Mirfield to Saltaire 05/06/21

17.3 miles, via East Thorpe, Littlemoor, Knowl, Moorlands, Moor Top, Hartshead, 

 Beggarington, Hartshead Common, Walton Cross, Hightown, Hartshead Moor Side, 

  Hartshead Moor Top, Scholes, Wyke, Judy Woods, Royds Hall Great Wood, Shelf, 

   Buttershaw, Horton Bank Top, Horton Bank Country Park, Clayton, Leaventhorpe, 

    School Green, Allerton Lanes, Allerton Hill Top, Chellow Dean, Chellow Heights, 

     Chellow Grange, Brantwood, Noon Nick, New Brighton, and Nab Wood. 

June arrives to bring us the big push to my first 5,000 mile target, not attainable today, but within spitting distance after the mileage put down in May, and after all those chilly days that blighted the first half of Spring, it genuinely looks like we've come around to the complete opposite in terms of weather conditions, actually promising us the potential of a Flaming June for the first time in my walking career, bringing us early heat even as we travel out to the Calder valley to get back on the trail, for the trip that got bumped from the schedule by all that rain that already feels like a distant memory. It' s after 9.10am when we alight at Mirfield, with a long day ahead of us, so getting moving under the bright spring sunshine is the immediate priority, down Back Station Road by the Ledgard Bridge and South Brook mills developments, and under the western end of the station plinth via Northgate, taking us over the end of the C&H Navigation's Mirfield Cut by the flood lock, up the Calder riverside from Mirfield weir and down from the bridge pier without a crossing, and up past St Paul's church East Thorpe, and Fold Head mills, to meet Huddersfield Road, which we track west to Ings Grove Park. Cross the A644 to join Doctor Lane and Nettleton Road, taking us behind the Railway inn, under the absent viaduct and around the Battyeford good yard site, also noting the railway cottages of Littlemoor before we join the council estate cum suburban lane that rises uphill to the urban hamlet of Knowl, which convinces me further that Mirfield is really a bunch of small settlements that have been smooshed into a larger one, as we track past the terraces and Co-op on Nab Lane before hitting the rise of Heathfield, bringing us more suburbia on the rise up to the footpath of Fox Roy Lane, beside the playing fields. Land on Kitson Hill Road, and get the reverse view of the middle Calder before rising on, with Slipper Lane taking us between the old houses of Moorlands and the Mirfield Free Grammar school, before we reach the urban limit of town and the stub of the high-hedged rural lane beyond, which offers our first view of the Calderdale - Colne Valley division to the south west as well as unwelcome warehouse development on the side of the A62 Leeds Road, which is crossed as the lane stub continues up to Moor Top, to meet the B6119 Far Common Road. 

The Calder at Mirfield Flood Lock

Nab Lane, Knowl.

Slipper Lane, Mirfield Moor.

Pass around the grounds of the Hollybank Trust and the Roe Head School as we join Fall Lane, taking us past the Hughes Farm shop and Christmas tree plantation, as we join the high side of the Calder valley above Kirklees priory, tracing the road through the fields as it leads us up to Fall Farm, and around to meet Hartshead village, spread out across its hillside, meeting the Little Thorpe corner at its southeastern extremity, and progressing on among the suburban accretions as all the vintages work to maximise the views to the southwest, on the ways around to Common Bottom, and the continued uphill push. Certainly a space to aspire to live, if you could afford it, as every cottage and farmstead in the vicinity has had a makeover, as the lane rises back into the spring growth of the agricultural fields of around the hamlet of Beggarington, where we meet the road coming down from Roberttown, where we can get onto the ridge that divides the Spen valley from the watershed to the west, where we can look down over Liversedge cemetery and across the fields to the periphery of greater Dewsbury, as we rise with the lane among the meadow colours of the nearby plots. Come up to look across to the Upper House farm and Sepulchre Hill hamlet, and having shadowed the route of the D&DRCW on the hillside below us, we come to cross it as we meet Hartshead common, for the third time this year, taking a glance over to St Peter's church before we start to shadow the Bronte Way as it tacks northwest to our left, as we gain the periphery of Hightown looming ahead, as Windy Bank Lane barely brings us a breeze as we look to spy Thorn Bush, or Lousy Thorn, farm in isolation to the east, the last nod to the Bronte history that I'll be making for a while. Meeting a bank of tree gives the illusion of being deep in  the countryside, but Hightown has snuck right up to the roadside beyond, with a retirement flats complex and the council estate with New York-esque numbered lanes butts up to the roadside, albeit deliberately isolated behind a fence for some reason, though our interest point is found beyond the farm by the lane, which shares its name with the Walton Cross, an ornately carved cross stump dated to the Anglo-Saxon period, a modest and remarkable ancient survivor of national significance, still in situ above the Calder valley, at only a short step off route.

Fall Farm and Hartshead.

Peep Green Road, Hartshead.

Sepulchre Hill.

Walton Cross.

The older edge of Hightown lies beyond, with every house claiming a scenic view beyond Windy Bank farm, with the M62 and Hartshead Moor service in the foreground as the B6119 draws up to its end by the builders office and lands us onto the A649 Halifax, which has seen so much recent action since our first visit to it at the end of last year, and we join it heading west, as it merges into the top end of Harthead Moor Side, and meet the Packhorses crossroads, where the old Packhorse is being replaced by houses, and the A643 joins our route coming up from Cleckheaton, before we pass over the motorway. A familiar trail but a whole lot brighter than both of 2020's visits, as we rock up in Hartshead Moor Top, by the old chapel and take a turn onto Scholes Lane as it splits off north, taking us past the Stafford Arms and the Quaker chapel, in full expectation of there being a bit of a rural aspect along the B6120 between the cottages and terraces on this leafy lane, but it seems that suburbia has crept along its whole length, aided by some brownfield growths, meaning that there is no distinguishable gap in the urban fabric ahead of meeting Scholes Cricket Club and the rise to its village beyond the terrace ends. Arrive behind the yard of the parish church, and rise up to the Walker Arms on the Westfield Lane corner, coming absurdly close to our last Bradford-bound path in the process as we cross over to follow the old lane through the village, up Tabbs Lane and between it old terraces, just as cloud starts to interrupt the unbroken sunshine and before we get back on a northwesterly course on the B6379, retracing another old route, on my 2015 Irish Sea trek route as the council houses fill out the roadsides at the outer extremity of Kirklees district. Meet the A58 Whitehall Road, where the pub on the corner, formerly Harry's Carvery, has gone replaced by hoardings and a vacant lot, beyond which we slip into Bradford district, and find ourselves on the edge of the greater city as we trace a way into Wyke, another village with a large extent, where the suburban house give no hint of there once being a coal pit in their vicinity, while the pleasingly pre-Victorian vintage Westfield chapel, and its Sunday school bring a nice bit of architecture to the landscape of mostly bungalows ahead of Wyke Green, where elevenses need to be taken, on the shaded bench on the edge of the vast lawn that I feel sure was used six seasons ago for the same reason.

Halifax Road, Hightown - Hartshead Moor Side.

The Stafford Arms, Hartshead Moor Top.

The Walkers Arms, Scholes.

Westfield Chapel, Wyke.

Post feed we move on, with the weather having moved around so we won't be getting unbroken sunshine for the whole day, which is actually a relief, as we parade down to the end of the green and find that passing across the end of Town Gate is a rather challenging road crossing, as all if Wyke's local traffic seems to want to use this one corner, and ahving kept to a rising track for most of the day's opening, on the ridges between the Calder's tributaries, we have to make a valley traversal from here, descending with Green Lane past St Mary's church and into the valley of Wyke Beck. Roll down to the A641 Huddersfield Road corner, where I'd have sworn a pub was located, despite the lack of a site for one, and carry on downhill with Station Road, taking us past some of Wyke's enduring industry and down to the railway line, below the south ortal of Wyke tunnel and above the site of the station site shared with Norwood Green before we come to the point where we break from my 2015 route, and enter the popular wild woodlands of Judy woods, straddling the Bradford - Calderdale boundary, where some navigation skills might be needed as we progress northwesterly. Their popularity does at least ensure that path routes are marked out under the dense canopy as we track our way upstream, initially tracing a rather challenging accessible path up from the road, tracing its way among coal mining remnants of pits and tramways that once fed the Low Moor ironworks a couple of centuries back and wending a way over the streams feeding the main beck below the steep bank side that we rise above, with the way ahead clear, among the widely spaced trees, where amounts of felling have gone on to keep the casual traveler safe from falling branches. Proof, if you needed it, that even the most ancient of woodlands have human fingerprints all over them, and at the top of the Low Wood stretch, we meet the merging tracks of High Fearnley Road and Royds Hall Lane, slipping down through the woods between stone walls, not used by modern traffic and thus providing foot access down to Horse Close Bridge, near to where the eponymous Judy once resided, a local eccentric of bygone times, landing us by the side of Royds Hall beck, at the northern limit of the hard paths.

St Mary's Wyke, at the hill crest.

The entrance to Judy's Woods.

The accessible path, Low wood.

High Fearnley Road.

Entering Royds Hall Great Wood to continue upstream, we are not quite winging it though, as the local woodland management has marked out a path with posts as we trace our way along the edge of the descending stream, burbling away below the canopy of leaves, with the sunshine breaking through to render it all quietly idyllic, as it seems that much fewer people venture into this middle portion, making its way through regular soft going, occasional knots of tree roots and an almost consistent carpet of beech kernels as we rise back to a high elevation above the stream'd deepening channel. Meeting the hard path at the north end of the woods is a bit harder than anticipated, as navigation is thrown by a pronounced kink in the valley, but getting lost in a Blair Witch fashion an't gonna happen if we keep on uphill to meet the built up path as it emerges, taking us below the power lines that open up a view across the meadows of the Royds Hall estate, before we press on, atop the flatter woodlands above the flow of Blackshaw Beck, looking down into the tree-clad valley below as we await the arrival of the path from the east that brought us here previously. It's further up than expected, beyond the limit of the enclosed wood as we meet the very edge of the Woodside estate, at Bradford's southern extreme, taking the westerly turn downhill to make the rough and steep descent down to the Blackshaw Beck crossing, and then pressing up the bank on the steeply stepped and unexpectedly twisting path on the Calderdale side of the stream, which at least means the path is better marked on the OS map as we rise above the woodland edge, and ride the wild rollercoaster of a route northwesterly up the valley side to meet the hard surface of the Riding Hill lane. The path beyond, being the easternmost in Calderdale borough, feels somewhat forgotten about, being both overgrown with Spring vegetation and horribly damp and worryingly uneven underfoot as it traces the local back gardens and the last reach of the beck's deep cleft upstream, before we meet the wildflower meadows below the church of St Michael & All Angels church, Shelf, where we can rise with some gratitude to get back on the footways once more as we land on the A6036 Carr House Road, and scurry into the churchyard for lunchtime, as their shaded bench is most welcome in this instance.

The Posted Path, Royds Hall Great Wood.

The northern accessible path.

Blackshaw Beck.

St Michael & All Angels, Shelf.

Push off as a Christening party arrives, crossing over by the Prince of Orange inn and joining the B6147 Cooper Lane as it rises over last weekend's track and then rise through this eastern suburban extremity of Shelf, putting on its best suburban face as we rise onto the wide and flat expanse that sits at the top of the Calder's watershed, taking a glance to the distant horizon to the south ahead of crossing Blackshaw Beck and entering Bradford district again, confirming that there is a change in the quality of the road surface as we press north, along the western periphery of the Buttershaw estate. The subtle rise of the road continues, and the surburban front along this busy link road gets that bit leafier as we land on the edge of the Westwood Park estate to the west of us, recalling just how long it took to track over this high land on our prior expedition on this trajectory, as we come up to the estate built on the old Brayshaw reservoir site, and meet the road crest very markedly by Cooper Lane rec and the microwave mast on the site of Bank Top mills, ahead of us landing on the A647 at the top of Horton Bank, by the derelict Hare & Hounds inn. Track the top of Great Horton Road east for a few steps before we meet another of Bradford's former reservoirs, where Horton Bank Country Park has developed on the drained cistern of it former namesake, a popular spot on a day like today, with most of the visitors congregating around the fishing lake as its base, while we track the high path at its eastern edge, away from the smell of barbecuing, to land us by the top of the breached dam to get the revelation of the west Bradford and middle Airedale horizon, a sight to cheer the soul, albeit one arriving completely out of schedule after shuffling my walking plans. The rough path takes us below the dam and into the sea of greenery beyond, aiming ourselves down to Thornton View Road, and landing by the former North Bierley Union workhouse, now home to an Islamic school, with the lane beyond wending us downhill, after all those hours of ascent, taking us between Clayton Golf Course and the fields of buttercups that offer a view back up the watershed ridge towards Clayton Heights, ahead of the smart terraces of Clayton itself arriving, as we drop out on Pasture Lane, rihgt opposite the footpath that once offered direct access to the railway station.

The Calderdale - Bradford border, Cooper Lane.

The Calder - Aire watershed, Cooper Lane, Horton Bank Top.

Horton Bank Country Park.

Buttercup meadows and the view to Clayton Heights.

Tracing the GNR's lost route was about the limit of our previous exploration of Clayton, and it will linger in our interest now as we come around the Lane End corner to see how the late 20th century suburban band spreads across the village between the older buildings that flanked the old railway, pondering if the one old house at the end of Pentland Lane was of a railway vintage before Station Road takes us up towards the old heart of the settlement, taking us past the Conservative and Liberal Clubs as we join School Street and Green Lane, and tracing the old school and Baptist chapel as we go. Land on the main drag of Clayton Lane by the Albion and Black Bull inns, and pass over the end of The Avenue as we keep northbound across the latitudinal village as we pass out via the jumble of old farmsteads and terraces at Town End before we meet the green expanse of the Thornton Beck valley, where we need to off road it again to make the stream crossing, to be made after completing a long and steep drop down across the fields, getting a fine aspect from Thornton across to Manningham as we descend. Arrive at the quiet spot by the beck, a fine place to hide away, if you don't mind the sharp climb in either direction, which we make on the thoroughly fenced off path to pass among the plots of Leaventhorpe Livery farm, which seem to mix with those of Beckfoot Thornton school, enough to make you think it might offer an equestrian program, before passing the desirable fixer-upper that is the remains of Leventhorp Hall and our landing on the B6145 Thornton Road, riding the ridge up to it village to the east, and separating us from the hillside to the north on which Allerton lies. There's another valley crossing to make then, but not via any of the unmarked green paths that seem to pass within it, instead keeping to the roads as we join Old Road by the New Tyke and rise to the easternmost extremity of Thornton at School Green, where old terraces cluster by the crossroads and we take the turn north onto Allerton Lane, a steep and minor road that clearly has too much traffic on it while not offering much of a footway down the sides of the fields of Lower Hoyle Ing farm, before actually offering a pavement to pace ahead of the passage over Pitty Beck via its bridge.

Green Lane, Clayton.

The descent to Thornton Beck.

Leventhorp Hall, Leaventhorpe.

School Green, Thornton.

There's a footway, of sorts, to trace as we work our way up the next hill ridge, soon rising us up to the edge of the estates that reach west from Allerton, and also meeting the Heron's Reach housing development, weld itself to the formerly green edge of the city and probably causing some of the traffic issues on this inadequately narrow lane, growing still around Dean House farm and the lost hamlet of Allerton Lanes, with views across the valley to Clayton and the watershed hills to make up for the fact that your'e still about as far west in Bradford as you can get. Our regular grazing of the western city continues as we rise steeply up with the lane, to meet the lost hamlet of Hill Top, where only two cottages and the grounds of the demolished pub endure before we burrow through Allerton's estates via Hill Top Lane, cresting the hilltop ridge as we pass through a landscape of houses built entirely in grey brick and stucco, which does no favours to the aesthetic, as we are draw over to Allerton Lane, landing by the Fleece inn and crossing over by the runs of old terraces that linger uphill from the main settlement, and follow North Parade as it leads to another field walk. This walled track, around the delfs of the Cliff Hill quarries, adverises our proximity to the bulk of Airedale, as well as across the wooded groove of Chellow Dean to show the Chellow Heights waterworks on its own hilltop, as we drift along the green path as it draws us behind the suburban closes of Stony Lane, and through a sea of greenery on our way down to the cleft of the valley ahead, where we drop down its steep banks via a flight of steps, to meet the beck and path that lead down to the reservoirs, under the heavy shade of trees, before heading straight up the far side in a similar fashion. We are led up to the track that traces a way across the plots of the West Bradford Golf course, on a well-marked path, taking us right along the boundary wall of the waterworks, where few close-up views can be taken, as concealing its significance to the city's water supply, having been fed all the way from Nidderdale, is probably wise, as we pass on through the yard of the club house, in the former Chellow Grange farm and out into the estate lane beyond, which lacks an obvious name, but does have a brighter colour scheme of red and white which persists on the rise up to the B6144. 

Dean House, and the Heron's Reach development.

The Fleece inn, Allerton Hill Top.

Chellow Dean.

West Bradford Golf Course, Chellow Heights.

Cross over the Haworth Road and enter the suburban enclave at the northwestern corner of the city, again short of a clear identity but as the Drive, Avenue and Road among the semis all share the name of Brantwood, that's enough of an identity for me, as we rise to the clear edge of Bradford as we land on Stoney Ridge Road, where you'd hope all the locals appreciate the vies they've gotten, looking over Airedale, with Cottingley and Bingley below, with the woodlands of St Ives and the moorlands of Rombalds Moor rising beyond. It's probably why the hamlet of Noon Nick is up here, with uninterrupted views off North Bank Road, where we'll slip to our last passage of off-road walking as we join the field path down to the New Brighton enclave on the B6269 Cottingley Cliffe Road, finding that this track also has streetlights along its length, and also seems well used by herding cattle, which renders the surface rather testing as the deep hoof prints in the soft soil has made very footfall a potential ankle breaker, ahead of pacing the more even pasture down to the roadside. Pause here, in the shade of the wall to take a very late lunch, as the heat and duration of the day demand I consume the remainder of my supplies, probably costing us an early ride home before we rise with the road, frustratingly, to meet the top of Nab Wood Drive, where greater Shipley's suburbia has grown up the Aire valley's side to ensure the semis can have fine aspects over it, some even having their garages underneath them to boost their height, as our descent takes us downhill, with Baildon Hill framed on our horizon ahead. Beyond the Fairmount Park nursing home complex, we settle into the leafy landscape of the late Victorian - Edwardian suburbia, among the villas and townhouses at a remove from Greater Bradford, largely concealed from view by foliage down the length of Nab Lane, as we run down to meet the A650 and cross the Bingley Road as we seek a fresh route into Saltaire, picking our way among the tall terraces to join Carlton Road as it leads down to the estate of semis along Carlton Avenue, across from the enduring schools, to the west of Titus Salt's model village. After our previous tours, it's an achievement to find a pair of major pavement that have not been paced, but these are found by following Titus Street east, along the terrace front on its south side and across from the ends of the descending terraced blocks on the north side, before taking George Street north, behind the old village school now in the use of Shipley College, before final steps are taken, along Caroline Street and past the shopping parade on Victoria Road to roll up at the railway station, below the mill complex and in the full glare of the afternoon sun at 4.15pm.

The Brantwoods.

The Noon Nick - New Brighton path.

Elevated Suburbia, Nab Wood.

Leafy Subiurbia, Nab Lane.

Titus Street, Saltaire model village.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 4996.8 miles
2021 Total: 254.7 miles
Up Country Total: 4533.8 miles
Solo Total: 4665.2 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3594.6 miles

Next Up: 5,000 miles on the horizon, and I'm not going anywhere special for it.