Morley to Castleford 03/03/22

13.5 miles, via City, Low Town End, Tingley Common, Upper Green, Westerton, 

 Ardsley Common, Thorpe on the Hill, Lofthouse, Ouzelwell Green, Royds Green Lower,

  Newmarket Colliery, Methley Lanes, Scholey Hill, Watergate, Pinder Green, 

   Methley Junction, Castleford & Wakefield Greenway, Hightown, and Half Acres. 

When I booked my remaining days of annual leave from my allocation, dropping them between my regular early February and late March weeks to form a couple of long weekends, I hadn't realized that I'd given myself the opportunity to celebrate my 10 years walking anniversary on the day of 3rd March, a whole decade on from first finding my feet with FOSCL in the Yorkshire Dales, though the momentousness of the occasion won't be marked by anything too dynamic, as we are still in our early season phase, aiming at the Five Towns and starting from home after working a two day week. We'll start from Morley station at 9.40am, the same time as we set out from Gargrave in 2012, opening my second decade of trekking by striking south, up the steps flight and into the landscape of terraces that we've seen so much of in the last few years that there's little hereabouts that hasn't been paced at least once, though the path from Peel Street to Wide Lane along South Parade and down the steep steps certainly isn't one we've traced in the last nine years of local wandering, unlike all of those which lie beyond. The dirt path leads us across Magpie Lane and to the fields where Morley AFC play, with Glen Road taking us hphill through the estate to meet the old Morley Top line and the knot of enduring mills beyond on Topcliffe Lane, where we'll cross the A650 to add a bit of eccentricity to our choice of route as it leads us down the ginnel to the A6029 Rein Road, taking us through the suburbia of Tingley Common and over the M62 and past Woodkirk Academy, heading down to the Dewsbury Road passage, and noting that the difficulty for the day will probably come from my camera, which is getting less and less willing to play nice. Over the A653, we pass into the conglomeration of settlements which seems to encompass all of Tingley, Ardsley and all points in between, rising uphill with Syke Lane to Upper Green where we take a sharp left to get on course to the east, taking our side of Westerton Road as it passes through the heart of it, taking up past the Tingley Methodist chapel, Westerton Primary Academy and the British Oak inn, getting more delays as my Lumix struggles to operate, with the motor struggling to operate its lens, which has to be pulled into focus manually.

Ackroyd Street, Morley.

The South Parade - Wide Lane steps, Low Town End.

Glen Road and Topcliffe Mills.

Rein Road, again.

Syke Road, Upper Green.

Westertone Road, Upper Green.

I'm sure another rainstorm could finish it off completely as the day keeps on looking like it could bring one as we pace on though Westerton, past the odd corner where the suburban growth redirected the roads, and note the three distinct vintages of the landscape as we come across the paths that we blazed down to Ardsley reservoir, barely visible across the ploughed fields to the south, before we enter the cardboard box-looking estates at Ardsley Common, which gradually get more red brick as we return towards the A650, which is crossed again by the Country Baskets mill. Common Lane drops us downhill, off the last high part of the Aire-Calder ridge, taking us out of the suburban blob and downhill towards the M62, which will be keeping us company for a while, as we drop to meet the terraces and allotments which endure in the former industrial landscape by the railway line down to Wakefield, which is crossed by the site of Ardsley station, before we head up again, with Station Lane shadowing the motorway and rising above the suburbia on the railway yards and the nature reserve before meeting the terraces at the top in Thorpe on the Hill. Gascoigne Road rises us up to where the M62 is crossed, to join the B6135 beyond, where the last fragments of greater Leeds are passed before we meet the major landscape disruption formed by the M1 and M62 motorways passing over each other, with Long Thorpe lane snaking its way through Junction 42/29 above the dive-unders and below the fly-overs before we suddenly return to the urban landscape as we arrive in Lofthouse, passing the bottom end of the Rothwell Greenway on the old E&WYUR colliery lines, and the extensive site and fields of the Rodillian Academy.

Westerton Road, Westerton.

The Country Baskets Mill, Ardsley Common.

Ardsley Common Lane.

Station Lane, Thorpe on the Hill.

Over the M62, via Lingwell Gate Lane.

Long Thorpe Lane penetrates Junction 29/42. 

Cross the A61 by the Rhubarb field and follow Jumbles Lane and Green Lane as they lead us through the eastward reach of Lofthouse, along a suburban lane bisected by the southeastern arm of the E&WYUR line, with its bridge and cutting plainly visible, ahead of us meeting the wonderfully named Ouzlewell Green and the dive of the lane, offering a view of the secret valley below Bushey Cliff wood as it drops to pass under the M62 into Wakefield district, while we follow in the shadow of the motorway and old railway line as the Castle Gate lane rises up to the plant and hamlet at Royds Green Lower. The trackbed becomes briefly visible at Patrick Green Plantation, before road and railway alignment get tangled as we pass Royds Hall and come up to the A642, passing over the dual carriageway and getting no sense of where the branch went beyond thanks to the landscaping that has come with the industrial development of the former Newmarket Colliery site along this formerly country lane, of which the Newcold refrigerated storage plant was clearly only the first element, as the rural aspect clings on only as far the rails that are still embedded in the road between the old pit heads. Beyond, building and ground clearance has claimed the entire brownfield site, and a good few green fields too as the Mountpark Wakefield site is built up, to eventually change the landscape beyond recognition and become the next variant of Wakefield Europort, with dirt and heavy machinery abounding as we are forced onto a temporary path away from the road before we are returned to the country flavour of Newmarket Lane again, taking us on to the rural terraces at Methley Lanes and under the M62 for our fourth and final interaction with it. 

The E&WYUR bridge, Green Lane.

The Secret Valley, Bushey Cliff.

The E&WYUR line shadows Castle Gate, Upper Royds Green.

The Colliery Railway in situ, Newmarket Lane.

Mountpark Wakefield developing at a pace.

The Methley Lanes terrace, Newmarket lane.

Still on the B6135 as it takes us past the isolated school house and Parkin farm, and graze the lower reaches of Methley Park as we land in the hamlet of Scholey Hill, where the Mexboro Arms is still closed up a decade after our first meeting with it, and Watergate leads us through the field beyond, allegedly through a hamlet that shares its name, which screams 'Lost Village' to me, where a view across the flatlands to the Methley Joint lines is available., and its sole remnant appears to be the former pub, which has a boat parked in its yard. Settlements of size lie beyond, with Methley Village just off to the north, and Pinder Green being met ahead of the railway line, filling out the plots of its former farm with a suburban enclave, before we pass under its eponymous bridge and meet Methley Junction, where the old MR and NER lines still meet, and another suburban knot has developed over where four different lines tangled up, which needs an explore, with us starting our tracing of the L&YR's alignment beyond the playground as Burnleys Court leads us up to the enduring station house, providing the only vintage residential element among the lego houses. A bridge can also be found as a garden feature at the top of Burnleys Drive, which we'll come around to pass over as we rise up to the old station on the Joint Line, beyond which the merging lines now form the eastern half of the Castleford & Wakefield greenway, having been formally extended in 2020, and now claiming the trackbed with a proper cycling surface now giving us an official route to pace as it reaches past the bridge at Carr Houses, the site of Lofthouse Junction and now securely passes over the Calder via Methley Viaduct, or Green Row Bridge, if you prefer. 

The Mexboro Arms, Scholey Hill.

Not Much to See of Water Gate.

Pinder. Green

Methley (L&YR) station house, Methley Junction.

The L&YR bridge, Methley Junction.

Methely (Joint Line) station, Methley Junction.

The Carr House - Lofthouse Junction bridge.

Methley Viaduct, over the Calder.

Extensive redevelopment of the cycleways along the riverside has taken place here too, as the greenway leads us along the now accessible trackbed away from the riverside plain and behind the council houses on Merewood Road before passing over the railway line via the new bridge at Whitwood Junction, stitching it up to the formerly traced path down to Cutsyke, which we'll pace again as it leads us under the A639 Lumley Hill and through the deep cutting as far as Lumley Street bridge, where we will exit via the long and steep hairpin of the access path. Lumley Street will thus take us into Castleford, among a lengthy run of townhouses before we land in Hightown, where Savile park is home to the local cricket field, with its impressively scaled grandstand, just across the way from the Black Bull inn and All Saints church, and ahead of the top of High Street, where we could make a short run to the town centre, but instead favour a longer way around, join High Oxford Street as its makes its way into the terraced landscape of the town and passes over the railway is it makes its own passage down to Cutsyke. Middle Oxford Street leads us into the bulk of the terraces, and Beancroft Road offers a subway under the railway to the station, but we'll take Cambridge Road as it leads down to Station Road, making is dive under the railway to the east of the station, which we can then approach via the car park to see how much it has redeveloped since we were last here, having gained a wholly new station building to replace its mundane shelters, while also looking like its getting its platform 2 back as well, neither of which can be taken in for long as we land at 2.30pm, just as the Leeds train arrives.

The new Greenway path.

The new, and old, bridges, Whitwood Junction.

Lumley Hill Bridge.

Lumley Street Bridge.

Vintage Suburbia, Lumley Street.

Miners' Terrace, High Oxford Street.

Miners' Terraces, Cambridge Stret.

The New Castleford Railway Station.

NB: The sad news to append to this 10th anniversary trek is that my Lumix camera has indeed been damaged beyond use, only barely getting to the end of this trek before giving up completely, as its motor can no longer extend its lens, even with manual encouragement, once we've gotten home, and I've only got myself to blame, having bricked it after getting it wet one time too many, and thus we have to hope that my old Fuji Finepix still has a day of life in it, before we can purchase a replacement at the hurry up, which ought to be possible as John Lewis still stock the DMC-TZ70, and claim they can have it ready for me to collect tomorrow...

'New' camera is bricked, 'Old' camera still works!

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 5345.7 miles

2022 Total: 62 miles

Up Country Total: 4883.7 miles

Solo Total: 5015.1 miles

5,000 in my 40s Total: 3940.5 miles

Next Up: Long Weekend #2 concludes by seeking out the least of the Five Towns.