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.

Stocksmoor to Sandal 23/03/19

13.6 miles, via Thunder Bridge, Kirkburton, Thorncliff, Emley Moor, Emley, 

 Emley Woodhouse, Bretton Common, West Bretton, Great Cliff, Crigglestone, 

  Kettlethorpe, Milnthorpe, and Sandal Castle. 

Spring finally lands, according to the calendar at least, but I'm not really feeling the joys of it just yet, and as my next week off work lands, my plans very nearly get off to a very sticky start as Northern trains decide that despite being freed of strike actions, they can still cancel useful Saturday morning services on a whim, and then run their next train through Morley 20 minutes late so that I have less than a minute to make my connection in Huddersfield, which I do make but still feel irritated that they are making me start late and getting me exercised. Having already made my first acquaintance with the Penistone line, and having multiple unseen stations to visit along its length, it would make more sense to walk to them for a first visit, but after last weeks trip of walking west into the prevailing winds, I'd much rather walk with the wind behind me, which is why first contact with Stocksmoor station is made by rail at 10.30am, certainly one of the quainter ones on this rare line of village halts and only one town of note. We are thus in the western portion of Kirklees, as we strike east, not in the dynamic cleft of the Holme Valley but above the next one along, which doesn't seem to have a clear identity, or even a river with a consistently applied name, and we leave with the village behind us on the high fields of Stocks Moor, putting the village hall and the Clothiers Arms in our wake as we join Birks Lane and hit the long meandering walk downhill below the bare trees towards Thunder Bridge. It's immediately a trek that I'm glad didn't get scheduled for the end of the day, and as we roll up to this hamlet around the river crossing, the rural picturesqueness can be absorbed with joy, as most of my trekking in 2019 hasn't dropped me anywhere this pretty yet, as rural cottages cluster around Thunder Bridge Dike and the Woodman Inn, all dropped in below the high, wooded banks of the valley. A nice spot for a hotel getaway, and not really that far removed from the wider world, is a thought to ponder as we depart it, along the long angled slope up the eastern side of the valley, completely under the cover of trees all the way up to Penistone Road, where we will dash across the A629 by the dynamically shaped road sign and join the lane that leads up towards somewhere we have been actually before in these remoter feeling parts.

Wakefield to Denby Dale 17/03/19

11.8 miles, via Clarence/Holmfield Park, Calder Island, Durkar, Calder Grove, 

 Bretton Common, Clayton West, Scissett, and Kitchenroyd. 

Saturday brings us our first washout day of the year, as rain falls consistently from dawn to dusk, as well as through many hours of the night, and with the wisdom borne of age I reschedule my plans for Sunday, which promises a much clearer spell of weather, but a tighter window of opportunity with no buses running out of Morley until it's too late to be useful, and with fewer trains homewards on the other end, so we have to get a move on to fit in a pretty modest distance. To get to the start line in Wakefield, this means having to bus it into Leeds to get a rail connection, with the added bonus of getting to see just how high the Aire has gotten around Victoria Bridge, and how angry is sounds running under the Dark Arches, after the most rainfall the county has experienced in over 3 years, and thus run on to get to Westgate station for a 9.05am jump off, full of intent to strike away towards Denby Dale, a small town that seems many miles away from here in the mind (actually beyond the path of the Kirklees Way and thus outside my field of walking experience), despite having the A636 sharing a name with it. So on, aiming for the Penistone Line having done with the six excursions to create the local framework to hang the season upon, setting off north to with the intention to start my trip from the bus station as had been originally planned but only get as far as the Civic Quarter before deciding that my time margin might be a bit tight for ten extra minutes of walking and thus turn south towards our proper destination, heading down Wood Street and past the old courthouse that is still clad in the scaffold that enclosed the building 5 years ago, and also the Town Hall, on down then late Georgian shopping parade to land on Bull Ring by the corner that leads down to the cathedral, turning down to the way down to Westgate, which seems quietly devoid of life after the night before and ahead of the early Sunday shoppers heading out. Cross over the main drag to head down Queen Street, passing in the shadow of the local Holiday Inn Express and noting that this is a lane that completely lacks the antique interest of its more interesting neighbour Market Street, which we align with as George Street leads to the top of Denby Dale Road, along which most of our day will be carried, as we are lead out of town, down to the crossing of Ings Road by the Royal Mail office and the 1960s stylish Raines House, over Ings Beck with its tablet commemorating the establishment of the turnpike roads in the 19th century and under the broad arch of Wakefield Viaduct, carrying the railway south to Doncaster and beyond.

Huddersfield to Wakefield 09/03/19

14.1 miles, via Aspley Bridge, Moldgreen, Tandem, Cowmes, Lepton, Flockton Moor, 

 Grange Moor, Overton, Middlestown, Horbury Bridge, Horbury, Lupset, Thornes Park, 

  Westgate Common, and Westgate End.

We are definitely back in the grip of Winter again as this day dawns, and plans to get off to an early start are immediately scuppered as I'm not even half way down to Morley station before the hiss of drizzle turns to a fearsome downpour and a retreat is beaten home to dress for colder, damper weather, and for a pause to hopefully get in behind it with a later start as the sunshine and showers cycle around rapidly. As it is we don't get to the start line in Huddersfield until after 10.35am thanks to a train getting cancelled, and that's far too late in the day for this time of year to be setting out to attempt the distance that we're about to travel, but initial indicators suggest that we might be in a good patch as sunshine bathes a damply shiny St George's Square and first steps are taken away up Railway Street, which displays a Jacobean Gothic feel that could easily be mistaken for a side road in Edinburgh. Things get a bit more West Yorkshire fashioned as we meet the Westgate-Kirkgate axis across the town centre, descending past the 17th century market cross and the parish church of St Peter, and approach the inner ring road past the converted cinema and the end of 'Beast Market' as we turn down Oldgate behind the rows of student flat tenements (with a touch of Glasgow atmosphere?) and skirt around the towering walls of the Kingsgate Shopping centre. Cross Queengate by the new landmark building of the University of Huddersfield on the Wakefield Road corner, and soon get indication that the weather still has a lot more life in it as leaden clouds gather overhead and a cold wind sets in from the north west, bringing steady rain on my back as we cross the Broad Canal by the Aspley Bridge wharf and press on past pub and chapel to cross over the River Colne, to find a Lidl, numerous takeaways and student houses aplenty as we set off with the A629 uphill. It's quite a drag to get going as we pass an enduring mill and long stone terraces at the Almondbury Bank corner, rising on though the suburban corner of Moldgreen, remotely passing its own shopping parade and corner pub, the Ivy Green, as we pass the boldly fashioned Methodist church and ascend on into a landscape of stuccoed and pebble-dashed semis as the clouds part up to give us bluer skies again.

Morley to Huddersfield 02/03/19

11.9 miles, via Upper Batley, Batley, Healey, Heckmondwike, Norristhorpe, Roberttown, 

 Cooper Bridge, Bradley, Deighton, and Leeds Road. 

As I've said just about every year since we started this walking malarkey, 'March Means Serious Business' and with the events of the last month finally behind us, it's time to get back into the routine of getting adventurous and exercised with every weekend, and despite the unseasonal warmth of February being behind us now, the first burst of False Spring having passed, it's time to strike a bit further away from home, finding ourselves actually a week ahead of my considered schedule thanks to getting four trips out in my extra week off work. So we set a course for the heart of Kirklees district, as that's where I'm intending on spending most of this year, making my second trip from Morley towards Huddersfield, to hopefully prove it's a lot closer to home than I found it to be in 2014, and as variety is the spice of life, we'll start out from Morley Hole as it's got a sign that's every bit as good as the one on Queen Street, and it isn't nearly as uphill to get there from my flat, and it also gives me a chance to approach another couple of roads that haven't dropped on the schedule thus far. Away at 9.05am, in the hope of getting the trip done before the weather turns, heading up the A643 Bruntcliffe Lane between the terraces and bungalows as far as the Corporation Street corner, where we turn uphill directly into the low morning sun, passing among the suburban semis and noting that the warm spell has gotten the daffodils and crocuses flowering already to give a feeling of Spring while the trees hang barren, passing behind the Leisure Centre and the view over Morrison's down to the town hall, and past the civic quarter where the medical centre, firehouse and police station all dropped. Our fresh route ends as we pass St Francis of Assisi RC church and land on the island with the coal wagon on it between the Fountain Centre, the Working Men's Club and the former railway goods shed, before joining the B6123 Fountain Street, to pass over the lost GNR Morley Top route and then follow the exact same route that we last paced to get to Huddersfield a mere 5 (five!) years ago.

Remembering and Memorialising My Dad 23/02/19

After my bonus week off, and after another back in work (where the considerations made for me by the management and supervisory staff after suffering my bereavement have been superlative and due the highest amount of public gratitude), the family can all reconvene back in Leicester to publicly memorialise and commemorate My Dad, four weeks after his passing. It will only be a flying visit for myself, but My Sister and My Nieces have been Down Country for a chunk of half term week to aid My Mum with catering preparations and to get cake baked in vast quantities so that all the attendees for the Memorial Service at Abbots Road URC won't run the risk of being underfed. As they've also taken on the task of doing the AV presentations, by scanning countless photographic prints and collating them all in a digital collection, as well as printing the orders of service, I'm left with not a great deal to do come Saturday morning, which puts me in the situation of being the muscle for laying out the church hall for the buffet, and the tables and chairs are a lot easier to handle than the ones that we used to put out when organising so many church socials way back in the day, when we'd somehow seat 100+ people in the church hall. So seats are laid out for 54, which still manages to fill the hall, and we've got a lot of organisation in hand once the church social group start to arrive to do what some have them have been doing for 50 years now, and I create such a familiar shape moving around furniture and laying tables that at least three people greet me with a genial 'Good Morning, Dave!' before realising their error and apologising profusely, not that I'm going to take offense, as making myself physically useful is probably the best way paying tribute to My Dad, as that was always his thing too. I also give the approval to the using beakers from my parents' overly vast collection as a personal touch for circulating brews, and when the idea is hatched for letting people take them away as a personal memento, I'll approve that too, as that's an excellent way of getting rid of two cardboard crates of them and not having to worry about disposing of them later down the line. After set up is done, I'll retreat to the quiet of the church for the hour before the service is due to start, and sit alone watching the slide show that we set up for the occasion, seeing so many images of Dad from my youth that make me realise that I'd really forgotten about that man that had been a father to me after he'd become older, memories obscured as he became unwell and frail in his later years, which gets me feeling deeply nostalgic and actually realising just how badly I miss him, because it really has been such a long time since I last saw him in rude health, physically busy and in perpetually good cheer.

Wakefield to Batley 16/02/19

7.1 miles, via Westgate End, New Scarborough, Alverthorpe, Kirkhamgate, West Ardsley, 

 Soothill, and Batley Mill. 

The Sun continues to shine down unseasonably as we finally land at the end of my long break away from work, and as no social plans have been made for this weekend, getting in a bonus round of walking seems wise, especially as for the first time since before August Bank Holiday weekend last year, we have Northern Trains running a full slate of services having finally settled their beef with the RMT with an entirely predictable agreement to not downgrade the status of conductors, which will hopefully make my walking plans for 2019 much easier to complete. Not that I'll be using their services for any part of today's trip, as all my rides will come courtesy of TPE and LNER (no, not that one) and I don't get many opportunities to ride the King's Cross express as a local service so I'll take it when it comes, landing me at Westgate station at 10.05am, and setting off towrdas the last route to bring me into this town, but shifting down Back Lane to give me a slightly different perspective as we pass between the snazzy Unitarian chapel and the Orangery, a very disused arts centre. Then we pass under the elevated platforms of the station and get a perspective on it that show up more of its original Victorian form, of which so little remains above after two redevelopments in the last 50 years, and then it's on into the shadow of the walls of HMP Wakefield, the more contemporary end of it, where the CCTV surely observes me passing as I wave my camera about before we can emerge onto Westgate End, by the prison's tied houses and set off west with the A642 once again. However we  get a different set of views by pacing in front of the terraces of Morton Parade, with Ings Beck running in a deep channel before them to create surprising waterfront living in the heart of the city, and the path really ought to continue on past Plumpton Terrace too, but it ruins into a vacant lot so we have to double back a bit to regain the roadside and join Alverthorpe Road as it peels off by St Michael's church and the snooker hall.