Pontefract to Leeds 19/03/22

15.3 miles, via Lady Balk, New Town, Toll Hill, Red Hill, Castleford, Whitwood Mere, 

 Methley Bridge, Windmill Moor, Methley Junction, Methley, Wood Row, Methley Park, 

  Oulton, John O' Gaunts, Haigh Common, Stourton, Thwaite Gate, Hunslet, 

   Pottery Field, Camp Field, South Bank, and Monk Bridge. 

As we meet the last weekend of the Early Season of 2022, and the last official weekend of Winter, it actually looks like we can start dressing for Spring, as the inconsistent weather, tinged by chills that were sometimes offset by sunshine, looks like it’s gone for a while, to be replaced by clear skies that look quite incongruous against the bare trees and barren fields, a lot like what we saw a decade ago, and thus the thick jacket goes away until October and the peaked hat comes out again, as our opening quest to the Five Towns need to be concluded by returning ourselves to the Big City. The campaign will begin Pontefract at 9.30am, and from Monkhill station this time as it’s never featured as a start point before, possibly one of the saddest town stations anywhere, but well-placed for a view to the remnants of the castle and the colliery from its footbridge (but no sight at all of the Ferrybridge power station cooling towers as they were demolished a mere five days after I passed them by last weekend!), from where we’ll descend to Monkhill Road, where we can take a path north, under the eastern station throat and away, taking us through the town’s northern suburban bands of Lady Balk and New Town, now desirable as they are longer overshadowed by the coal mining industry, though the remaining spoil heap of Prince of Wales colliery still looms above their eastern edges. The downhill press takes us under the M62, and into the green space that still keeps Pontefract and Castleford separate, with no cooling towers to see on the eastern horizon, and Xscape off to the west as Spittal Harwick Lane leads us sharply up into greater Castleford, with suburbia soon crowding the road as we come up Toll Hill, where we tangle with the B6136 Holywell Lane, and meet the junction by the former tavern where we split off, tracing the edge of the Fryston and Airedale estates as Redhill lane keeps us on our northwesterly trajectory. We're on Castleford’s highest hill up here, working our way past the recreation ground and the Redhill Sports & Social Club before taking the turn that leads us past the underground reservoirs, and the water tower and microwave masts that render this hillside distinct from far afield, and once up, its soon down again, steeply through a rock-cut channel on secluded section of road that the modern world discourages use of before we come out by Queen’s Park, and follow Ferrybridge Road downhill through the town’s Edwardian townhouse district, down to the Castleford Academy campus and the town’s civic centre. 

Pontefract Castle from Monkhill Station.

Prince of Wales Colliery's spoil heap, above Lady Balk and New Town.

Ferrybridge Power Sttaion now absent from the Landscape.

The tavern on Toll Hill, Holywell Lane.

The Water Tower and Reservoirs on Red Hill.

Castleford Civic Centre, Ferrybridge Road.

We are then drawn in to meet Bridge Street, joining the A656 across from St Joesph's RC church and school, and pass under the railway bridge before passing around the eastern edge of Castleford town centre, passing the Carlton Lane shopping centre and the main drag as we come around to the A6032 Aire Street, past the Queen’s Mill and the riverfront, passing the Roman bathhouse site at the bottom of Church Street and then passing on through the terraces along Saville Road, where the fort of Lagentium was believed to lie, giving this most industrial of towns a 2,000 year heritage. By the Eagle Inn, the lane kinks and Methley Road leads us through an industrial district, once substantial enough to warrant its own railway branch, lying ahead of the residential blocks of Whitwood Mere, which we can pass through about a quickly as the traffic before joining the A639 by the estate and farm at Methley Bridge, and move to pass over the Calder on the path previously seen, where the downstream fields are as damp as they were weeks back, and the level and open plots of Windmill Moor offer the view of the way to come, towards Oulton, and also back to Redhill as Castleford rapidly retreats behind us. Way upstream in the Aire valley, the tall towers of Leeds sneak a peek above the rooftops of Mickletown, as we come past the hamlet of Low Common and strike onto the road towards Methley Junction, where Pinder Green bridge is the most imposing feature of the settlement, rising above the road as it kinks off towards Methley village, found at the top of a rise past the rectory and Sunday school, and coming around past St Oswald’s church, and its most vintage corner by the Boundary House inn, across from the bowling club and cricket field, where a bench needs to be sought for watering time. 

Aire Street and the Castleford Riverfront.

Roman Lagentium was here? Savile Road.

Methley Road, Whitwood Mere.

Another passage across Windmill Moor.

Pinder Green Bridge, Methley Junction.

St Oswald's church, Methley.

We can then press on with Leeds Road as it rises up to the northern end of the village at Wood Row, where we split off by the Rivers Meet cafe to take another look at the MR Methley (north) station, and to also note the vintage railway terrace on Station Road, before returning to the side of the A639 as it heads past the estate and woodlands of Methley Park, where Spire Healthcare conceals its hospital and the view across the Aire valley to the north puts the towers of Kippax and Swillington's parish churches on our horizon, as well as the belvedere atop Temple Newsam house. It's a long stone wall to follow,  alongside this considerable estate that contains the many woodlands and farmsteads but seems to have no actual country house within it, before we enter the open fields beyond, where the tall spire of Oulton parish church fails to make much of an impression on the forward horizon as the midday sunshine beats down, keeping us over-warm as we press on over the long drag towards the traffic island where we tangle up with the A642 by the Rothwell Leisure centre, the Holiday Inn and Toby Carvery. We can pick sides on the dual carriageway here, taking the south side as it gives the best view over to the Three Horseshoes inn, across the way from St John's church which conceals itself well behind a thicket of yew trees, before we come around over Oulton Beck and the traffic island at the end of the road into Rothwell, where we're forced back on north side of the A639, crossing by the half timbered farmhouse dated 1611, to press uphill on the wide and rising Leeds Road, with suburban Oulton reaching to the east of us, before we can return to the shady side of the street, ahead of the Holmsley Lane - Haigh Road corner. 

The railway terrace, Wood Row / Methley North.

The Long Wall of Methley Park.

St John's Oulton on the horizon.

Toby Carvery and Holiday inn, Oulton.

The Three Horseshoes, Oulton.

Leeds Road and the 1611 house, Oulton.

Levelling off, that’s about as close as we’ll be getting to Rothwell itself, in the mix to the west, as we progress on past the Rothwell Labour Club and pitches of Rothwell Town FC, noting the ghost sign on the end wall of the convenience store that stands at the main road side of the John O’Gaunts estate, before passing over the old colliery lines of the E&WYUR by Styebank Lane, before we pass out of the greater settlement by the formerly eponymous district tavern, where we cross to the north side of the lane to absorb the view over Haigh Common over the city of Leeds, ideally illuminated at this time of day. It’s a spot to linger and examine the high points of the city centre, and the north and eastern growths, as well as and the view up the narrowing Aire valley in the haze beyond, to really show the value of telephoto lens on your camera as watering is done again, before we move on amazed that the farm with a view up here could remain derelict, before we tangle with the drop down to the passage over the M1, losing the views over south and west Leeds with the decline, but meeting the Rothwell colliery memorial on the traffic islands of junction 44, where the path of the A639 departs us. We stick with the old Pontefract Road of course, now the B6481 as it slips down between the Arla dairy complex, and the distribution company that seems to exclusively serve it, ahead of meeting the Royal Mail’s Stourton Depot, and the café-bar built out of transport containers, before we pass under the railway bridge that has been widened on both sides to accommodate its skew, and meet the contemporary industrial landscape of Stourton, where containers from the nearby Freightliner depot seem to have become a feature of every other business. 

The Ghost-Signed Convenience Store, John O' Gaunts.

The John O' Gaunt inn (former), Leeds Road.

The view of Leeds, from Haigh Common.

The Rothwell Colliery Memorial, Junction 44.

The Arla Dairy, Pontefract Road, Stourton.

The Skew Bridge, Stourton Junction.

It’s not the most enticing landscape to be amongst, especially on a hot day like this, where it seems even more dry and dusty than it might otherwise, but it’s an important stretch of one of Leeds’s arterial roads to check off before we meet the remnants of the GNR–NER joint Hunslet Goods line, in the form of bridge abutments and embankment, before we land somewhere familiar at Thwaite Gate, where it seems that the junction of the Wakefield Road has been up and recently completed road works will be a feature all the way into the city centre. It’s mildly amazing how many paths have come this way previously, without tracing all of A639 as we’ll be doing now, passing the Punch Clock inn, as was, and the road kink opposite the face of low-rise residential Hunslet where the River Aire got significantly redirected, ahead of the turn towards Hunslet proper at Church Street, before we come in on the direct line to the city, past the Baptist church, isolated among industrial units and the discovery that Stephenson's wallpaper store is still in business, revelling in its status as this city's true survivor. The A61 flyover is passed under, landing us into the increasingly post-industrial landscape to the south of Leeds city centre, where the Braime plant remains the last bastion of heavy industry, while other sites around the locomotive works are claimed by lighter business, or have the Leeds City College and Leeds College of Building developing sites among them, where we slip off the main road to follow the Hunslet Road to its conclusion, up the isolated section that take us past the Tetley Brewery site, where the HQ has become an arts centre and the remainder awaits the bold development that its been waiting on for a decade.

The Hunslet Goods Line, Pontefract Road.

The Punch Clock (as it will always be known), Thwaite Gate.

Hunslet Baptist Church, Low Road.

The Braime Plant, and the Brookfield Hotel, Hunslet Road.

The Leeds College of Building, and the stub of Hunslet Road.

The Tetley Arts Centre.

From outside the Adelphi, we could dash to the finish line across Leeds Bridge, but we have a few local sights to see which can be added onto the trail, pacing back down the mostly road-worked up Marsh Lane to see the David Oluwale footbridge in the carriageway, prior to imminent installation, and progress around ASDA House and below the tower of Bridgewater Place at Camp field before we can meet Water Lane, and see what's happening in the Holbeck Urban Village, where the South Bank scheme is adding medium rise developments around the Tower and Globe works sites. Below the railway bridges, Globe Road takes us past the remains of the Monk Bridge Works site, now completely levelled for development and on to the side of Whitehall Road, where the Monk Bridge residential towers are now topping out and getting clad, a year on from our last local look, and new development has broken the ground on Latitude office park site, after years of inactivity, meaning that the Leeds Central viaduct will soon be obscured from view, so it needs to be regarded from all angles hereabouts while it remains visible. Then it's over the river at Monk Bridge, and down the riverfront to return to Leeds Station from the west, noting that the Aire appears placid and apparently flowing backwards while only one site on the northern riverbank as has no development occurring on it, as we note the secret canal tunnel above the Dark Arches, which no one knows about, and rise up the steps to Princes Square and conclude the trip at 3.25pm, finding myself among the crowds on the wrong side of the gateline on a Saturday afternoon for the first time in years, which almost has me missing the tranquility we had during the Lockdown months of 2020.

The Davis Oluwale bridge awaits installation, Marsh Lane.

The Globe and Tower Works developments, South Bank.

The remains of Monk Bridge works have been flattened for redevelopment.

The Latitude and Monk Bridge developments resume, and continue.

The Aire riverfront, Leeds

Leeds Station from Princes Square.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 5386.8 miles
2022 Total: 103.1 miles
Up Country Total: 4924.8 miles
Solo Total: 5056.2 miles
5,000 in my 40s Total: 3981.6 miles

Next Up: Dropping feet Down Country for the first time since September 2019!