Morley South-West Circuit 27/06/20

12.3 miles, from Morley Hole, via New Brighton, Dartmouth Park, Howley Park, Howley Hall, 
 Lamplands, Upper Batley, Brown Hill, Birstall, Field Head, Moorside, Adwalton, Gildersome, 
  Hart Hill, St Bernard's mill, Rooms, Daffil Woods, Churwell (Lane Side), Daisy Hill, 
   Chapel Hill and Banks Hill.

In our final episode of 'June doesn't know what the hell it's doing' we get it dropping three midweek days of unbroken sunshine and high temperatures which are concluded by one of the most epic cloudbursts that I have ever experienced (and I should know because I was right out in it when it happened), and as the weekend lands it decides that it's going to shift our climate back into that of early Spring rather than Summer, presenting weather of teeming rain than might inspire me to stay at home in normal circumstances, but as we know, we are in a world that's far from normal, and I need my routine of stretching to keep my head in good order. So to Morley Hole we head, waterproofs donned against the persistent drizzle, for a 9.10am start, aiming to get this tour done at the hurry-up to stay ahead of the threat of storms in the afternoon, starting out up the causey into New Brighton, because original routes are proving hard to come by now, risking early injury on the slippery setts before we head south via the way to Corporation Street, which we cross and find a couple of un-walked roads through the estate beyond, Highcliffe Road and Gerard Avenue, which pass St Francis' RC school along the way to Scatcherd Lane. Steps are retraced again past the cricket and rugby clubs and on into the upscale Victorian suburbia that surrounds Dartmouth Park, before we actually do locate the route along New Park Street, which leads us among its terraces towards Fountain Street before not actually joining it, instead slipping down the back lane of Oak Road, which gives access to a whole block of suburbia that would otherwise go unnoticed as it leads us to a ginnel behind the old chapels on the corner of Bruntcliffe Road, on which we land by the Halfway House inn at the top of Scotchman Lane. Over the A650 and again onto familiar pavements, down among the suburban ribbon out of town and over the M62 before we split onto the route of last year's Long Walk, angling down the farm track and across the fields on the site of the original Howley Park quarries, getting none of the views down to Batley and across Kirklees that we enjoyed in 2019 as we pass above Morley tunnel and between its vents, meeting a crowd of grazing horses and foals at the bottom corner of the field where we join the path that skirts the perimeter of Howley Hall golf course, where the well-grown vegetation shows up a greater risk of giving you a soaking than the rainfall does.

The Wakefield Circular 30/03/19

12.6 miles, via Sandals Meadow, Calder Island, The Thornes Cut, Lupset Pond, 

 Horbury Fields, Benton Park, Lupset Fields, Roundwood Park, Silkwood Park, 

  Alverthorpe, Wrenthorpe Park, Red Hall, Newton Hill, Pinderfields, City Fields, 

   East Moor Fields, and Agbrigg. 

My March week off work gets spent Down Country, and deliberately features no walking plans of any kind, which feels unprecedented and certainly marks a break with six years of tradition, but I travelled with the full intent of making myself useful by aiding Mum in sorting through many of Dad's effects, and over the course of five days we made really good progress, filling up eight bags of clothes for charity shops and getting about two thirds of the way through imposing order on the garage where chaos has been allowed to reign for too long. We can now be happy to know exactly what we still have by way of tools and DIY equipment now, before we decide what we actually need to keep, and thus have to return to that pile with purpose in the future, and also along the way, in between fitting in three meals out, we made a trip out to Nottingham to score a pair of CD towers from an old hippy, which ought to keep my storage space viable for a good few years more (someone in this conversation clearly isn't getting into streaming media any time soon). Then we get to travelling back to Morley with furniture in tow, to get my storage reorganised and a whole lot of dust lifted and hoovered away, and then as the weekend comes along, My Mum can travel up to Skipton to pay a day's visit to her lifelong friend from her college days, and I can return to the trail to walk relatively locally, pulling a trip off the reserve list to make it feel like rather too much of my early season wandering has been focussed on the city of Wakefield. So away, finally, to start my first urban circular trip in two years, which ought to give me a whole bunch of fresh perspectives on this city that really has had an unusually large amount of attention lavished on it in this early season going, arriving at Sandal & Agbrigg station under gloomy skies and in the grip of low temperatures, departing at 9.40am, heading down to Agbrigg Road and setting off west for a clockwise circuit. Pass among the Victorian town houses and rural outliers to cross the A61 Barnsley Road and head up Pinfold Lane past the local school and suburban back gardens, getting a feeling that we are repeating my 2014 route as we land on Castle Road, but we don't head on towards the castle again, but instead join the Castle Road West track, which leads around the southern edges of the Portobello estate and around the northern edge of Sandal Meadows, site of the Battle of Wakefield, where Richard, Duke of York, met his ignominious end on 30th December 1460, firing up the most dynamic three months of the Wars of the Roses, which ultimately led to the downfall of the Lancastrian monarchy.

Leicestershire Round #6 - Frolesworth to Sutton Cheney 02/09/18

17.2 miles, via Claybrooke Magna, Claybrooke Parva, High Cross, Fosse Way, 

 Fosse Meadows, Sharnford, Aston Flamville, Burbage (Wood & Common), Barwell, 

  Odd House, Ashby Canal, Sutton Wharf, Ambion Wood, and Bosworth Battlefield.

Long Distance Trail means Selfies!

#6 at St Nicholas's, Frolesworth.

After my long weekend away in Wharfedale and a gratifyingly short week back in work, we can set our sights on the last holiday of the Summer, heading Down Country once more with August already receding into memory and all intentions set on getting the Leicestershire Round completed, with the two longest and most distant days still to go, trips that I had worried might prove to be logistically unfeasible due to the travel durations necessary to get to my start lines. We need not have worried though, as My Dad can be left to nap of a morning without great risk, and maximum flexibility can be gained from starting out as early as possible, not that I'm entirely sure that My Mum is entirely enamoured with having to get the Parental Taxi fired up for a departure from home at 7.15am, so that the trail might be joined again at St Nicholas's church in Frolesworth at 7.55am, which is easily the earliest I've started out, and the day's sunshine has already come on, for which I'm immensely grateful after last Sunday's damp debacle. Away on Main Street we go, past the gates of the Rectory to the corned by the now absent Royal Oak inn, taking a southerly track as we set course for the Heart of Roman England, down a grassy track that leads onto a field walk, seeing the village recede rapidly, but making sure to note the Dutch Barn at Manor Farm, a modern office building that looks exactly like an open barn stacked with straw bales, the sort of modern design that should be replicated in every rural redevelopment. Our path rises, gently, up towards Hill Farm, aside plots of corn and across the recently harvested wheat fields, before cresting by the equestrian grounds and then declining through open plots before shifting into rougher fields, where I'm greeted along the way by a farm worker and her enthusiastically yappy dogs, and I continue to enjoy the warm morning sun as we field walk to Frolesworth Lane and then hot foot it over to Claybrooke Mill, secluded away in its own little spinney. Trailing around the West Riding moorlands can make you unprepared for regularly rural Midlands landscapes, with its many stiles, ditches and plank bridges, and they will become the testing features of the day as we progress, across recently ploughed fields and enclosures full of docile cows, as we lead over to Claybrooke Magna, one of a Leicestershire pair which seems to have the majority of the modern suburban houses in it, apt to it's 'large' name, which our track only sees a corner of, on Bell Street.

Micklefield to Wetherby 05/11/16

11 miles, via the Great North Road, Aberford & Bramham.

November comes around and the walking season is still going, only just, mind you as no wandering will go on after my birthday, but it's always good to get to the last viable day of the year and have not been knocked out by tiredness or discouraged by the weather, this seems to have come around with every even numbered year, concluding exactly where I had planned to finish, and the sun is shining too, so let's make haste to get out for my celebratory meal. Of course, a walk up the Main Road to the Chip Shop is a little more technical than it sounds, as the road in question is the Great North Road, and the chippie is the Wetherby Whaler, with the final 10+ miles of the year starting out from Micklefield, so an early start is necessary if we are going to finish around lunchtime, so off the train at 9.15am, and head straight for the Great North Road, passing beneath the railway on its impressive stone bridge. North we go, to gain the correct impression that Micklefield is really two entirely separate villages, New Micklefield, where the terraces and council house were built to serve the local collieries, and Old Micklefield further up the road where the farmsteads and larger houses were to be found. The former seems to still have its original flavour, whilst the latter has a power feel of 1980s suburbia judging by the number of bungalows filling every available space on the road front, indeed you need to be alert to spot the converted village school, the church hidden by a thick wall of trees or the former farms hiding among the encroaching low rise apartments. We retain a footway as the road passes on to the north, drawing the new North Road to its side in the shape of the A1(M), and it's a long drag with the sun behind us, looking over to the Hook Moor windfarm and being struck that the hum of the motorway is much quieter than had been anticipated, I'd honestly expected a constant hiss of white noise at this proximity. Pass over the M1, and the junction with the Roman Ridge road, the alternate route of Ermine Street and this slips us straight downhill to the crossing of the B1217 Aberford Road, and on past the Hookmoor Lodges, at the southern entrance of the Parlington Estate, another illustration of the extent of these parklands, presently earmarked for suburban regeneration.

Garforth to Ulleskelf 29/10/16

11.8 miles, via Aberford Road, Collier Lane, Lead, Towton & Kirkby Wharfe.

Thirteenth consecutive day of activity due after having no rest days at all last weekend, but the inspiration to walk is still strong as we enter the run-out groove of the 2016 season, and a later start is always welcome too, when your walk is dictated by having only one train that it is plausible to catch to get beck home again as your gaze falls to the terrain east of Leeds and seeing which spaces still need lines drawn across them. So start out from Garforth, still one of my favourite former NER stations, at just before 10am, walking out onto Aberford Road and setting a course to the north-east, pacing the pavements of the A642 with retail and light industry occupying the north side with the various estates of East Garforth to the south, not one of the more exciting roads, but the primary school converted to a curry house and the former toll house and weighbridge are worthy of note. It's going to be roads for most of the day, so as we enter the countryside the hope is strong that the footways might endure for a decent distance, and the way ahead is clear as we pass over the M1 at Junction 47, and the traffic free path continues as we carry on along the B1217 up to the edge of the Parlington Estate. Nicer weather in the air might have enhanced the views to the Hook Moor windfarm, but even in the haze Park House farm looks like a site that could be renewed and rendered extremely desirable with a bit of restoration and TLC, and the path continues alongside the estate wall, passing Wakefield Lodge, one of the many perimeter houses on the estate, and it does get me pondering why this particular parkland is on the slate for potential residential development, as it would surely be of greater use if employed recreationally. Leave the estate behind as we meet the old Great North Road, now the local route between Micklefield and Aberford, and the footway continues to take us below its modern replacement, the A1(M), before petering out at the entrance to the Hook Moor windfarm, and I don't feel an urge to wander among the turbines today, even if they do look pretty to me and contribute a particularly distinctive landscape feature in these parts.

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.

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.

Knottingley to Church Fenton 04/05/15

13.6 miles, via Ferrybridge, Byram, Burton Salmon, Hillam, Monk Fryston, South Milford,
 Sherburn-in-Elmet & Little Fenton.

Drinks with work on Friday night, followed by two well deserved lie-ins, and the long May Day weekend still allows me the opportunity for a day's walking, and as the best walking month of the year is upon us, it's time to close the triangle on the lands walked to the north and east of Leeds. So a start is made from Knottingley at 9.35am, noting with that The Railway hotel has closed down since I was last here, and cross the A645 to make my way down Ferrybridge Road, still uncertain where these towns are really one or not, descending past the council and industrial estates, to meet the River Aire crossing via the 1804 bridge, and passing under the A162 bridge on both banks. The field walk over to Byram crosses the ings that were the site of the Battle of Ferrybridge, a skirmish that occurred in the hours preceding the Battle of Towton, where Lancastrian forces were unsuccessful in preventing the Yorkists from forcing their way north, a small fragment of interest that would not be otherwise noted, as looking back at the looming power station occupies most of your attention. Passing onto Sutton Lane has you concluding that the posh parts of Knottingley and Ferrybridge are actually in Byram and Brotherton, despite being in a different county, and the only available route north is to follow the side of the A162, as the extensive Byram Park offers no rights of way. Eventually turn into Burton Salmon, a picturesque village that passes all too quickly before the flatlands are entered, pacing my way along Burton Common Lane, providing a vista that is as good an horizontal horizon can provide. Slip north via Bywater Wood, and over to Hillam Lane, to enter another village that really trumpets its gorgeousness, and a pause for elevenses in the square is the least Hillam deserves. Press on along Lumby Hill and Water Lane, as the village merges seamlessly into Monk Fryston, which isn't quite as lovely, but across the A63 it does have Monk Fryston Hall, and it's worth taking a short trip up the driveway for a closer look before getting back on track.

Church Fenton to Tadcaster 30/03/15

8.5 miles, via Saxton, Towton & Stutton.

A bonus day of being NIW, so a short walk is in order to get in another railway walk, and a battlefield, trailed last year on my visit to Sandal. A late start, has me disembarking at Church Fenton station at 11am, a crazily scaled station of five platforms in the middle of nowhere, where four lines once converged, with the 1848 Y&NM/NER line towards Harrogate being the one to trace today, though it's early going has been ploughed into the fields since its 1964 closure, so an alternative path needs to be taken. This leads from Sandwath lane and across the fields to the bridleway that skirts around Scarthingwell Golf course, along the driveway to the A162 and on into the village of Saxton, another improbably lovely settlement on the high edge of the West Yorkshire fringe, swinging north to pace Cotchers Lane to meet the B6217, where in the surrounding fields on 29th March 1461, the first phase of the Wars of the Roses played out at the Battle of Towton. It was here that the Yorkist Armies of Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian forces of Henry VI, in a confrontation claimed the crown of England for the house of York and which chroniclers recorded as having claimed 28,000 lives, and if that figure seems high, investigations have revealed a battle that was noted for its extent and ferocity, even by Medieval standards. A battlefield trail runs from Dacre's Cross at the battle lines and around the fields above Cock Beck and the so-called Bloody Meadow, where the river was supposedly so choked with the bodies of the routed Lancastrians that the Wharfe ran red with blood for days. The interpretative boards are useful and informative, whilst the arable fields lend it an altogether bleak feel, on a windswept hilltop on the verge of the Vale of York, and it baffles me that this is one of those significant battles in English history that no one seems to know about.