Morley to Sandal 28/05/23

13.6 miles, via Gilroyd, Burn Knolls, Topcliffe, Tingley Common, Black Gates, East Ardsley,

 Jaw Hill, Kirkhamgate, Bushey Beck, Lodge Hill, Shepherd Hill, Low Common, Ossett Spa,

  Spring End, Hall Cliffe, Horbury, Horbury Junction, Broad Cut, Calder Park,

 Pugney's Country Park, Sandal Castle, and Castle Grove Park.

Three rest days later, and after some extra fortification thanks to a whole family get together lunch at the Booth Wood inn on the Ripponden & Oldham Road (which looks like it could become a regular tradition), we ought to be ready to go again as we find ourselves back at home on the middle day of the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, with the prospect of a filled slate for the month for the first time this year, and the marker of 100 miles on the year finally falling into view, which prompts us to Sunday walking despite the gloom gathering once again, to reveal that all those bright days still haven't heated the aits all that much. Left to my own devices once more, there's no impetus to get going at a hurry, as we return to the business of finding new trajectories out of Morley towards every railway station within reasonable walking distance, not getting going until we've seen what's happening at our own local development, where work continues on the new platforms and footbridge, with new lampposts being added to the mix, before our trail starts, southbound for a change at 10.30am, rising up the steps flight to Albert Road, noting that some recent tree felling has revealed a new angle on the Miners Arms that hadn't been seen previously, before we strike off, along Clough Street, between terraces and semis down to Middleton Terrace. We seek the path among the local green spaces among the developments on the Gilroyd Mills site and among the closes around Magpie Lane, passing in leafy seclusion across Peacock Green and down to Topcliffe Beck before we start the sharp rise up Topcliffe Lane, towards Topcliffe farm, where much heavy agricultural machinery is arriving, and on around the West Ardsley colliery site, with its tramway embankments still visible, before we pass through the Capitol Park office complex again, dropping down to meet the A653 Dewsbury Road which is crossed by the Highway Agency maintenance depot and the site of the lost Tingley station.

The reverse angle on the Miners Arms revealed.

Middletone Terrace, Morley

The Green Path to Topcliffe Lane.

Heavy machinery on the track to Topcliffe Farm.

Junction 28 on the M62 is passed under, via the eastern side of the Tingley Common interchange island that we haven't passed around before, to join the A650 as it presses to the south east, pacing the opposite direction and the alternative pavements to the last time we came this way, having not previously walked it away from Morley, powering on among the terraces and estate semis along to the end of Thorpe lane at Black Gates, where the view down the fall of Millshaw Beck is taken before we carry on along this extended portion of the urban landscape beyond the city of Leeds, down to the Coutry Baskets mill complex. Beyond the green space that keeps this suburban blob separate from East Ardsley is rapidly disappearing, replaced by the Ambler's Meadow development, above which the tower of St Michael's church still looms, prominent on the hillside from many miles around as we observed last year, and as we touch this village's western end, we split off the Bradford & Wakefield Road to burn a new path at long last, an hour plus into the excursion, onto Woodhouse Lane as we drop onto the the Calder side of the watershed ridge, dropping down with the suburban ribbon to the rural landscape beyond, where the city of Wakefield can be glimpsed in the east. It's also where the Leeds Country Way and the pandemic circular trails brought us, in the vicinity of Kirkfield farm, and we continue with the fall of the lane, taking us below Ardsley reservoir and in sight of the local landmarks of Gawthorpe water tower and Ossett parish church as we progress among the recently mown fields, actually feeling the need for a bit of sunshine to illuminate the rolls of Wakefield district as they elevate in the landscape, rising with the lane to Jaw Hill, the one with the waterworks atop it, where we join the Batley Road and drop down with it to pass over the M1 and transition into our neighbouring district.

The other side of the Tingley Common interchange.

Council houses by the A650, Black Gates.

The ongoing Ambler's Meadow development, East Ardsley.

The suburban - rural edge, Woodhouse Lane.

The way to Jaw Hill, Woodhouse Lane.

Batley Road, above the M1 (also: Raw Milk).

The Star inn, and Kirkhamgate village arrives at the roadside immediately, and a bench in the memorial garden offers itself as a lunch spot, where passing locals observe that I've failed to pick a good day for walking, a thought which I now agree with wholly, and after our refuel, we need to find the Gawthorpe Lane path, dropping us down sharply to pass under the M1 and on to the bridge on Bushey Beck, where we quit the hard surfces to get into some field walking, onto the rising boundary path that leads up to Tufty farm on the flank of Lodge Hill, a surprising slog that gets you realizing that flattest of West Yorkshire's five borough's can still bring on the landscape if it wishes. The farm track at the top has been walked before, and the hillside was also once home to a colliery tramway which offers no hints of its presence as we move around to meet Park Mill Lane, giving us sight of where we've travelled from, and eastwards towards Alverthorpe and Wakefield again before sight of Ossett in the west arrives, propelling us forwards to the passage over the A639 bypass road via the interchange that used to have the GNR branch running directly though it, where we arrive on the old Wakefield & Dewsbury road at Shepherd Hill, where our ongoing route is on the hidden footpath, beside the JB Furniture store. You could believe that is a path that few people use, taking us between buttercup strewn meadows and the apparently fallow Spring Mill Golf course, with equestrian enclosures beyond on the drag down to Queen's Drive at the eastern extreme of greater Ossett, where old paths among the suburbia need to be tangled with to bring us out to Haggs Hill Road and out to Teall Street where we can resume our push southwards, through the varied suburban landscape of Low Common, where paces fell 9 seasons back, which I cannot recall.

The Memorial Garden, Kirkhamgate.

The path to Lodge Hill, from Bushey Beck.

The path so far, via Tufty farm, from Lodge Hill.

The road junction on Shepherd Hill.

Spring Mill Golf Course (former?).

Rural Cottages in Suburbia, Low Common.

A pub called the Little Bull recalls no memories and only the corner at Manor Road, which I didn't walk down seems familiar before we resume our novel paths, as Spa Street heads into the greenery of lowering meadows again, all too briefly, before we land in the odd little industrial enclave at Ossett Spa, clustered around the beck that falls between Ossett and Horbury, before we rise through the farm hamlet at Spring End and up the sharply ascending climb of Hall Cliffe Road to the suburban edge of the second of thses two towns as we meet Hall Cliffe itself, on the northern side of the hill below the cemetery, Hall Cliffe school and the green-capped convent of St Peter. That has us in Horbury proper, following Northgate as it rises over the crest, with John Carr's church of St Peter & St Leonard upon it, with Queen Street leading us down to the High Street, where interesting illuminations have been installed spanning the roads for atmospheric purposes around the nearby bars, where the Twitch Hill bus stop is passed to tether a 2015-era destination to my most local to home tier, and a second lunch break is taken on the bench at the end of Cluntergate before our day takes a south-easterly turn down Cross Street and Peel Street with the day's ultimate goal in mind, down to the A642 Southfield Road bypass. Daw Lane leads us beyond, past St Mary's church and over the railway line at the spot where Horbury & Ossett station wasn't, despite appearances, and down into the industrial landscape of Horbury Junction, with the Calder vale hotel being the main point of landscape interest on the drop to the heavy industry plant on the sight of the old wagon works, where the path leads us to the banks of the Calder and our passage across via the enclosed footway below the railway bridge on the line down to Barnsley, which seems much less terrifying now than it did to my youthful walking brain back in 2012 and 2014.

Spa Road, Ossett Spa.

Hall Cliffe Road, Hall Cliffe.

St Peter & St Leonard, Horbury.

High Street, Horbury.

Calder Vale inn, Horbury Junction.

Calder Bridge, Horbury Junction.

The path beyond leads to the towpath of the Calder & Hebble Navigation, where we set a course east, alongside the moorings up to Broad Cut Lower Lock, where all sort of boating shenanigans are going on, with sailing types probably happy to gave the canal open again after such a prolonged closure a few years back, and we switch banks and go from canal walking to river walking as the ongoing path beside the river Calder gives us our north-easterly tack through the woods and alongside the open meadow to our third and final passage under the M1, before we seek a route through an urban landscape that has arrived since I first walked the riverbanks. The Calder Park business estate sits atop the reclaimed lands on the south side of the Calder, home to the Highways Agency, West Yorkshire Police and the Easy Bathrood distribution depot, among others, and isn't the sort of terrain you'd normally find yourself in, unless you were very deliberately seeking paths that hadn't been walked before, and there's no one about to look at you funny around here on a gloomy Sunday afternoon, as we track on along the Peel Avenue boulevard, trying to not disturb the aquatic birdlife as we meet  the landscape of car dealerships, at least four of them, that loiters at the side of the Denby Dale Road, which we meet by the traffic island by the Swan & Cygnet. Cross over the A636, and the A6186 Asdale Road as our path leads us into Pugney's country park, also reclaimed from the formerly quarried landscape on this side of the river and now one of Wakefield's most popular park, with perambulation paths and miniature railways around the shores of its boating lake, also doubling a nature preserve, where many have come out for a day trip, despite the obvious lack of sunshine, with some looking like they've set out their stall for the long haul, judging by the amount of food being prepped and barbecued (with permission, I might add) and the number of people gathered on the north shore as we pass by.

The Broad Cut, the Calder & Hebble Navigation.

Boating on the Calder.

Peel Avenue, Calder Park,

Multiple Car Dealerships, Calder Park.

Pugney's Country Park Lake, Northwest side.

Pugney's Country Park, Northeast side.

Break for the last time, feeling rather jealous that the meagre remains of my marching rations will have to sustain me for the remainder of the day, which has taken longer than the sub-five hour shot that I'd hoped for it, and once away from the lake we can rise for the last time on the day, through the fields and up the high-walled path that leads to Sandal Castle, which demands a second (or is it a third?) turn around as we've become much more familiar with the surroundings and history since we first came this way, and a motte and bailey structure like this, with much if its 15 century stone work still in situ will never be boring to me, regardless of how many times it is encountered. As we don't have to be too picky with our train times, we can take an unplanned turn down Manygates Lane, into suburban greater Wakefield, as we ought to seek the memorial pillar to Richard, Duke of York, and the battle of Wakefield (30/12/1460, if you recall!) which loiters somewhere down here, which we rather unfortunately do not find as it masquerades rather well as an apparent trunk below the tree cover next to the Wakefield Adult Education Services in the old school buildings, and we have to feel like a colossal dumbass for not realising this, as we track back across the Castle Grove Park playing fields to our passage across the A61 Barnsley Road, by the Sandal Cricket Club. Join Agbrigg Road and follow it up to meet our destination for the day at Sandal & Agbrigg station at 4pm, much later than intended but bringing us the only sunshine spell to be seen for the entire day as we wait for our ride, making this one local to home too, while at the same time drawing both Stocksmoor and Elsecar only two steps away from Morley, as well as bringing two remote South Yorkshire paths a tier up too, which hopefully illustrates that while the strolls of post-Covid experience isn't me having me travelling very far away, remoter corners of the Field of Walking Experience are being made that bit less distant as we go (as we also mark my longest trip of the year, an actually completed slate of monthly walks in May, and 100 miles in Season 12 (finally!) at the end of its fourth month too).

Sandal Castle from the ascending path.

Best Full Yield View of Sandal Castle.

Playing hunt the RDoY Monument, on Manygates Lane.

Castle Grove Park, Sandal.

Agbrigg Road, and the station.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 6024.4 miles

2023 Total: 102.2 miles

Up Country Total: 5,543.7 miles

Solo Total: 5681.8 miles

5,000 in my 40s Total: 4614.2 miles

Destinations Moved into Tier 1: Horbury, Sandal & Agbrigg

Destinations Moved into Tier 2: Stocksmoor, Elsecar

Trails moved from Tier 3 to Tier 2: 4

Trails moved from Tier 4 to Tier 3: 2

Next Up: Can we sustain Shuffling the Tiers into June?