, with the clue hiding in its name. Pass around the shopping parade, between the village school and the few old cottages of the original village, but don't trace a way further up Staithe Avenue to the tramway head now lost under so many semis, as the interest point away from the coal yard is the Mount Pleasant and Hopewell View terraces, with the Methodist chapel and school and their corner, the sole 19th century remnant of the 19th century industrial boom on this hillside that has since been consumed by so much 20th century residential growth, to be seen up close as as we land on Middleton Park Road. It seems that the folks of this estate have been drawn out by the improved weather, and it's gonna look busy here just because the estates on this hillside are just so hugely extensive, while offering so many potential routes for the foot traveler to explore, though we'll stick to the most obvious for now, joining the side the Ring Road as it tracks westerly past the Conservative club and the shopping parade by the old Co-operative store, on towards the local Aldi on the far side of this wide, wide avenue, while wondering if it would be wise to make a break for home from here as I'm still walking on only one good leg. I'll suck up the discomfort though, and keep to my route as planned we roll up on the Middleton Park Circus, the focal point of the original estate that landed up here in the 1920s and 30s, and still providing a commercial focus ahead of the estate block which reaches up Middleton Park avenue, the main north-south axis as initially laid out, which is dragging us in the less helpful sort of direction, southbound and away from home but really on the best possible route as we conspire to add more miles than feels necessary when trying to get off this hill top.

The Middleton Tramway, Manor Farm Rise.

The Methodist church and Mount Pleasant Terrace, Old Middleton.

Middleton Ring Road and the old Co-op.

Middleton Park Avenue.

It might be the long way round, but it's the most level route to get back to Morley, avoiding the cleft formed by Millshaw Beck, and there's points of interest to be gained down here, not least the Romanesque and brick-built Holy Cross church, contemporary to the inception of the estate, and otherwise this is the parade with the doctors surgery, the primary school and the vets upon it, ahead of the open fields to the north of Throstle Road, and the bus terminus at the bottom of the estate, which we exit onto the A654 Thorpe lane, which starts us westerly again. All the day's warm has been shed as we head on, above the many breakers yards that seem to occupy all the space to the north of the railway, and around the fields of Sissons Farm which seems to have developed its own lagoon at the roadside, before passing over the active railway tunnel and past the farm that dedicates itself solely to heavy plant sales, and noting that all the landscape beyond Lower Street farm appears to have slipped into disuse, including the golf facility, while also spying that the bridge over the lost railway into Morley still has a fragment of its own signature wall in place. Having risen onto the Aire-Calder ridge once again, we pass the Springfield nursery and over the M62 between the Dunningley and Thorpe Lanes, both of which seem to have become the place to develop a home in a static caravan, if you are able to tolerate the constant hiss of the motorway, and we'll follow the latter of these as it takes us alongside the equestrian fields that lead to the top edge of Tingley village, with both older terraces and suburban cul-de-sacs getting to as close to the main trans-Pennine road as is comfortable before the road is abruptly cut off, severed by the A650 scything its way through the ground below on the approach to the Tingley Common interchange. We drop down to meet the side of Bradford Road, on the northern pavements which we've never managed to land on before, and take the direct route across the traffic island, otherwise only accessible to eastbound travellers heading towards Wakefield, which definitely renders an otherwise familiar location novel before we get back into this year's original local bubble, tracing the A650 on towards Morley, up and over the M62 and around the edge of the Capitol Park South, as the day hits its 'going on too long, already' point.

Throstle Road Playing fields, Middleton Estate.

Sissons Farm, with Lagoon.

Thorpe Lane and the edge of Tingley.

Traversing the heart of the Tingley Interchange.

At least, it's not that far too go, from the south-east corner of the town, where we can turn onto Topcliffe Lane and process down the suburban edge that faces the trio of mills, Southfield, Oaks and Topcliffe, ahead of the old railway line path on its embankment, and a close or two on the Glen Mills site, ahead of the dirt track heading off to the east, and us tracing a field path downhill, one which really looks like it ought to be a right of way, judging by the quantity of footprints on it, but actually isn't meaning a fence need to be traversed to get onto Ingleborough Drive. The afternoon shadows are definitely lengthening as we land among the Glen Road playing fields, at a short remove from our parkland walk as the start of last month, finding that this another prime exercising spot for folk from the council and residential estates on both side, even if its as breezy and chilly as it is, and I'm again thankful for the accessible paths in this quarter, that don't even need to be seriously sought, as they guide us through to Eyrie Approach, which keeps to the avian theme of all the street around the passage of Magpie Lane, which we ourselves meet in short order. We cross the recreation ground, via its shortest possible axis at the eastern end, with the evening gloom setting and making it feel like we've gotten very late indeed, and thus we're hurrying on as best we can as Wide Lane and Clough Street are traversed, while Middleton Road is crossed and Lewisham Park passed before we meet the terraces around Peel Street, and land by the Miners Fisheries so late in the day that we'd be in time for their evening service, if they bothered frying on a Saturday. So no F'n'C to conclude this trip as the final footfalls are made down the flight of steps from The Miners Arms on Albert Road down to Valley  Road and Morley station, sealing another local circuit at 4.40pm, a late finish at any time of year and especially when we are still in the realm of GMT, and it's good to know that even in my tenth season, I can still fail to properly organise a decent debacle while on my travels, by starting too late and walking too far on the sort of day that decides to throw every sort of challenge into my path.

The Mills on Topcliffe Lane.

Glen Road Playing fields.

Magpie Lane Rec, with sunset?

Miners Fisheries and Arms, Albert Road.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4811 miles

2021 Total: 68.9 miles
Up Country Total: 4348 miles
Solo Total: 4484.4 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3423.7 miles

Next Up: Venturing out to as distant a 'local' park as I can manage in a single circuit.