Wetherby to York 15/10/16

16.6 miles, via Ingmanthorpe, Cowthorpe, Tockwith, Long Marston, Hutton Wandesley,
 Rufforth, Acomb & Holgate.

Another weekend drops off the schedule, as late season fatigue starts to kick in, and the start of a mass staff exodus from work doesn't aid the mood any, so rest is taken and appreciated before getting back on the trail as Autumn lands hard, for there will be no more warm weather in the remaining viable walking weekends, so the last long, long trek needs to be done, one that I've had plotted for a while, originally planned for last year before my focus shifted. So out to Wetherby again, to start out from the north bank of the Wharfe at 9.50am, setting course for a whole bunch of villages in the northern portion of the Ainsty by heading northwards along Westgate towards the Town hall and Market Place to find Church Street and the decorative path up to St James', one of those Victorian town churches that has you wondering where the original Medieval establishment might have gone. A nice bit of faux Early English styling to see in the early going before we rejoin North Street and take the fork of Deighton Road to follow the old Great North Road past the large houses of the old town, beyond the old railway and into the outer suburbia of the latter half of the 20th century, but not for all that far along the B6164 before we peel off onto Sandbeck Lane, where all of the town's industrial units seem to have gathered. Possibly the least attractive way out of the town, but beyond the A168 we meet the countryside, for the moment at least, as the bridleway heads on to the edge of the A1(M), rising up to meet Junction 46 and the outer boundary of my walking field, and the decision to take my old E289 prove to be a poor one as it predates the construction of the motorway and my annotations are unhelpful. I decide that the correct path is down the access lane to the Service station, and then change my mind when half way down and return to meet the farm track that runs down the other side of the hedge and ditch, on the edge of Ingmanthorpe Park, a prettier route and actually containing the right of way it seems, but I think both tracks would have eventually led me in the right direction.

Tadcaster to York via The Ainsty 02/10/16

15.7 miles, via The Viaduct, Bolton Percy, Nun Appleton park (sorta), Appleton Roebuck,
 Acaster Malbis, Bishopthorpe, Middlethorpe Hall & Knavesmire Park.

Five walking weekends are on the slate this October, so it makes sense to start picking the best available days to wander, meaning the glumness of Saturday is put aside for the autumnal sunshine of Sunday, with all the associated risks of sore legs once the working week comes around after no days of rest, but as it stands, getting out to Tadcaster involves exactly the same timekeeping regardless of which weekend day you choose. So off the bus by John Smith's brewery at 9.55am to be delighted that the morning sunlight has finally come to the town on the occasion of my last visit for the year, the warm glow of the yellow stone being a delightful contrast that it shows on a cloudy day, and a brisk circuit of the town is necessary before we set course for the Ainsty. We start by heading up St Joseph's Road, home to the Roman Catholic church, and to Station Road and the A659 to enjoy the older side of the town, marvelling too at the Tower brewery before joining the railway path to the viaduct, a permissive walk established in 1980 and a shady boulevard clearly enjoyed by the locals this morning. The history of the line is hilarious of course, built by the Y&NMR in 1848 to spoil the expansion plans of rivals but never forming an alternative route between Leeds and York, resulting in one of the most elaborate head-shunts ever built, operational until 1959 serving a local mill, amazingly, and now the 11 arched viaduct across the Wharfe has only 4 years to go before a PROW will be established across it. It seems there are plans afoot to revive the path out to Wighill Road too, but we'll have to walk between back gardens and the riverside meadows to make our way to the council flats by the York Road, a circuit well worth doing before the real meat of the day comes on, leaving Tadcaster via Oxton Lane, among the north bank's attractive council houses and retracing steps from last weekend over the A64. A fresh route is in order for these parts is needed, soon found down Ouston Lane, leading out to the sewage farm, a popular track for dog walkers, leading on to a rough field track that hangs not too far above the Wharfe, so the trees of Grimston Park immediately look familiar off to the south bank, as does the loop of the river as it bows its way past Ouston farm, another of those farms that seems to have no house attached to it.

Thorpe Arch to York 21/08/16

14 miles, via Walton, Wighill, Healaugh, Angram, Askham Richard, Askham Bryan,
 Foxwood, Hob Moor & Holgate.

Saturday gets dumped from the schedule as the risk of afternoon rain looks too high, and I'd prefer a lie in anyway, and so my walk has to be planned for Sunday, which means making a connection for the 771 bus with as small a margin for error as is possible, but it all comes good, despite the bus riding taking forever to get out to the top right corner of West Yorkshire. So we start out from the Pax Inn in Thorpe Arch after 10.25am, again falling for this village in the bright sunshine, and as we are a little off track on our long route to York, we need to make a path back to Walton before we are on the correct course, and that means heading south to join Church Causeway at its bottom end and then striking the path to the north to meet All Saints church, sat proudly apart from the village and brightly illuminated. Heading north we can complete the loop around Thorpe Arch and pass the railway alignment once again, and then carrying on past HMP Wealstun, and is that the first prison to drop onto my walking plan since New Hall in darkest Wakefield district? This one looks more the part, though modern prisons ought to have the crenellations of their Victorian counterparts just to keep up appearances, and I'm not sure if it's the sort of place I ought to be photographing extensively, and it's presence makes the housing developments of Thorpe Arch Grange and Walton just that bit less appealing. Still, our focus can look East as we hit Wighill Lane, to skirt our way around the TATE, and the well secured boundaries of the British Library and the vehicle testing centre, taking care with the blind corners and getting a last look at the hidden bunkers of the ROF site, and also taking interest in the path of the Roman road Rudgate as it reappears on the north side of the Wharfe, cutting its path in the direction of Boroughbridge.

Selby to York 10/07/16

15.8 miles, via Barlby, Riccall, Naburn, Bishopthorpe, Knavesmire & The City Walls.

Saturday drops from the schedule as the weather looks gross and I'm really in need of a lie in, but I've still got a timetable to maintain so footfalls have to come on the Sunday, which requires some creative transport usage to get eastwards, and unlocking a travel achievement as we go, having now departed from all 17 of the platforms at Leeds station, checking off the elusive and rarely used #14 on this morning. So back to Selby for a 10.15am start, with a six hour walking window ahead of me and a day that looks distinctly changeable in the air, ready to burn another track to York as the last of the major railway paths in the locality is to be found out here, but there'll be a few miles to go before we get there, so early steps are made to Ousegate and on over the river to find a different, non-A19 track through New Barlby, rising onto the flood embankment around the backs of the council houses to see rather a lot of vegetation and little of the river itself. It's a theme that persists as the path takes us past the towering flour mills and eyes are cast to the river to take in what must be remnants of docks which once served them, a small crane being the most interesting relic seen atop the former landing stages. Pass around the back of the small council estate at the bottom edge of Barlby, but this supposed riverside walk isn't offering much that isn't vegetation, so steps are made across the field to York Road, arriving at about the point I left it when I passed through last year, to take a proper look at the village, the best course of action as picking up the railway route would involve pacing the side of the A19 bypass. It's an altogether odd place, with an old core around Barlby Hall, along with a spread of suburbia and council houses at both bottom and top, but lacking a pub and a church, and it's still growing too, a field being claimed for new developments when I'd figure that everyone should know the folly of wanting to live on the Selby Levels these days. Still onto the superseded main road on the path north, past Turnhead Farm and finally getting some railway relics with the crossing houses at Sand Lane and Newgrove farm, before the A19 is met, still sat on the alignment of the old ECML and with an independent cyclepath for us slow travellers, and it's an odd thought to ponder that 'Flying Scotsman', 'Mallard' and the Deltics all used to consider this line home.

Tadcaster to York 11/06/16

14.1 miles, via The Old Street, Street Houses, Bilbrough Top, Copmanthorpe, Bishopthorpe,
 Middlethorpe Ings & The City Walls.

Nearly miss today's excursion because I was enjoying the sleep of the dead, so it's all a bit of a dash to get myself out of the house and onto the trail, not arriving at my start point until 10.55am, hopping off the Coastliner by St Mary's church having found the most convenient bus stop and avoiding an extra half mile of walking through Tadcaster. So first operation is to get over the Wharfe, not the straightforward task it used to be now that the bridge is out of use, but a footbridge has been constructed a short distance down stream so that the locals can now catch a bus to York or use the local Sainsbury's without needing a long odyssey across half the county. Good to see the bridge in place as the town really does have the feel of being brutally severed from half its populace, and our trail on the Ebor Way, the least loved of all of Yorkshire's paths (so neglected that even I am not interested in doing its complete length) has us heading up Commercial Street through the older part of East Tadcaster and on through to York Road, showing up this part as the more ordinarily residential half of the town, not that some of the breweries' tied houses don't have attractive faces. Press on to the countryside again, to the Toll Bar house and the tangle of roads as the A659 and the A64 merge, and the shortest route to York would be via the latter, but a trail by the dual carriageway would be no fun so the way leads us to Catterton Lane and a green and leafy road walk to pick up the trail along The Old Street, the former Roman road between Calcaria and Eboracum, and you might think it would be easy to find, but it's well hidden away from the field boundaries and deep into a strip of woodland. It's not fun going at all, dense and uncut vegetation stands waist deep and after all the inclement weather of the preceding few days means that I am soon soaked to the skin and walking in waterlogged boots before the first field is cleared, and despite clearer footing beyond, my spirits have sunken horribly, and if there hadn't been a clear dry track to the cluster of farm at Street Houses I might have considered bailing on arrival by the A64.

Church Fenton to York 23/04/16

16.6 miles, via Cawood, Kelfield, Stillingfleet, Naburn & Fulford.

If you've decided to travel from Church Fenton station, you have to start when the two-hourly trains allow you to, so against all my normal walking instincts the day has to start by hopping off the 8.50am arrival, with the weather bringing on a bright Spring-like sky, but a fearsome wind coming on from the North-West, and the day has to start with some trainspotting before striking off along Station Road to the village centre. The road beyond the White Horse is wholly new territory, finally making an appearance after many comfortable days inside West Yorkshire, and my impression of the village holds steady, continuing to grow as a commuter settlement but still retaining a lot of rural charm, and populous enough to sustain two pubs, as the Fenton Flyer is met as Main Street starts to snake its way back into the countryside. Run out of footways as Busk lane turns to Brackenhill Lane, but for once we seem to have found a country lane that doesn't have a lot of traffic on it, and once beyond the turn to Biggin, you could kid yourself that you have this flatland lane to yourself, and attention can wander to the extensive site to the north that was once RAF Church Fenton, and has since become East Leeds airport, which seems like a rather overly ambitious title at the moment, but let's see where the economics take it, eh? Press on past Paradise Grange farm, and on to the long drag to Violet Hill farm, with only Paradise Wood and the passage of trains on the distant ECML for company, and this landscape illustrates well the difficulties of any walk from West Yorkshire to York, as your path of choice will be wholly determined by where you can cross the Ouse or the Wharfe. No train action at all to be seen once I get to the footbridge over the railway, and the farm track walking continues, onto and around Primrose Hill farm before hitting a brief field walk to meet the avenue of trees at the outer end of Fostergate Lane, which leads us purposefully over towards the village of Cawood, where contemporary development has grown around the peripheries but the centre still has the feel of a 19th century fishing village. The 19th century feeling extends to the roads, clearly inadequate for the B1223 and B1222, but it would be impossible to widen in any way, and the traffic directing measures on the 1872 swing bridge don't feel like they've been updated since its construction, and it's a wonderful moment of serendipity coming my way as I cross over the Ouse and meet a horse-drawn Gypsy caravan crossing to the south.