Morley to Deighton 24/06/23

10.6 miles, via Morley Bottoms, Scatcherd Park, Dartmouth Park, St Andrews View,

 Birkby Brow Wood, Howden Clough,  Copley Hill, Birstall Smithies, White Lee, Westfield,

  Lower Popeley, Liversedge (Mill Bridge), Headland, Low Fold, Upper Row, Lower Row,

   Cooper Bridge, Bradley, Colne Bridge, Bradley Viaduct, and Whitacre Mill.

This past week certainly has been a busy one, with no trains to ride on my working days due to the engineering possession, and all my comings and goings to three hospital sites across the cities having to be on a variety of buses, with the potentially unlimited strike by Firstbus drivers only lasting two days in amongst to keep things manageable, which allowed me plenty of oppotrubites to stroll locally after work to see exaxtly what was going on at Morley station, and at the ongoing development at White Rose, tales which will probably ned to be recounted at another time as all that chatter could easliy derail the account of wandering for this weekend otherwise. We're hardly feeling full of beans as Summer arrives, rising late and strolling to our start line rather casually, turning our back on the developments at the station before we start out at 9.55am, with our eyes on the trail to the Colne valley that we imagined into existence after our failure of two weeks ago, heading west along station road, by Dartmouth Mill and the Rec, and noting that the factory redevelopment on the south side is indeed becoming residential as dormer windows emerge from its roof, ahead of the roll up to Morley Bottoms, where the closed off stub of Queen Street has been reopened to wreak havoc on the block paving, where we rise up to Scatcherd Park, passing below the Cenotaph and through Hopkins gardens to our way away up Queensway. It's all familiar going beyond too, past Morrisons and the Leisure centre, and up to the civic complex of fire station, police station and health centre on Corporation Street, which is passed as we join Scatcherd Lane, to take us past the Cricket and Rugby Union clubs and on to Dartmouth Park, which is shadowed as St Andrew Avenue leads up to its eponymous church and the A650 Bruntcliffe Road, which is crossed to finally make a new path, into the Lego house estate of St Andrews View, where Perry Way leads us over the crest to the reveal of the views to Emley Moor mast and the Calder catchment, ahead of the footbridge over the M62 and our winter astronomy spot.

The Station Road factory redevelopment continues.

Hopkins Gardens, Scatcherd Park.

The Rugby and Cricket Clubs, Scatcherd Lane.

Perry Way, St Andrews View, and the Emley Moor horizon.

Poppies abound on the field path beside the motorway, as we follow the track that leads into the woodland that conceals the old path route, which descends diagonally down to it southwest corner, we the Scott Lane track leads down to the Schole Croft farm track which is followed until we take the unmarked field path down into Birkby Brow wood, which has been traced a few times now and I'm now sure doesn't really exist as we head down the steep bank to meet the clear track, and the way down to the passage over Howden Beck and up the overgrown path to meet the apparently For Sale house at the eastern edge of Howden Clough by the side of the A643. It's back to familiar pavements as we continue our south-westerly press along the Leeds Road, through the upper reaches of greater Batley, beyond the Mann's Buildings terrace and the old farmstead ahead of the lost railway line and the playing fields on their perch atop Copley Hill, where we crest by the still derelict Clough House and then head downhill with the cricket field also elevated above us as we carry on down through the deep cutting and into greater Birstall with the footway arrangements getting weird ahead of us dropping out onto the A62 Huddersfield Road to the east of the town centre, where our main trajectory for the day offers itself to us. So hang a left and head down by the Methodist chapel and the Old Wine & Spirits Vaults, to meet Crilly's and the Greyhound in at the Birstall Smithies crossroads, where an electric green T-reg Ford Fiesta has to be noted in the car dealership, before Smithies Beck is passed over, secluded by trees and then its uphill again, rising past the Johnstone's Paints et al factory and into the long passage of greenery that leads up to the White Lee crossroads, where we can join the stretch of the Leeds & Huddersfield turnpike that we haven't trace before between the old pub and former colliery site, now home to 'Metallizers', with the hillside of Popeley Fields rising to the north of us.

Woodland and Field Waling to Birkby Brow.

Howley Beck.

Leeds Road, Howden Clough.

The Leeds Road cutting, Copley Hill.

The Old Wine & Spirits Vault, Birstall.

White Lee crossroads.

The suburban outer edge of gretaer Batley passes as we rise over the road crest into the Spen Valley, offering brief views out to the Pennine horizon in the west, to the masts above the Colne - Calder division and further afield, before we transition with the decline of the road into greater Heckmondwike, not at all far from the Old Road passage that we've previously walked but getting a completely different aspect as we come down to the Six Lane Ends junction at Westfield and then plough on downhill to among the villas of Lower Popeley to pass over the Spen Valley Ringway on the L&NWR alignment, and to note the competitive booking of musical tribute acts at the Liversedge and Healds Hall hotels. The valley bottom arrives shortly after, as we arrive in the Mill Bridge corner of greater Liversedge, where the A638 Bradford Road is crossed, and an industrial landscape briefly takes over as we tangle with the A649 Halifax Road with the river Spen making the briefest of appearances, but only on one side of the road, before we head uphill again, past Charlie's Sports bar in the old WMC and up past the old Mission Hall, ahead of passage over the Spen Valley Greenway on the L&YR trackbed, and a tramp up past the Golden Fish restaurant which fills the air with aromas that remind me that it's already lunchtime, so a spot for that needs to be sought, beyond Headlands House and the toll bar at the division of the roads north of Roberttown. Fed and watered as the day's changeability passes into unbroken sunshine and warmth, we press on along the bypass road as it passes along the suburban western edge of Norristhorpe, among the many semis and past chapel and pub, both former, on the Lumb Lane corner, and up beyond the Sainburys Local and the Tamp & Steam ahead of the Child Lane corner at Low Fold, where greater Mirfield has crept up the hillside beyond to consume all the fields to the south of the A62 with suburbian development and light industrial plant.

Greater Heckmondwike and Popeley Fields above the Spen Valley.

Leeds New Line, or Spen Valley Ringway, in the landscape.

Liversedge WMC, former, 

The Toll Bar house and the Roberttown bypass.

Suburbia between Norristhorpe and Roberttown.

Low Fold and the close approach of greater Mirfield.

At least there's a fun vintage motor garage up on this lane, as well as views that evolve to the west as we crest over the hillside and get direct sight to the Pole Moor and Fixby masts on the Colne - Calder division, before revealing a look way up Calderdale towards Great Manshead as we come down past Mirfield Garden centre and the White Gate inn and the bottom end of the Robberttown bypass at Upper Row, and then get a view to Meltham Moor above the Colne Valley as our novel trek along the A62 ends and tangles up with paths around the suburban enclave at Lower Row, west of Battyeford and clustered around the Stocks Bank Road end. The entanglement with the A644 follows and the way beyond, past the Shell garage and the Three Nuns steakhouse, and around the disused waterworks site has been traced far too many times, but it does present the red route into the Colne Valley, taking the decisive turn at the traffic island by the Dumb Steeple to pass under the Calder valley line at the site of Cooper Bridge station, and carrying on past the active waterworks to the passage over the Calder & Hebble navigation, and then over the Calder itself, where the mouth of the Huddersfield Broad Canal announces itself as we arrive in its greater settlement on the exact same path we burned into it from home in 2019. We need to vary things up then, as we pass Cooper Bridge Mill and rise to the White Cross junction at Bradley, quitting the A62 as we turn onto Colne Bridge Road, to pass into the landscape of depots and light industry at the valley floor, so we can pass over the railway line, the Broad Canal and the River Colne in short order before taking a right turn onto the Dalton Bank Road, past the Royal & Ancient inn and among the clustered houses of Colne Bridge on the rise up to the western end of the Calder Valley Greenway, on the old MR line to Newtown Goods, where a route from 2012 is joined to take us under the bridge that is now a tunnel and out onto Bradley Viaduct, high above river and canal once more.

The Colne - Calder division hills, above the A62.

Lower Row.

The Dumb Steeple island.

The River Calder and the Huddersfield Broad canal, Cooper Bridge.

The Broad Canal and Colne Bridge Mill.

The Dalton Bank Road bridge is now a tunnel.

Bradley Viaduct above the Colne valley.

It's not the most prepossessing sight when view from above so we need to have a bit of an explore while we're here, passing on into the woods to observe the remnants of the bridge abutment that stands steepling tall and unsecured above the contemporary railway, before we take the path that drops down under the viaduct to reveal the joy of all that blue engineering brick as it reaches its way across the valley, before we head down through the trees to meet the Broad Canal to be crossed at Bridge 5 and its towpath joined at Ladgrave Lock, dropping us among the local folks who stretch along this path, or quietly bask in the glade by Vernon Lock. A brief detour turns out to be a bit of a jaunt as the way down to Whitacre Mill viaduct, on the lost Kirkburton branch, is further along than expected, and the way back to the north bank via Bridge 7 feels fraught as if its decaying wooden deck could collapse under our feet at any moment, and so the rough and overgrown path by the railway embankment doesn't feel as challenging as it leads us back to the A62 by its broken bridge, where we cross the Leeds Road by Deighton Mill, and rise up past the terrace of railway cottages to arrive above Deighton station at 2.10pm, finally tagging it as a destination, leaving only one more in the county to be walked to on our travels (it's Crossflatts, btw). There's a decent window of time to park myself on the 'Down' platform, to finish my lunch and contemplate if the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade is going to work its magic on this site too, as its 40+ years vintage and construction in wood is really starting to show its age with its platforms feeling rather warped and uneven, though I also wonder if it gets the patronage from the residents of the eastern reaches of this town to warrant it, as it seem under-served as the Bradford - Huddersfield local train passes by without stopping and the TPE services that do stop here in the mid afternoon only have one paying customer, and that would be me, adding my £2 to their coffers.

The MR bridge abutment, above the line into Huddersfield.

Bradley Viaduct, from below.

Ladgrave Lock and bridge 5.

Bridge 7 and Whitacre Mill Viaduct.

Deighton Mill, Leeds Road.

Deighton station.

Even local trains don't stop here!

Incidentally, the train service can't get us back to Morley, for obvious reasons, but is refrigerator cold, which is most welcome as I've really felt the exertions of this trip, and a peer from the windows does let us see some more of what's been going on during the engineering work on this line, showing us that the Mirfield engine shed bridge has now gone, but the Heaton Lodge footbridge hasn't (yet), before our ride terminates at Batley, where a new crossover has been installed to allow a shuttle service to work on the line between Leeds and Ravensthorpe whenever either end of it might be closed off, the most immediately useful development of the week, to be regarded from afar before we minibus is back to Morley.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 6064.9 miles

2023 Total: 142.7 miles

Up Country Total: 5,584.2 miles

Solo Total: 5722.3 miles

5,000 in my 40s Total: 4664.7 miles

Destinations Moved into Tier 1: Deighton

Trails moved from Tier 3 to Tier 2: 1

Next Up: Honestly, I need to take a break...