Our pattern of smooth sailing through the 2022 walking year gets rudely disrupted as the first weekend of Summer lands, as a sequence of national train strike hit the country (after the RMT takes issue with management (and government) seeming to have forgotten that the railways have been important Key Workers over the last two years and ought to be treated accordingly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic), and when this is coupled to an ongoing (and total) strike action by Arriva Yorkshire's bus crews in Wakefield district, the outcome for me is that my chosen walking field to the south and east of home has been rendered largely inaccessible by public transport, and enforced local walking will have to fill my weekend, which is not the easiest of tasks as lockdown walks absorbed nearly every path around Morley during 2020/1. We'll have to be creative to ensure we're not repeating ourselves too much as we roll down to Morley station for a 9.20am jump off, initially heading city-bound on a plauisble circular route via the path that rises away above the rock cliff to the top of New Bank Street and thence on to Daisy Hill, joining the rough path into the hidden, and somewhat overgrown valley beyond, which deposits us into the fields of wheat ahead of joining the track that leads up to Broad Oaks farm, where future residential development looks like a certainty, as work has already started on the groundwork in the fields around Lane Side farm, which have kept Morley and Churwell distinct. It can remain rural as we rock past the farmstead, cresting to the view towards the city in the northeast, not being able to approach the railway via the downhill path due to the construction work at the new White Rose station site on the embankment, which can be observed at a distance as we keep on the previously untraced path that leads us into the eastern side of Churwell, landing us by the old chapel and Sunday school on Back Green, which leads to the crossing of the A643 by the Old Golden Fleece Tesco and the memorial garden, before we head down old lane into the terraced and suburban village, passing Bar 27 and the village club on the way down. Hang a left by the old Manor farm and pace a way along New Village Way among the Lego houses of the still expanding village suburb, which continues to grow, having now completely absorbed the site of Snittles farm at the side of the M621, which is passed under to emerge by the side of the embankment of the Leeds New Line, which is passed over as we pace the boundary of the Jewish cemeteries and land on the A62 to pace the Gelderd Road over its crest by the factories on the edge of the Beeston Royds hillside, passing below the abandoned Hilltop cemeteries and joining the railway-side path by the split of the flying Farnley Junction.
Sunday 26 June 2022
Morley & Leeds Circuit 25/06/22
Sunday 19 June 2022
Featherstone to Goldthorpe 18/06/22
After three days of heatwave conditions, or more realistically three days of temperatures in excess of 20C for the first time this year, we look forward to Summer as we sit just shy of the top of the year, but predictably enough, the heat and sunshine cannot last into the weekend, and we're looking at a potentially tight weather window to pace against to fit with our tight time window that's dictated by our choice of start point and destination, which looks like it might be the theme as the High Season progresses, so we're going to have to keep the pace up today if we don't want a long wait to get home. Arrive at Featherstone at 10am, on the first train that doesn't take the long way round, to strike out route south down Station Lane, past the Railway Hotel and the mildly bustling main street, taking us down to the A645 Wakefield & Pontefract Road, which is crossed between the town council offices and the Lidl store, joining Girnhill Lane as it takes us south through the terraces into the suburban band of the town beyond the WMC and community gardens, an area that seems to have swollen with Lego houses below the lane's sudden eastbound turn, which leads to the rough track at the town's edge. This leads us to the field path that we traced back in 2014, joining it as it heads arrow-straight southwest through the wheatfields on a clear route over to the rougher and partially concealed tracks that take us down to the passages over the upper reaches of Went Beck, feeling happy that there's a dog walker to follow as we track around the edge of a plantation that's grown a lot over the last 8 years as we are led to the hamlet of West Hardwick, where the main farmstead and associated cottages are passed around as we get onto New Road as it leads southeast for a bit to put us onto the permissive path that leads towards Nostell Priory. Southwest-bound again we ahead below the plots of South Ings Fields, shadowing Hardwick Beck as it flows away from the estate, as the Pump Lane track directs us towards the eastern perimeter wall, where the National Trust site could be entered, it appears, but we're staying outside it, trying to find a path in Engine Wood that might not actually exist before picking up the Engine Lane track as it leads down to the Nostell East Vista, where a wide open space leads the eye west to the Palladian Nostell Priory house, with grazing cattle in the fields to the east, and a staring bench is provided for elevenses, as it is feel like that time of day already.
Sunday 12 June 2022
Normanton to Thurnscoe 11/06/22
A break of six days allows my body to recover from the stresses that it suffered at the end of the bust two weeks that it had endured, and as we return to the trail today, we can feel happy to report that there are no limb or foot related concerns to take with us as we return to our quest for new railway station destinations across South Yorkshire, also digging deeper into my patriotic 70-mile June for that matter, and start by heading back to the Five Towns to start hanging the High Season trips into the southern unknown onto the framework that we laid out almost four months ago. We alight at Normanton for an early start at 9am, soon getting away from the combo of long platform and footbridge, and away from the goods yard that’s finally getting the residential redevelopment that it always seems destined for, and head through the town centre via the Market Place, with its station hotels, and up the High Street before the shops have really got going, taking a turn onto Church Street to lead us through the town's southern terraces on the way down to the municipal cemetery and the leafy passage through the yard of All Saints church before getting on our southeastwards track with Snydale Road. The B6133 will lead us for the rest of this day’s first hour, soon wandering beyond the vintage town and on through the suburban spread of the southern reach, meandering its way among the semis and bungalows before arriving by the field above the A655 bypass road, which is crossed at the Winterton’s Hill traffic island, with Church Lane leading us uphill between the high hedges bounding the narrow lane beyond, leading us into the village of Old Snydale, a settlement still retaining most of its rural footprint, despite the amount of coal mining that encroached hereabouts, with the Don Pedro colliery branch showing its bridge remnants midway along New Road. It’s remarkable how little it’s grown, either with colliery terraces or later suburban arrivals, keeping it quietly out-of-the-way feeling as we pass the Cross Keys inn and the other arm of the Snydale branches, leading to the Ackton Hall and Featherstone Main pits, then into the fields beyond, leading us around the grounds of Snydale Hall and below the rise of the Calder - Went watershed that we crossed in April, not that we're really feeling the ridge ahead from the roadside this time around as we pass up by Common Side farm, with its many enclosures and preserved fire engines as we come up to the previously seen Common Side Lane at the western edge of Featherstone.
Sunday 5 June 2022
South Elmsall to Darton 04/06/22
Having gotten down the long day on the trail for the start of the long Jubilee weekend, we now pull up a more modest distance for round two, a route that I've had plotted since 2015 and got left on the to-do list when unfortunate family circumstances overtook us, and it's just as well that I'm not looking to light up the trail with many miles, as I've got another pain to to add to that of my sore calf, and wonky hip and knee, and that's a blisterized right heel, caused by the apparent collapse of the support in my boot sole (after only a year of use!), which will need two layers of padding to make it walk-onable. We make our immediate return to South Elmsall then, alighting after 9.50am under very glum skies, with our route set to the west, rather than delving further to the southeast, taking us down past the bus interchange to join the B6422 Barnsley Road as it pushes us along the main shopping drag, predictably dressed in patriotic colours, as we match another old route from seven years back as it takes us through the first of the three villages that grew into a single town, having all the flavour of its post-mining status as we pass St Luke's church, the library, the old cinema and the Kung Fu school as we transition into Moorthorpe. Past St Joseph's RC church and the cemetery, we pass by Moorthorpe station on the line down to Sheffield, and keep to the previously seen roadsides as we soon enough enter South Kirkby, the largest of the three villages, as we pass the Barnsley Road recreation grounds and finally start on along a new pavement as the lane becomes White Apron Street, bringing a bit more vintage flavour to the environs as we are taken around All Saints church, and the Church House inn opposite, passing the police station and colliery memorial as we keep to the northernmost of the westbound route options, rising as the lane does up to Ball Park farm but not getting any real sense of where we are in this urban landscape. Quit the road towards Hensworth as we pass the Co-op store, and hit Holmsley Lane as it traces the northern edge of the South Kirkby Common estates, rising up beyond Hob House farm and finally giving us a vista to the north to regard, looking back to Upton Beacon and Walton Wood as the only distinctive parts on this horizon, which could easily draw attention away from the supposed Saxon vintage encampment in the now open fields to the south, before we head up past the Old Garden Centre (which is named as such), and on up to the corner by the old isolation hospital site, where the Wakefield Way route is met.
Friday 3 June 2022
South Milford to South Elmsall 02/06/22
The long Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend presents the perfect opportunity to do what suits me best, getting out of the house and taking a long walk, as street parties and the like to celebrate HMQ doing the same job for 70 years aren't my bag at all, and a decade on from trekking Rombalds Moor on the occassion of the Diamond Jubilee, we look to a much longer trip today, as we start our own campaign to walk for 70+ miles in the month of June, in a display of low-key patriotism, or merely making best use of the five walking days that have been made available. We immediately return to South Milford for our start line, with a time window entirely dictated by the rail services at either end, alighting at 9.20am under the sort of weather that I'd have liked to have seen more of on my Spring Jollies week, descending down to the Milford Road and striking south through the village along its main artery, mostly matching the path that we took when last passing this way, taking us over Mill Beck, of ford nomenclature, before Low Street leads past the Swan hotel and down between the old faces of the village and the suburban band beyond. Soon enough, we're into the fields, following the land as it leads us to the island on the A162 bypass road, which is crossed to pass Milford Hall, now fenced off from view and in residential hands, and to trace the footway-less side of Meadow lane as it passes the rail yards at Milford Junction and leads us away from the wrinkles that bound West Yorkshire and down to the way into Monk Fryston as Lumby Lane takes us over the railway and down to the A63 junction, to join the picturesque Main Street as it takes us among the colourfully dressed stone houses and across the way from the Crown Inn and St Wilfred's church. This is the corner of the village that we didn't see in 2015, and it's obviously its best face, and we join our route of seven years prior as we split off away from Monk Fryston Hall to join Lumby Hill as it rises slightly to take us past the old village school and on through the suburban band that has grown to join neighbouring Hillam to the greater settlement, noting a lot of sympathetically built houses in the local sandstone rubble vernacular as we come down to the green by the Cross Keys inn, before we start our new path by heading along Chapel Street, taking us past Hillam Hall and along the ribbon of development on the eastbound lane, where many dream houses have been built, it seems.