Morley to Wakefield (Westgate) 28/08/23

12.5 miles, via Gillroyd, Burn Knolls, Glen Mills, Tingley Common, Tingley, Black Gates,

 Ardsley Common, The Fall, Lingwell Gate, Langley, Lofthouse Hill, Stanley (Canal Hill,

  Lee Mount, Lake Lock), Stanley Ferry, Park Hill colliery, Eastmoor, Northgate,

   Bus Station, and Coronation Gardens. 

If August Bank Holiday Weekend had failed to provide a walkable weekend, we might have rioted, but we are pared the consequences of that, despite the fact of both Saturday and Sunday presenting better weather than forecast, though with a few intense downpours in amongst, while Monday, when we did choose to leave the house gave us gloomier coverage than projected, albeit with no rain, so altogether a mixed bag of a Long Weekend, where the additional days of inactivity at the start felt like a bit of a bonus, having had a rough week at work, delving into the latest project that will certainly wear us out, physically moving half of the hospital libraries files around in order to condense our workspace. I'm recovered enough to go once our mandated extra day off comes along, with four more orphaned destinations in our locality targeted as we arrive at Morley Station at 9.55am, having a fresh-ish route to the south figured out as we rise up the steps from Valley Road to Albert Road and trot out past the old Morley Main colliery site to the merger with Peel Street, in order to find the ginnel that sneaks its way between the houses on Denshaw Drive and Crescent and across to Wide Lane opposite the Gillroyd terrace, before another passage leads us into the site of Gillroyd Mill, and the pavements of Millside Walk and Millbeck Approach can lead us down to Magpie Lane. Rise beyond along Peacock Green into the suburban knot on Burn Knolls where every road has a bird's name, with this lane seeming to set off with purpose before petering out by the playing fields that are home to Morley Town FC, which are crossed to meet Ingleborough Drive, which in turn leads us to the secret passage into the back of the Topcliffe Grove close, itself built on the site of Glen Mills, through which we pass to meet Topcliffe Lane, ending our novel trek in sight of the enduring mills on this hillside as we join the old railway path that leads over to Capitol business park, between to West Ardley Colliery site and the Ardsley railway triangle, hone now to the yards of AvailableCar.com and the Tradeteam distribution depot.

Morley to Oakenshaw 19/08/23

10.8 miles,  via Bruntcliffe, Howden Clough, Upper Batley, Cross Bank, Healey, Staincliffe,

 Moorside, Heckmondwike (Spen), Lower Popeley, Liversedge (Spen), Littletown, Royds Park,

  Rawfolds, Cleckheaton (central), Chain Bar, and Cleckheaton & District Golf Course.

The first pair of weekends in August are lost to poor weather, not catastrophically wet but fundamentally uninspiring when energy levels are low, having endured two busy weeks at work in the LGI, launching a new collection routine after finally closing down our mostly empty library in the Clarendon Wing and concentrating service into a single office, which would have proved hard work for me come the weekends regardless of our current conditions, which has me feeling that the 2020-esque second half of the season which we might have hoped for is most likely going to be replaced by a 2021 styled Summer of disappointment and junked plans. Honestly, though, the inertia de to reduced stamina is more troubling to this August than the weather has been so far, as both weekends promoted activity that I could have engaged in, but didn't, with engineering possessions on the railway prompting the belief that the new footbridge spans at White Rose station were finally due to be installed, and the BBC Proms bringing a concert, albeit one of chamber music, to Dewsbury Town Hall, about as ever as we'll get to home, but the lack of trains to use on a Sunday, coupled to the busing shenanigans that would have been otherwise necessary to get there, meant that it might as well have been on the Moon for how accessible it would have been for me. So August is well on its way, and almost on its way out once we can get to our first trip of the month, pulling up the shortest available on on the slate to get busy with the other season specific trend for 2023, as Shuffling the Tiers has also revealed a whole bunch of Tier 2 destinations, now abandoned far from its outer perimeter and now looking lost among the extensive reaches of the trails of Tier 1, where to my tidy mind feels they ought to be, and that's why we will be 'Gathering The Orphans' in Season 12 as well, and we've got three of them to aim for today, scattered across North Kirklees, and in the Spen Valley.