Dewsbury & D.R.C. Walk #2: Birstall to Mirfield 03/04/21

9.3 miles, via Monk Ings, Gomersal, Spen Upper, Nibshaw Lane playing fields, 

 Little Gomersall, Royds Park, Rawfolds Mills, Jo Cox community woodland, Hightown, 

  Upper House, Sepulchre Hill, Hartshead, Dockentail Wood, Hartshead Hall Wood, 

   Bracken Hill, Battyeford, Heaton Lodge Junction, and Lower Hopton.

Long Distance Trail
means Selfies! #2 at
Bradford Road, Birstall.

Straight back onto the trail come Saturday morning, riding the #200 bus back to Birstall with some frustration that the Easter Weekend can't bring on some of the warmth that we had at the start of the past week, and gloom greets us as we alight on Kirkgate ahead of 10.30am, rapidly getting back to the D&DRCW path at the point of crossing Bradford Road, and ascending the suburban spur of Monk Ings and rising steadily eastwards out of the valley that encompasses Birstall, and Batley, across the open plots of Monk Ings Fields, aiming us up on the ridge on which Gomersal sits without ever feeling the burn of the ascent despite the altitude gain. Meeting the concealed and snaking path that leads into the close of Scott Lane, which sends us out onto the A651 Oxford Road at the cultural heart(?) of Gomersal village, where we can take in Grove chapel, the old primary school, Red House and the Public Hall before we slip away down Grove Lane, an historic feeling side street to take us to the West End inn and Latham Lane, where we can wave at the #200 bus as it passes on its return trip to Leeds, before we process up the side of the suburban edge of the village to the ancient Methodist chapel, with its boldly convex frontage Then take a left onto Ferrand Lane, heading us off the high ridge towards the Spen valley, recalling came this way many moons ago, down the rough track to find that the path towards Gomersal tunnel through the Fanwood Activity Centre had vanished, and the path up to Cliffe Lane still has you feeling somewhat unwelcome as you are squeezed up a narrow passage past Throstle Nest farm, landing by Gomersal's western edge again as we track southbound, joining Fusden Lane as it traces away around the grounds of Firdene House, which makes its own sort of bold statement. Arrive on the A643 Spen Lane, at the top of its ascent from Upper Spen (or Spen Upper), and we cross to finally get onto some off-road walking, dropping away on an enclosed and grassy track for a short while before we are led up steps to the Nibshaw Lane playing fields, where we head straight across the football pitches, thankfully not interrupting anyone's game to land on it parent road, on the fringe of the council estate that indicates that we are still in the vicinity of Gomersal, which turns out to be much larger than expected, and as we track on southerly, a westwards look into the Spen valley locates us on a latitude with Cleckheaton and Scholes, finally landing at a significant remove from 2021's local bubble.

Monk Ings Fields.

Red House and the Public Hall, Gomersal.

Ferrand Lane, above the upper Spen Valley.

Nibshaw Lane Playing Fields.

There's one last fragment of greater Gomersal (if that's really a thing) to see up here, and that's the village-let of Little Gomersal, which announces itself as the lane sidles its way among a spread of cottages at the furthest southwest corner of the larger settlement, with our path taking us away from the square on Upper Lane and around the back yard of the Wheatsheaf inn, via another confined track, to drop us onto Gomersal Lane, where the view over the fields reveals our route ahead, across the clear green gap in the Spen Valley between Cleckheaton and the Liversedge - Heckmondwike combo below. It's a clear track along the boundaries that will lead us on, illustrating the far Kirklees horizon beyond Hightown, as well a clear sight line down the valley that gives us some visual proximity to greater Dewsbury as the high ground silhouette from Staincliffe to to Boothroyd reveals itself, granting us a wholly fresh perspective in a landscape that's already been pretty well-traced, and there's even a hint of the clouds breaking apart as we track on along the freshly blossoming hedges among the bare fields, as we descend off the high land  toward the woods around the Park House nurseries. Steep field paths drop us down to meet Garden Avenue, on the L&NWR Leeds New Line alignment behind the Garden House council estate block at the start of the Spen Valley Ringway, with our route leading us into Royds Park as the sunshine starts to make its decisive breakthrough, as we greet the few other perambulators out and about, taking the main promenade path down under the canopy of high trees to the bowling green and around to the main gate at the side of the A638 Bradford Road, where the main route down the valley needs to be crossed to meet Cartwright Street. The industrial estate here was the site of Rawfolds mills, scene of the main action of the locally famous Luddite Rising of 1812, a history which you'd never otherwise extract from the landscape of modern commercial units ahead of the crossing of the Spen river, with our path taking us over its flood embankment and along the outermost edge of Cleckheaton, below the walled yard of Grove House and the Rawfolds Way business park, before we come upon the old L&YR lines, and the contemporary Spen Valley Greenway above, which are passed under via the Pyenot Hall bridge.

Little Gomersal.

Greater Dewsbury, from the high side of the Spen valley.

Royds Park.

The River Spen at Rawfolds Mills.

The Jo Cox Community Woodland lies beyond, beside the path, a still developing public garden established to memorialize their local MP, who was murdered in 2016, where the local volunteers are getting their Spring gardening underway, and we are provided a spot for a tea break on the benches, as we don't have the sort of impetus on which we enjoyed yesterday, and having paused for our reflection it's onward again, up the western side of the Spen Valley, touching the track of Quaker Lane before rising above the clear green space that keeps Cleckheaton separate from its downstream neighbours. Like my entry path into the valley, it's another one that offers a grand old perspective as we look to the southeast, and trace our way down from Gomersal, while the hedge and fence-bound path directs us up towards Hightown, where Oriental House sits prominently at the end of an urban block that protrudes into the fields, which we join midway along, which in turn leads us out onto the A649 Halifax Road, adjacent to Patrick Bronte's house, the notable feature of the area which is also historically contemporary to the Luddite associations, interestingly. Cross to Clough Lane, to join the next valley across, where the eye travels south towards Roberttown, and the path soon shifts into a field walk, behind the first terrace on the lane, directing us downhill into the woodland around Clough Beck, where we step into the delightful little glade via duckboard steps and rise beyond the stream up a steep slope to meet the field walk over the meadow to Upper House farm, where we are squeezed in between the cottage and the yard full of diggers and bulldozers, before heading off up the long driveway. Upper House Lane leads us up to Sepulchre Hill, the rural enclave at the southernmost corner of Hightown, with its Quaker burial ground and the enduring Hare Park mill sitting among the surrounding bucolic landscape, with the lane clearly directing us over the exposed fields of Hartshead Common and along Church Lane towards the familiar sight of St Peter's Hartshead, with its Bronte associations, where the Kirklees Way brought us in 2014, and our planned major escapade for the Spring might soon bring us again, if the pandemic winds are still favourable in May.

The Jo Cox Community Woodlands, Cleckheaton.

The rise to Oriental House, and Hightown.

Clough Beck.

Hartshead Common, and St Peter's church.

It's fine elevated bluff up here, where the eye can be drawn across the division of the Calder and the Colne, and to all the high spots to the south and west, with our route retracing the steps made when we cam up here seven seasons ago, aiming us down towards the lower half of Kirklees, with Emley Moor, Dalton Bank and Castle Hill all rising on the southern horizon as we come down to through the fields towards Hartshead village, at a significant remove from its parish church (which is not close to its own vicarage), and its pub, the Gray Ox, at the top of Hartshead Lane. I noted the suburban outliers with the fine views to the west when we last came up here, as well as the staring bench that has had its aspect completely obscured by tree growth, but all the extra years of travel has the view making a bit more sense now as so much that we can look towards now has a much clearer identity, though the village itself still remains rather enigmatic, as we get a reveal of its main body as we depart onto the dirt path southbound, sat on the hillside and along the B6119 off to the east, and still unseen up close so far. Not too far down, we slip off Cross Hills Lane and the Kirklees Way route, to track a field boundary walk downhill, getting a good view across to the merging valleys of the the Calder and Colne, with woodlands rising on all sides and the estate of Kirklees Priory filling out much of the foreground, while still keeping its noble house well concealed, as we descand to a passage over the stream at the bottom edge of Dockentail Wood, where the leaves have barely started to burgeon and the low sun glares directly into our eye line as we rise up among the woodland. Meet the firm track that runs around the back of Harthead Hall, which also hides from view, but soon split off that to trace the rough path through its eponymous wood to the west, where the bluebells are starting to bloom, but are still some way off forming the carpet that is one of the joys of Spring, ahead of meeting another field walk, which has us looking west towards Cooper Bridge and Bradley as we undulate our way south, down and up with our last rise taking us to the side of the A62 on its long run downhill from Roberttown.

Harsthead Vicarage, above the Colne - Calder division.

Hartshead villages' lofty suburban edge.

Dockentail Wood.

Hartshead Hall Wood.

It's a short stretch down the side of the Leeds Road before we cross to slip into Bracken Hill, the suburban blob that sits up the valley side between here and the merging A644 Huddersfield Road, where the old track of Mill Lane slices right through the suburban growth around it, having not been adapted by the modern world, leading us to Stocks Bank Road as we take a left to start the walk into greater Mirfield, rising with the suburban vintages from the Bacchus Stores and up to the modernist parish church of Battyeford, Christ the King. At the crest, we meet the Community and College of the Resurrection, with the monastic orders within having themselves largely secluded by the roadside walls, giving us no sight of the green-roofed church via either of the entrances as we slip past Rocket Park and the looming spread of Mirfield's suburbia to the north and east of it, ahead of us finding our way down The Clough lane, steeply dropping us downhill past its eponymous terrace to land us on the A644, opposite the Pear Tree inn and at the side of the river Calder as it flows placidly eastwards. We cross it here, via the Battyeford 'Toll' Bridge, from where we are finally far enough away to look up to the monastic church as it looms above the raked suburban houses behind us, and then it's over the Calder & Hebble Navigation's Battyeford Cut, with the moorings and marina reaching on in both directions, before we head under the railways too, with emphasis on the multiple as we pass with Wood Lane under the L&NWR New Leeds Line first, followed by the L&YR's Calderdale mainline, with the Midland's disused Newtown Goods line lying further uphill. The latter takes the last leg of the day eastwards, but we'll split west here with Helm Lane as we need to take a look at Heaton Lodge junction, as its all due to have a major remodelling operation start here soon enough, which is likely to remove several old features from the landscape in the name of modernisation of the Trans Pennine route, namely the low arched foot tunnel below the junction houses, the wrought iron foot bridge to nowhere in particular and the single bore tunnels under the mainline on the last stretch of the New Leeds Line that's still in use, and pics need to be snared before they are all lost forever.

Mill Lane, Bracken Hill.

The Clough, Battyeford.

Battyeford Toll Bridge, and the Monastic Church.

The Low Foot Tunnel, Heaton Lodge Junction.

The wrought iron footbridge, Heaton Lodge Junction.

Our off-piste wander lands us on the canal towpath, and the Battyeford Cut is followed west up to the Waterside Walk and the rise back to Wood Lane, where we rise under the railway bridges again, before getting up to the start of the Calder Valley Greenway to make our eastbound passage, finding that the old Midland railway line has quite a lot of popular use among the locals, both walking and riding along its peaceful and increasingly leafy idyll, only a short remove from the activity on the merging and dividing railway lines on the other side of the embankment on the north side. It's a longer walk up the cutting than I recall from my very early trip out here in 2012, which brings us up behind the playing field used by Upper Hopton FC, where quite a crowd has gathered for today's game, probably because it's the first chance anyone's had to sport in person in several months, and thus the crowds have to be dodged as we rise over the infilled bridge on the line, and note that the old access road bridge to Mirfield engine shed has earmarked for removal too, as it's probably going to be an obstacle when it comes to installing overhead electrification in the future. Woodend Road thus leads us down the side of the remainder of the old railway, with the mainline and the Calder View development beyond, as we arrive in Lower Hopton, with its large primary school building dominating its western end, as we take a turn onto Chadwick Street and then Calder Road to make our passage over the river itself via Ledgard Bridge, downstream from the railway bridges and up from the Ledgard Mill complex, before passing under the western station throat via Newgate. For the sake of interest, we'll slip onto the footpath that leads us below the north side of the vast stone plinth on which Mirfield station sits, a hidden feat of engineering in the local landscape, as we also pass the little canal boatyard on the Mirfield cut, and wander through the yard of the Navigation Tavern, which can be seen in the sunshine devoid of a drinking multitude for maybe the last time, before Station Road is met and our day concluded as 2.30pm, right on schedule, under the wide bridge of Mirfield station.

Wood Lane Bridge, Newtown Goods Line.

The Calder Valley Greenway, near Lower Hopton FC.

Lower Hopton Primary school, Woodend Road.

The Navigation Tavern, Mirfield.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4858.3 miles

2021 Total: 116.2 miles
Up Country Total: 4395.3 miles
Solo Total: 4531.7 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3456.18 miles

Next Up: Leg #3 & final, eastbound, but not on Easter Monday...