Kirkstall Forge to Morley 10/11/18

9.4 miles, via Newlay Locks, Bramley Fall Park, Bramley Moorside, Upper Armley, 

 Armley, Lower Wortley, Far Royds, Farnley Junction, Cottingley Station, Churwell, 

  and the Urban Woods.

The 2018 season finale weekend is here, and my Eighth year of walking is going to have a concluding trip, one that I was pretty sure wouldn't happen when I was looking forward back in the difficult days of September, and after all this exercise, which has taken us past the 500 mile mark by quite a stretch, it makes sense to have a trip to the Chip Shop for my celebratory lunch of F'n'C. This route won't be from my front door as a trip longer than a quarter hour is in order, and I set course for another look at the oddly neglected quarter of West Leeds before I go for my food, but when Northern Trains have been marking their cards badly with weekend strikes that have lasted since August Bank Holiday, I don't need Trans Pennine Express cancelling their stopping services through Morley as that puts me an hour back before I can get to Kirkstall Forge for a start just short of 9.50am, with only a three hour window of decent weather ahead of us. Thus we go from where the 2018 season started, where the developemnts alongside the Aire don't seem to have grown at all since February, as we head south this time, along the hard path into the woods that surely leads on towards Newlay and the site of the WW1-era munitions works that used to sit upstream from the Forge, not that we will see much of what endures there as we'll seek the stepped route up to the side of the Leeds & Liverpool canal, where exercisers and a trio of flying swans are already out and about along the towpath. We'll follow the path west to Newlay Locks, not the shortest route but the only way to go to see the side of Bramley Fall park that hasn't been visited so far, and we cross over the double lock to meet the signage that indicates us into Bramley Fall woods, which immediately form a dense Autumnal canopy above us, and despite the paths being relatively clear and open, route-finding still feels challenging as we rise away from the river and canal among the terracing and quarry remnants. Instinct and elevation eventually brings us out at whereabouts I expected we should, about halfway through the park, above the open stretch that bisects the woods and just below the lodge house, where we depart onto Leeds & Bradford Road, to process east in front of the Bramley Moorside estates, with the Fall Park providing a wooded flank for a stretch until we get to the opening out view down the Aire Valley, with Headingley stadium rising on the horizon, and Kirkstall Abbey hiding among the late season colours of the valleys woods below.

Cottingley to Garforth 03/11/18

13.7 miles, via Millshaw, White Rose, Middleton, Thorpe on the Hill, Robin Hood, Rothwell, 

 Oulton, Swillington, West Garforth, and East Garforth.

November and Greenwich Mean Time arrive, and I'm still ready to walk, even with my five must-do trips for late 2018 completed, which shows that my wavering resolve can still stiffen when this close to the year's finish line, and thus we have two weekends to fill, so a route plot needs to be pulled up from a trip that got misplaced back in March with the long tail of the early season's Winter weather twitching hard. It makes little sense to bring this excursion across the Leeds south and eastern fringe up now, but I don't have any other routes that are closer to home planned, and I'm going to approach it in the reverse direction to that which I'd originally intended as the train strikes are still going to make choosing my finishing points that bit more complicated and the weather isn't showing much chance of being decent past Midday so it makes most sense to not waste a clear hour travelling out to Garforth, with the sole train that stops at Cottingley dropping me off at a shade after 8.20am. So away from the station in the slightly dim light of morning, passing the plant that has been brought in the extend the platforms, joining the footpath that meanders along the side of Cottingley Drive, past the raked terraces of brown houses and down the hillside that largely obscures the Cottingley Towers as we make the-longer-than-you'd-anticipate walk down to the A643 Elland Road, which we cross by that stray terrace of Victorian Houses. Join Millshaw and pace on through the industrial park, still wondering if its sole old building, now the city council's environmental services offices, used to be a school or not before we join the side of the A6110 Ring Road Beeston, where we trace the dual carriageway around to the White Rose Office Park, that presents a rather space-age frontage to the main road and then advance on below the entrance to the similarly named Shopping Centre, crossing the road to meet the path before the very outer edge of Beeston's council estates. Follow the path up to the A653 Dewsbury Road, crossing over to meet the path up to Stanks Hall farm and barn, still not home to the urban farm that they deserve to be, but still hanging on in their space between the main road and the railway line to Wakefield, which we cross over for the third time via the footbridge to meet the rough path-cum-cycleway that skirts around the south-western perimeter of the Middleton estate, which is well hidden away up the hillside above. So too is the notional right of way that I once failed to find that crosses the golf course, which we leave in our wake as we press south on an undulating route that sits mostly concealed by over and undergrowth on the sloping hillside by the railway, which occasionally opens up more views over towards Morley, which are nice new perspectives to gain, before we rise to meet the open pasture below Bodmin Road where a number of Traveller's shire horses seem to be making best use of the common land for their grazing and recumbence.

Saltaire to Leeds 27/10/18

13.8 miles, via Shipley, Windhill, Idle Moor, Thackley, Greengates, Calverley, Farsley, 

 Bagley, Coal Hill, Bradley Hill, Swinnow, Hough End, Farnley Reservoir, Silver Royd Hill, 

  Blue Hill, Green Side, New Wortley, and Holbeck.

After last weekend's deeply unseasonal warmth, normal service is resumed as we land on the last weekend of British Summer Time, as things look a whole lot gloomier and greyer as our walk down the Aire Valley gets set to resume, and despite the need to make the most of the daylight hours and to not have to end the day chasing the fading sunlight, we set out an hour later than initially planned to that the morning's rains might have had a chance to pass. Fortunately for us, the last of the early drizzle is just departing the air as we land at Saltaire station, ready to strike on to the south-east at 10.10am, feeling saddened that we aren't going to see this proudest of Victorian townlets in the best of lights again, but countering that thought with the knowledge that if you really want to see Saltaire at its brightest and best-est, you should be here in summertime, along with every other urban day-tripper in these parts. So we start, away from Victoria Road and down the steps to the level of the yard of Salt's Mill, which looms large and only slightly Italianate above us to our left as we press to the east, pondering that's it's still odd that I've never been inside it to see the Hockneys and whatever else is contained within, passing the towering chimney and moving on past the low range of buildings that house the Early Music store and the large bicycle emporium. This leads us to Salt's Mill Road and the main car park for Saltaire, in the post industrial space around the Leeds & Liverpool canal, which is also home to the offices of HMRC, strangely, though hints of the late 19th century industry endure at the waterside, and beyond we meet the Victoria Mills, Shipley's sizable companion to the more famous one upstream, now in residential use, and then we meet the views up to Shipley town centre as we cross the A6038 Otley Road between Airedale Mills and the Noble Comb. Up the side street of View Croft Road we head, around the Boatmans Wharf flat block, where I first looked at a property to buy back in 2006, and up the steps to the towpath of the canal, crossing it via Gallows Bridge and emerging through the stone shops and houses beyond to land on the side of the A657 Leeds Road, which will be our companion for a chunk of the day as it takes us away from the long curve of the valley of the Aire. We start off by passing under the contemporary railway bridges and over Bradford Beck to pass the enduring site of Shipley Windhill station, still intact despite the demolition threats, and rise up through the Windhill end of Shipley, passing the branch library, the board school and the Traveller's Rest inn before the road starts to elevate us significantly, as we pass the basilica of Christ Church before we pass the older limits of the town and slip firmly into 20th century suburbia with flat blocks and semis clinging to the fringes of Idle Hill.

Skipton to Saltaire 20/10/18

16.6 miles, via Snaygill, Bradley, Farnhill, Kildwick, Cross Hills, Eastburn, Steeton, 

 Utley, Keighley (Beechcliffe & Aireworth), Riddlesden, East Riddlesden Hall, Sandbeds, 

  Crossflatts, Bingley (Five Rise, Priestthorpe, Ferncliffe, & Gilstead), Higher Coach Road, 

   Glenwood Estate, and Hirst Wood. 

Back on the trail after a usefully scheduled weekend off, used by travelling to see my good friends in Calderdale, and for having an outing to Vocation & Co in Hebden Bridge for a sociable sharing of beer and tacos, feeling somewhat fortunate that we dropped this past weekend as neither day brought weather that would be considered usefully walkable, but entirely seasonably predictable as the cloud and rain descended. So back we go to Airedale, determined to put an end on my long distance travels away from home, still finding myself challenged by the train strikes that are still afflicting us thanks to the ongoing Northern Trains - RMT beef, not giving us trouble as we ride out to Skipton, but giving us a pretty fixed deadline for the other end of the day as we head out at 9.40am, feeling that we might be about to experience one of those days where all the day's best weather was misplaced in the early hours of the day, in the miles distant from where we are actually walking. So get going at a relative clip as we've a lot of miles to put down in 6 hours, setting off down Black Walk, behind Morrisons on the old Cattle Market site, over Eller Beck and getting our panoramic view over the town before meeting Craven Street and passing around Tesco on the site of the former railway goods yard as this leads us past the proudly terraced edge of the town and onto Keighley Road, passing Skipton's cottage hospital as we go. It'll be road walking for the bulk of the day, following main Airedale road for a fair chunk of it, passing out of the town under the bridge of the Grassington branch line and on into that odd little cluster of terraces around a former mill site, squeezed into the space between the Leeds & Liverpool canal and the railway line, before the way forward opens out somewhat and we run on past the Snaygill industrial estate, which extends all the way down to the A6131 - A629 junction, and the Rendezvous hotel, which fits its considerable bulk into a really rather small plot. We depart the main road by the Bay Horse Inn, joining the minor Skipton Road as it ascends over the canal by the Snaygill boatyard and on into the fields, which gives us view to the rising hills on the far side of Airedale, with Ramshaw, Fiddlers Hill and Gib Side rising most prominently as we pass the cottages clustered here to absorb the grand view. It looks like the day is taking a turn for the better as we rise over the lane's crest, which gets a confirmation as we meet the sunshine raining down from the south, an unseasonal wall of heat that makes for a feeling of being over-dressed for Autumn, and that gives the spirits a lift as Low Bradley reveals itself in the declivity between Skipton Moor and Farnhill Moor, passed by the major roads but not without its own suburban growth around a stone built and pretty ancient feeling heart.

Bolton Abbey to Burnsall via Troller's Gill & Grimwith Reservoir 07/10/18

15 miles, via Riddings Hill, Barden (Beck, Scale, Tower & Bridge), How Gill, Skyreholme, 

 Troller's Gill, Appletreewick Pasture, Grimwith Fell, Grimwith Reservoir, Gate Up, 

  Hartlington Moor, Hartlington Raikes, and Hartlington.

The last viably warm weekend of the year comes around, and it's not feeling as good as some that we've had in previous seasons, as if Autumn in 2018 feels determined to disappoint us, and we're going again on Sunday as the Saturday weather doesn't look so clever and the appeal of a lie in after an extremely testing week as work is strong, and we can be quietly overjoyed that the road up Wharfedale is open again, which allows us to take the bus ride up to Bolton Abbey without having to take any stressful diversions. The additional bonus is that travelling on the Sunday gives us an extra half hour on the schedule, which is most welcome as a 15 mile tilt over some rough and remote paths in only six hours would certainly be a bit of a test as the cooling days of October start to take their grip, and despite the waning season, the #874 seems to be busier that ever as it's not even standing room only all the way to our start line, somewhat delayed as we disembark at 10.40am, but still with plenty of time available to complete our trip. Our first hour will follow the B6160 as we head north to Barden, setting off behind the Priory Gatehouse that has been gradually redeveloped into Bolton Hall, passing the tope edge of Priory church's grounds before rising with the path above the dramatic loop of the Wharfe and meeting the Cavendish Memorail Fountain, where we split away from the Bolton Abbey estate to continue against the oncoming traffic past the farmstead at the roadside and above the riverside car parking fields. Thankfully the Sunday traffic is light and the sightlines keep progress un-fraught as we elevate further to see the company of hills on the fringes of Hazlewood Moor and Barden Fell rising above the river valley, with North and South Nab, with Carncliff Top beyond, presenting a drama filled view that had been seen many times when riding the bus down Wharfedale, and one that need to be added to my walked experience list. This keeps us company as we progress past Cowpert Gill and Riddings farm, as we skirt Riddings Hill on the green south-eastern edge of Barden Moor, getting a truly fresh perspective on this quarter before the road descends markedly and views diminish as the road grazes the top edge of Strid Wood, where we pass more car parking and tourist facilities to keep the day trippers happy, sneaking a view west to the heart of the moorlands as the depression filled by Barden Beck approaches. The thing to see here is beyond the plantation as the road bottoms out, and that's the Nidd Aqueduct, making another of its appearances above ground, just south of where its castellated companion passes over the Wharfe, making a multi-arched passage over the beck before disappearing underground again on its long journey to Chelker reservoir and on towards Bradford, which I take many pics of, not really satisfied that they're better than the ones I once took from a moving bus.

The Washburn Valley (top half) 30/09/18

15 miles, from Swinsty Moor car park, via Fewston Reservoir, Blubberhouses, 

 Redshaw Gill, Thruscross Reservoir, West End, Capelshaw Beck, Holme Field, 

  Roundell's Allotment, Thruscross Dam, Limekiln Plantation, Blubberhouses, 

   Fewston Reservoir, Swinsty Reservoir, Spinksburn Lagoon, Swinsty Dam, 
    Swinsty Hall, and Swinsty Moor Plantation.

It's rather unfortunate that last Saturday, probably the best day of the declining Autumn, doesn't get walked as I've scheduled things around it that make it unusable, as I've got My Mum visiting for the first time in over a year due to My Dad having a week of experimental residential care, and her having a week of much needed respite, and while she does bring the Parental Taxi with herself, trying to put an extra 60 miles onto her Up Country journey to drop me off in the Washburn Valley is probably beyond my natural charm. So we have to go on Sunday, bussing it out on the very last day that #821 Nidderdale Rambler runs this year, and it would have been useful to know two months ago that the three scheduled Dalesbuses all deliberately pile up in Otley so that travellers from all over West Yorkshire might transfer between them, as that's knowledge that has no use at all beyond the end of September (remembering that the #874 goes through Otley would also have helped too, of course). So we finally get to our ride to the Washburn, as I get squeezed into the small single-decker that seems to be crammed full of people who've been travelling this route regularly, bouncing our way o'er hill and dale via Farnley, Norwood and Bland Hill to get to our start line at Swinsty Moor car park, between the pair of reservoirs in this quarter, and below Fewston's dam, where there are crowds out in force for an organised run around the Swinsty perimeter, and I need to take a facilities break before we set off at 10.30am, with a seven hour window of success ahead of us. Our circuit that's been 3+ years in the planning finally gets underway as we head north, down through the woods steeply on the path that soon arrives on the perimeter of Fewston Reservoir, and immediately we note that this will be a day with more company than many of its predecessors as the healthy exercisers, family strollers and dog walkers will be out in force in the lower portion of the dammed Washburn, which is quite a contrast to the quiet paths we found when first coming out here, back in 2004(?). Stroll around the first main inlet feeding the reservoir, which is still ridiculously low more than two months after this year's drought conditions ended, and take looks back towards the embankment dam, where the valve tower sits markedly above the waterline, before we press on, with views to the north/east bank being frequently shrouded by waterside foliage and overhanging trees as we move on to the second major inlet into the reservoir. this is where the various streams running off Blubberhouses Moor feed the reservoir, and the path rises sharply as we take a marked westwards turn, rising into the neighbouring plantation where that path appears to have been redirected away from below some crumbly cliffs, staying up high below the tree cover before meeting an unfriendly sharp descent to cross Thackray Beck as it runs in from the west, back on the original path route once again.

Addingham to Harrogate 22/09/18

17.5 miles, via West Hall, Low Moor, Langbar Moor, Middleton Moor Enclosure, 

 Gawk Hall Gate, Blubberhouses Moor, Gill Becks plantation, Beecroft Moor plantation, 

  Fewston Dam, Wydra, Penny Pot Lane, Knabs Ridge, Uniacke & Hildebrand Barracks, 

   Oakdale, and Low Harrogate. 

Now that Summer 2018 is consigned to history, and Autumn is underway, it's time to get back on the trail as I've got five walks that I definitely want to get done before this year's walking season runs out, and getting them fitted into eight weekends could be a challenge if the weather persists with its run of mediocrity and my wavering will to walk continues. I'd brought two walks to this weekend's plan, either traversing or transiting the Washburn Valley, and I'm going with the latter of those as the traverse requires a Sunday trip and the meteorological projection gave us a severe weather warning for it (which definitively hasn't come to pass, I might add), and thus we set course for the transit, as I'd noted a blank spot that ought to have been covered in my Wharfe to Nidd trips, and needs to be done this year as I'm not planning to walk again in this Lower Wharfedale company again for a while. So the X84 bus is ridden out to the top left corner of West Yorkshire for a not too early start from Addingham, disembarking at the Memorial Hall at 10.15am, hopeful that a later jump off might give the clouds a chance to dispiate to give us the sunny spells sort of day that we'd been promised, but all looks grey as we trace steps among the suburbia that has grown and blended in one of the county's most desireable dormitories, soon passing off Main Street and away from the shadow of Rombald's Moor, and joining Church Street and Bark Lane to pass through the oldest and prettiest corner of the village. Soon find the steep and angled path that leads down the wooded riverbank to pass over the suspension bridge over the Wharfe, and then head northwards across the riverside meadow under the shade of trees and beside the channel of the descending beck as we roll up on the complex of farm buildings and cottages at West Hall, finally breaking off from the path we've previously walked up to Beamsley Beacon when we meet the road, hitting an angled rise across the fields at the start of a 150m ascent up to the moorlands. The cows in the lower fields keep their distance but the sheep in the plots beyond get overly startled as I seek the path through the wooded cleft that contains the suggestion of another descending beck, and then it's on, uphill though the tree cover and into the rough pasture beyond, aiming uphill to a field corner to meet the enclosed green track that rises up from Nesfield, a path that's harder to find than you'd expect, despite its prominence on the map. We can look back to see Addingham spread out below at Wharfedale's angle, and up to the Beacon as it looms over the valley as we rise on, but the route to the moor is well concealed as we go, only becoming apparent as we enter the open fields of livestock below Moorcroft Farm, home to a lot more sheep that we will have to shoo away as we join the track and driveway around it to meet the lowest portion of the Low Moor.