Batley to Baildon 01/05/21

17 miles, via Healey, The Crofts, Heckmondwike, Littletown, Lane Ends, Gomersal, Birdacre, 

 Field Head, Lodge Beck, Hunsworth (sorta), Chatts Wood, Woodlands, Mill Carr Hill, Bierley,

  Goose Hill, Bowling Park, East Bowling, New Leeds, Barkerend, Beech Grove, Undercliffe, 

   Bolton Outlanes, Five Lane Ends, High Field, Idle, Thackley, and Buck Mill Bridge. 

It's taken a while to get here, but our arrival in May finally has it feeling like we are safe to declare 'Serious Business' on the year, as we're three weeks out from my second Covid vaccine dose and this country is now equally far out of its tightened lockdown restrictions which means our local bubble can be escaped and the season pushed further afield, not that I've got a mass of pre-prepared routes readied, as my cautious nature knows how these pandemic conditions have played out already and where the best laid plans often end up. Thus we look to travelling from the Calder valley to the Aire valley, by as many paths as we can find, as it's the major trajectory across West Yorkshire that we've been ignoring for the longest, and our first of these has us alighting at Batley, at a remove from the actual Calder because Dewsbury lacks obvious fresh routes north, for a 9am start, with a generally westwards path to initially trace, downhill along Station Road among the proud Victorian warehouses, and across Mill Lane and Bradford Road with a surprising amount of ease. The rise out of the valley of Batley Beck then starts as we hit Hick Lane, rising up below the imposing former Methodist chapel and then taking a turn away from the town's main street by the Union Rooms to follow Wellington Street as it passes its eponymous pub and a whole lot of not much else, until we meet the old public baths and technical school, across the way from the Fox's Biscuits factory, which along with the Variety Club is one of the main reasons for the town's national profile, The Pleasures of Batley indeed. It's uphill still beyond there, up to the Healey Lane corner and on along the path previously traveled past Jessop park and into the landscape of suburbia that has crept up the hillside, passing through the estate ahead of taking the turn off West Park Road to follow the old road alignment as it wanders into the concealed village of Healey, where some of its rustic flavour still endure around the George Inn and its own version of Healey Mills, just like it namesake down by the Calder to the southeast of here. 

The Batley Flatiron, on the Bradford Road - Hick Lane corner.

The Fox's Biscuits factory, Wellington Street.

Healey Mills, Healey (no, not that one).

Passing around the JI&N school we get a reveal of the southwestern Kirklees horizon as we crest into the Spen Valley, and rejoin the B6123 as it starts its passage downhill, over the White Lee Road corner and down to the Junction inn and the old outer extremity of Heckmondwike at The Crofts, with the descending route of the A638 taking us again past the former Hill Top farm and the imposing site of the old Congregational chapel and Sunday school, just as the sunshine makes its definitive breakthrough, clearing away the early morning haze. Split off the High Street by the Grammar School, taking the path between its buildings and playing fields to continue the descent down Church Street, passing the back if its site and down the terraced frontage as it's the only available route to walk if we want to see the parish church of St James, at an odd remove away from the middle of Heckmondwike, with its height and bulk being well hidden from most angles, ahead of us arriving above the southern reach of the town's railway cutting, which requires another examine despite us being here last weekend. So we loop around a bit, over the Church Street bridge and down Sharpe Street to pass over the Brunswick Street bridge, which allows us our best view over the deep cutting to the southeast, before we resume our intended northwesterly passage along Horton Street and around to St James's Street, quietly lamenting the fact that there's just a bit too much tree growth and foliage in the way to get a good look down before we emerge back onto High Street by the Heckmondwike Tavern and the old entrance to Spen station. The imprint of the stairs flight can still be seen in the retaining wall below, noted before we pass to the north of the site via Bath Road, past the Holy Spirit RFC church and school before we resume the tracing of the cutting at Cemetery Road, retracing the path that matches its southern side  along to Jeremy Lane, and snaring every view down as is plausible along the way, before we meander some around the route over the Bridge Street tunnel and the Cook Lane bridge before joining the path away, around the perimeter of the vast factory site to the south. 

Heckmondwike URCs former and current.

St James's parish church, Heckmondwike.

Spen station, Heckmondwike, from High Street.

Heckmondwike Cutting from King Street bridge.

Pass below the back of the Vernon Road terraces before we make another course correction to head northwest again, taking us around the edge of the Field Head park and onto the A62 Leeds Road, which we cross to meet the unadopted suburban road that passes below the Liversedge goods yard site, which leads us on to Listing Drive at the outer edge of the low rise council estate at the extremity of Littletown before we meet the Firthcliffe Lane bridge, which we pass under, to tag as possibly the last major piece of railway architecture on the Leeds New Line that we'd yet to see up close on our passages through the Spen Valley. Our route towards the Aire valley can really get going from here, rising up through the Firtcliffe estate, scattered on the edge of its hillside via its Terrace, Road and Parade as we are drawn out to Listing Lane to start the drag up the north-east side of the Spen valley, passing out of the urban landscape that we've been in from the outset but not getting a whole lot of looks back due to the tree cover, and the number of houses that have snagged to best vantage points for themselves, ahead of our arrival in greater Gomersal by the California foundry redevelopment. Shadow the A651 at a short remove as Quarry Lane draws us into the townlet past the Bull's Head inn and the Moravian Chapel, and across the splitting old country roads of Lane Ends, though our main passage across Gomersal will take us across a distinctly suburban landscape, along Sherwood Avenue to the west and then north through the council estate via Shirley Road up to the parish church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin at the top of the A643 Spen Road and then on, into a relatively new Lego house landscape beyond the Gomersal Mill pond. Ringshaw Drive and Fern View lead us through this most unappealing of sites to land us on Cliffe Lane, which brings us around to the West End inn and a retracing of early season footfalls up Latham Lane to Gomersal Methodist chapel, where the sunshine retreats so we can't see its convex frontage in the best possible illumination, and then it's on through Birdacre, out of the local bubble and along the western fringe of the suburban band to completely forget to check out the Gomersal tunnel spoil heap and capped shaft at the end of Ashley Close. 

Firthcliffe Lane bridge.

Spen valley view from Listing Lane.

The Moravian chapel, Gomersal.

The West End inn, Gomersal.

Split across the Drub Lane corner, and the ongoing lane, behind West House, forms a long stub, and a local ambling route as well, but as we pass beyond the urban band into the countryside once again, it looks like the sunny day is passing from view as cloud draws in from the south and west as we make our way on among the equestrian fields to meet the farmstead cluster at Field Head, where the road passage has been very deliberately severed to prevent all but foot traffic from passing through, beyond which we meet the edge of the M62. Accompanied by the sound of traffic, this driveway leads us down to the A58 Whitehall Road West as it dives down into the Spen valley, beyond the bridge over the motorway that was constructed to accommodate a much wider road, beyond which we can actually get to field walking as we need to shed some height on the way across the upper reaches of the river catchment, passing alongside the M62 and finally getting a look up to the Calder's northern watershed and back across Cleckheaton and Hightown to the southwest. It's an odd sort of route to find yourself upon, as is common when picking a path between the main roads, taking us down a well-built field edge ledge to meet Hunsworth Lodge as we tack westwards and then descend steeply downhill to make a passage across Lodge Beck, via planks next to the broken clapper bridge, secluded away in its woodlands before rising sharply up the side of the feeding ditch that leads us up to Savile Arms farm, with the driveway beyond leading us to the very top of suburban Hunsworth. Ahead of passing over the M62, we'll break for a late elevenses brew on a convenient bench, and then it's over the motorway and onto the field tracks beyond, shadowing it still, as we pass the site used for Sapperfest, the Yorkshire Wartime Experience, where enough steel tubes have been delivered to apparently recreate the Iraqi Supergun, before we meet an equestrian enclosure that seems to have been created entirely of metal, and pass into the only wildflower meadow in the area. 

Gomersal Field Head.

Spen Valley view from above the A58.

Lodge Beck.

Sapperfest recreates the Iraqi Supergun.

It's a downhill passage from there, where we can look across to Oakenshaw and note that its starting to expand to this side of the M606, and the way across the fields down to Chatt's Wood isn't as apparent as might be hoped for, meaning some wandering happens before we arrive below the tree cover just as ominous looking clouds pass over and throw a hailstorm upon us, so some shelter is welcome as we cross over Cockleshaw Beck and tangle with the Kirklees Way route before joining the field boundary path beyond, up to Cliff Hollins Lane. My maps suggest that there ought to be a path directly across the next valley cleft along, but no access point can be seen from the road, and no route can be discerned across the plots of Lower Chatts farm, which seems to have erased all the RoW's across its grounds and fields, and thus we have to descend down to the footbridge that take us across the Kirklees - Bradford boundary at High Royds Beck and rise into the suburban enclave of Woodlands, to trace Mill Carr Hill Road up from further  down than originally intended. So uphill, past the Woodlands hotel and through this suburban branch of Oakenshaw on the wrong side of the border, passing Hag Hall farm and the apparently viable path route south, and rising on up Mill Carr Hill, starting our final ascent to the Calder-Aire watershed, past the wonderfully named Cheesecake House and taking a gander across the fields to the industrial estate to the east of Low Moor as we rise, following Greenfield Lane as it draws us up towards Brogden House and Tanhouse farms, and the Boy Lane passage over the GNR's lost railway line towards Tyersal that brought us here in 2017. Thus we reach the suburban edge of southern  Bradford, soon arriving on Bierley Lane as it projects us directly north, projecting us past the bus terminus loop and uphill still, among the rural outliers that endure around the suburbs that have grown out here across the 20th century, passing the Greenwood Inn and pondering if these old terraced stubs which appear irregularly among the council houses were brought here to house the miners who serviced the extensive 19th century mines that once sat to the west of here, rather than having served any more agricultural needs. 

Chatts Wood, and Cockleshaw Beck.

High Royds Beck, and Woodlands.

The lost railway at the top of Mill Carr Hill.

The secret terraces of Bierley.

Beyond the Currer Lane corner, we meet the Cygnet hospital and the old village school, ahead of the long run of terraces which leads us up to St John's Bierley, the best 18th century church in the county, on the merging corner with the A6177 Rooley Lane, where we complete our passage around the Goose Hill roundabout, where multiple city walks have brought us before (which will be a theme for a lot of the ongoing passage), landing us on the north side of the Ring Road by the Asda superstore, and on past the Bowling Highfield surgery and pharmacy. Taking a left onto Bowling Hall Road takes us downhill, into the Aire catchment among the long terraces and suburban closes above the Bradford Academy and the eastern corner of Bowling Park, which we'll trace the northeastern wall of as it leads us down to the Lodge Cafe and the Oastlers school, and offering views across another green space that's getting a face-lift after a massively renewed amount of usage over the last year, providing a natural lung for the southern city across from historic Bolling Hall, sat at the terraced edge of East Bowling. Our long, odd walk across east Bradford starts from here, a route we can thank Google maps for plotting on my behalf, as we turn from the northern tip of the park onto Paley Road, which leads us northeasterly through that most Bradford-ian landscape of stone terraces, which offers only hints of its altitude above the city down its side streets on the way across to Wakefield Road, where a passage needs to be made under the dual carriageway via a subway that just feels unsafe to be in even in daylight hours, as its littered with detritus and smells powerfully of stale urine. Emerge in the shadow of the abandoned Bowling to Laisterdyke line, with Square Street leading us below the Bowling station and goods yard plinth, as well as the abutments of the branch to Bowling Ironworks, before we land by the Bowling Back Lane and Hammerton Street bridges, on the edge of the industrial band of the city that just reeks of chemicals, and thus breath is held to pass under the latter crossing and on below the contemporary railway, and the passage into Adolphus Street station, before escaping away from New Leeds up Jackson, Mount and Seymour Streets. 

St John's Bierley, by the Bradford Ring Road.

Bowling Park gates and the Lodge Cafe.

Paley Road, East Bowling.

In the railway landscape of New Leeds.

Land on the A647 Leeds Road and cross by the Hindu temple, following Upper Seymour Street up past Seymour Park and into a renewed terraced landscape, one filled with the aroma of cooking spices, as we keep pressing uphill with the mental tracker still going as we launch up Thursby Street to meet Gilpin Street, noting the measures taken to prevent easy passage of motor traffic through this district as we are carried on, above the snooker hall complex and below the Barkerend cricket club, before landing by St Clement's church and the Board Schools on the Barkerend Road. Cross over and it's straight up the long terrace of Byron Street to the next odd kink in the path at Tennyson Place to meet Wingfield Mount, which projects us uphill alongside Beech Grove park before we meet a landscape break, showing just how harshly the local topography affected development in this quarter, with the push beyond being even steeper to meet the upper block of terraces, where we can slip across the hillside with Hustler Street before hitting to last corner and climb via Undercliffe Street to meet the direct lane beyond which we'd had Google maps aim us at. So no weird navigation efforts to be made for a while once we're off along Undercliffe Old Road, tracking between the cemetery and The Crescent terrace as we're drawn on towards the A658 Otley Road, where the views down to the valley north of Bradford City centre emerge to the west of us as we pass the tops of the terraces that decline down the hillside, away from Idle Road which still retains its former out of town flavour, ahead of snaring the view to the northwest at Park Cliffe Road which has us looking directly up distant Airedale. Cross the A6177 ring road at Valley Grove View and pass between the Hare & Hounds (former) and the Malt Kiln inns, and have a bit of fun spotting which bits of the urban landscape are of the old sprawl of Undercliffe, marked by their rustic arrangements and signature thin stone block construction, predating the rest of greater Bradford growing up around them, ahead of us making the vague transition through the vintages to meet the passage over the A6176 Bolton Road at Bolton Outlanes, where another look over the Bradford valley can be snared. 

Thursby Street, Barkerend.

Wingfield Mount, and Beech Grove.

Airedale view from Undercliffe Road.

Amid the old terraces of Undercliffe.

Stay elevated, and pass the shopping parade, long terrace and the Swing Gate inn, to find that suburbia rules the roost along the subsequent stretch of Idle Road, getting positively blossomy blooming and freshly leafy in places, and showing up some real quality variations as the outer extents of Eccleshill and the Swain House estates butt up against the road ahead of Five Lane Ends, where we can complete our passage over all six of the lanes that merge around the island by the Lane Ends tavern, and carry on north, past the shopping parade, along Highfield Road. Long terraced blocks mask the views to the east as we progress, passing the Highfield Inn and Hotel, which seems to have moved it operations wholly into outdoor gazebos in line with Covid restrictions, ahead of the road starting to wind downhill with the declining hillside, passing around Blake Hill primary school before getting the reveal over the suburban rooftops of lower Airedale to the east, revealing an evolving view up to Otley Chevin, downstream towards Leeds and back to Calverley as we progress along this well disguised hillside. Past Highfield House, we pass above the extensive Epta plant on the flat ground below,  before we start to meet the old cottages and terraces that cluster around the top of Idle village, which is met beyond the medical centre, with Towngate fisheries, the New Inn and the Old Chapel all appearing at the top of the High Street, which allows a vertiginous look down to the Thorpe Edge estates beyond to the south east, which allow you to really appreciate the altitude of this corner of northeast Bradford, beyond which the urban village feel continues around to Holy Trinity parish church. Town Lane slips us past the last rural terrace blocks of the village and through a suburban band beyond, before soon enough running us across the most negligible of urban boundaries as we enter Thackley, coming up to the passage across the A657 Leeds Road at the top of the main drag by the primary school, and on up Thackley Road, above the railway tunnel on the old Tyersal - Shipley line, which hasn't been revived as an urban greenway yet, carrying on beyond to meet the Methodist chapel and our first negotiable corner in a while, by the cricket ground. 

Five Lane Ends, for our completed traversal of all Six lanes.

The elevation above lower Airedale, Idle Road.

The top of High Street, Idle.

The Leeds Road drag, Thackley.

Approaching the top of Windhill Old Road, we finally get our reveals of the views up to Idle Hill and across to Baildon Hill, standing sentinel above the Aire valley beyond the many suburban rooftops, as our route directs us along the edge between the estates to land us in Thackley Wood, above the tunnels of the MR's Airedale lines, arriving by the westernmost vent of Thackley New tunnel, before we pass down the bridleway through the trees that passes over the western portals, where we can peer into the disused cutting leading to the Old tunnel, no longer in use as the traffic to Bradford and the northwest no longer needs four lines. Pass an odd foot tunnel entrance as we set off down the final decline of the day, on the muddy and occasionally cobbled path that slips us down past the old house lost in the woodlands, and thence across the Leeds & Liverpool canal at Turn Bridge, ahead of another steep drop down to meet the passage over the River Aire at Buck Mill bridge, with the neighbouring mill site now lost to the wilds, unlike on the far bank where an industrial estate has crept as close to the river as is viable, rather spoiling the quiet idyll once enjoyed by Ford House farm. It's a push up Buck Lane to meet the A6038 Otley Road, where we cross and observe the woodlands that rise to the south of the river valley, as well as the suburbia of Baildon, scattered across the hillside ahead of us, and we can curse the uphill reach of Roundwood Road as it tests out our tiring limbs on the rise up to Roundwood Grange and the safest approach to Baildon station, secreted away down the footpath to the south side of the railway, which needs crossing before we descend to the platform at 3.15pm. ~~~ A good timing considering the distance, but it's still going to be a long trip home, thanks to a combination of apparent Sunday services on these lines, long connection waits and starting out at the most awkward station in the county, and it says something about how long it's been since I rode home from finishing up in Airedale, in 2018 as it happens, (and how my walking focus has been keeping us relatively local regardless of the pandemic situation) that Leeds station has managed to gain itself a new Platform 0 at its north side without me having even noticed...

Thackley New Tunnel vent, Thackley Wood.

The River Aire at Buck Mill Bridge.

Roundwood Grange, Baildon.

~~~

Leeds Station has gained itself a Platform 0!

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4906.5 miles

2021 Total: 164.4 miles
Up Country Total: 4443.5 miles
Solo Total: 4557.9 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3504.3 miles

Next Up: Calder to Aire via the heart of The City. EDIT: Well, that sorta worked out...

~~~

Pandemic Thoughts: April 2021

After more than a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, do we finally have a month where it actually starts to feel like we're starting to come out of the other end of it? It can certainly feel that way from a British perspective at least, as the early going in the month sees a continuing plummeting of the hospital population with and the death rate from Covid related illnesses, while the infection rate drops further nationwide, though notably plateauing in some places, illustrating the fact that is was indeed necessary to commit to a three month lockdown to fully arrest the spread of this virus. This sort of good news seems to get lost in the mix though, as attention seems to turn, rather too eagerly, to the perceived risks of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination, and its supposed links to causing blood clotting, which is frustrating as theirs no significant amount of data to point to a causal link, while the issue is probably being magnified by the sheer volume of vaccinations being administered, magnifying a tiny risk into an apparently large number. It's the sort of news that seems to get the press animated, and we really shouldn't be expecting any better of them by now, to the point of getting health official anxious about offering it to the younger folks in need of their doses (so it's convenient that the Moderna vaccine has been approved for use in the UK as of this month), at least until Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, dies aged 99 and all broadcast media seems to forget that it's no longer the 1950s as they slip into a long period of enforced national mourning. I'll comment here that I'm no monarchist, but like many I always had a sort of fondness for that Greek fella (despite his tendencies to plain speaking and being an enthusiastic shooter), and it's still saddening to see HMQ lose her husband after 70+ years of constant companionship and for a family to have to mourn the death of their patriarch in the public eye, as well as noting the passing of someone who's been a public figure since the 1940s, of which we don't have many left, as the inexorable march of time continues forwards (and I'll share this thought here too, as I've nowhere else to express it, for Prince Philip to decide that when his wife became Queen, his public role as Prince Consort was to take a take a step back and allow her to fulfill her role, while acting as companion and supporter, and not forcing his own interest forwards, was an amazingly progressive decision for a man to make in the 1950s.)

But on the subject of the Pandemic, which is what this brief forum is for, really, when April 11th comes around, I'm set fair to travel down to the banqueting suite at Elland Road again to get my second dose of the OAZ vaccine, not taking any concerns with me, but noting that their seems to be far fewer people in attendance than there was back in January, which is odd when the second appointment was pre-booked with the first and that others are now receiving their initial dosage, which makes me worried that too many have listened to this uselessly speculative nonsense. Thus it's good to speak to the nurses there, and to share thoughts on the nature of risk, as it's been noted that the danger of blood clotting is five times greater when using a contraceptive pill, which has been happily consumed regularly by nearly half the population for 60 years, and that the risk of getting a severe Covid infection is apparently sixteen times greater than that of suffering blood issues, and on measure, social responsibility is a much stringer motivator for me than anything else, as the only way to beat the pandemic is to do what is necessary. So I'll roll up my sleeve and take the needle for a second time, fully prepared for the vaccine to give me a second ass-kicking, after my previous experience, but thankfully that never comes my way (as apparently it's the Pfizer-Biontech second dose that gets fierce with its recipients), and once it's had a few weeks to work its magic, I'll be about as secure as I can be in the circumstances, and will be safe to circulate as much as I wish to, which won't be very much, though allowing greater walking scope and an amount of familial contact again will certainly be a release. It's also immensely encouraging to see how many of my contemporaries, who are not blessed with a career in the public services, have hurried themselves into the vaccination queue as soon as it was made available for those in the top half of their 40s, showing up that there's still a lot of good sense in the Gen-Xers that I know, who want to get their live back on course while showing up a belief in the necessity of good socially responsible actions and the need for selflessness in the face of a public health crisis, while not being lead down the path of misinformation and paranoia.

Probably the cliche image
of 2021, but Don't Care!

For the rest of the nation, April 12th sees the next major step in the easing of lockdown restrictions, with the reopening of non-essential shops and the revival of much of the leisure sector, with bars, pubs and restaurants now being able to offer outdoor service, and I've commented here how many places seem to have done their best to create secure environments for small groups to meet in with the amount of circulation deliberately limited, though it seems that even the best intentions seem to be incompatible with a large chunk of the population who have been deprived of the ability to shop and socialize since the Autumn. So as soon as the cuffs are off, the crowds seem to return to the city, as so many feel the need to shop at Primark and start drinking with friends again, even on school nights, and cramming up the trains to deny space to the key workers who've been toiling relentlessly through the preceding year (just as Northern finally revive a full service on their lines and start short-forming trains again at the worst possible time), and every Friday has us passing the end of Greek Street in Leeds, and recoiling at the sight of the sociable scrum going on, the like of which we haven;t seen in a long while. It's far too easy to be judgey in these times, but it's really noticeable that most of the people who are out on the town are in the bracket of adults and youngsters who have not received a vaccine dose, and thus for all the trumpeting about two thirds of the adult population  having been vaccinated, the third who haven't seem all too willing to throw themselves back into the mix, as if there isn't a pandemic still going on, and even three weeks on there's no way of telling if this is going to fire the infection rate once again or not, but it's safe to say no one in my broad circle of friends and colleagues has any interest in resuming their social whirl just yet.

It seems that HM Government organised their road-map plan out of lockdown based on the belief that once 60% of the population had been partially vaccinated against Covid  the boundary that would promote herd immunity would ensure the general safety of the population, which feels like a misreading of the statistical probabilities, not considering that it's the un-vaccinated who are most likely to be socially circulating, while those who have been choose to remain relatively isolated, making this feel like another almighty gamble, putting down all the chips of public health on unfavorable odds. Still, we need to remember there's a whole world going on beyond this island, and this past month has shown up just how badly this pandemic is still gripping vast swathes of it population, as eyes fall on India, where another new variant has led to a rapid spread of infection, afflicting increasing numbers across the month, in both the cities and rural areas, reaching a total of 300,000 new cases per day as of time of writing, creating the sort of catastrophic situtaion we'd anticipated a year ago, which we'd all imagined we had managed to avoid. It's extremely sobering to see this disaster unfolding, as the hospitals get overwhelmed, running out of oxygen to provide to patients and being forced to literally turn people away for lack of capacity, and that's not even considering the countless thousands who have probably been condemned to die far from the public eye, which all make you realize that despite the situation we have been through in this country, being in a nation that forced itself to the front of the vaccination queue has made our problems seem relatively small. So it's good, I guess, to see the reminder that there is still a Global pandemic going on out there, as it allows one to focus the mind on the many problems that remain at the end of 2021's initial third, and that we are going to be living with these circumstance for a while yet, measuring our expectations against the risks and not joining the crowds thronging the pubs and bars, or raising our voices with the collective bleating of those who want to travel abroad on holiday, as there's a good chance that staying put in Britain, and restricting your social contact, for a good while longer remains the safest cause of action.