Morley to Deighton 24/06/23

10.6 miles, via Morley Bottoms, Scatcherd Park, Dartmouth Park, St Andrews View,

 Birkby Brow Wood, Howden Clough,  Copley Hill, Birstall Smithies, White Lee, Westfield,

  Lower Popeley, Liversedge (Mill Bridge), Headland, Low Fold, Upper Row, Lower Row,

   Cooper Bridge, Bradley, Colne Bridge, Bradley Viaduct, and Whitacre Mill.

This past week certainly has been a busy one, with no trains to ride on my working days due to the engineering possession, and all my comings and goings to three hospital sites across the cities having to be on a variety of buses, with the potentially unlimited strike by Firstbus drivers only lasting two days in amongst to keep things manageable, which allowed me plenty of oppotrubites to stroll locally after work to see exaxtly what was going on at Morley station, and at the ongoing development at White Rose, tales which will probably ned to be recounted at another time as all that chatter could easliy derail the account of wandering for this weekend otherwise. We're hardly feeling full of beans as Summer arrives, rising late and strolling to our start line rather casually, turning our back on the developments at the station before we start out at 9.55am, with our eyes on the trail to the Colne valley that we imagined into existence after our failure of two weeks ago, heading west along station road, by Dartmouth Mill and the Rec, and noting that the factory redevelopment on the south side is indeed becoming residential as dormer windows emerge from its roof, ahead of the roll up to Morley Bottoms, where the closed off stub of Queen Street has been reopened to wreak havoc on the block paving, where we rise up to Scatcherd Park, passing below the Cenotaph and through Hopkins gardens to our way away up Queensway. It's all familiar going beyond too, past Morrisons and the Leisure centre, and up to the civic complex of fire station, police station and health centre on Corporation Street, which is passed as we join Scatcherd Lane, to take us past the Cricket and Rugby Union clubs and on to Dartmouth Park, which is shadowed as St Andrew Avenue leads up to its eponymous church and the A650 Bruntcliffe Road, which is crossed to finally make a new path, into the Lego house estate of St Andrews View, where Perry Way leads us over the crest to the reveal of the views to Emley Moor mast and the Calder catchment, ahead of the footbridge over the M62 and our winter astronomy spot.

Morley to Low Moor 17/06/23

8.6 miles, via Daisy Hill. Chapel Hill, Morley Hole, Bruntcliffe, Gildersome Street,

 Adwalton, Moorside, Drighlington, Birkenshaw, Lodge Beck, Copley House, Chatts Wood,

  Lower Woodlands, Dyehouse Fold, and Toad Holes.  

Another 9-day engineering possession lands on the railway line through Morley as we arrive at the weekend bracketing the Top of the Year (already!), not that it will have that much impact on our plans, as we’re going to be walking from home for most of this year, and the difficulties will only become apparent on our return legs if we were to pick route that needed a pathway back via Leeds, Huddersfield or Calderdale, which we’re not up for today as energy levels are low while the days are at their longest, and we’ll be pulling the shortest possible trip up from our slate of plans. We might be planning to head west for today, but we need to linger at Morley station when we arrive, just ahead of 9am as there’s a whole lot to observe going on here, not least the fact that the line closure hasn’t been a factor in the installation of the new station footbridge which has had its support stanchions and deck installed while the line was still open last week, and removal of the old footbridge is going to be a primary objective over the next week, as well as track re-laying, as rails and sleepers are being removed on the ‘Up’ side toward Manchester, apparently only a few months after they were renewed. We’ll also visit our other vantage point while we are here, below the green space off Seven Hills Way, where the new station can be over-viewed, at least on the ‘Up’ side where it’s all fully surfaced, edged and fenced, with signage installed too and looking almost complete aside from the fact that it’s inaccessible due to a lack of steps on the footbridge, and no exits apparently existing to the Valley Road side, and it’s altogether difficult getting the looks that we had some months back from up here, as Spring growth of the vegetation atop the bank has gotten so thick and tall as to pose quite the obstacle to a short-arse like myself. 

Morley to Mirfield 10/06/23

10.4 miles, via Troy Hill, Fountain Street, Scotchman Lane, Howley Mill, Lady Anne Crossing,

 Upper Batley, Batley, Clerk Green, Mount Pleasant,  Batley Carr, Boothroyd, Moor Bottom,

  Dewsbury Country Park, Ravensthorpe, Calder Bridge, Sands, The Beck, Hopton Bottom,

   Lower Hopton, and Ledgard Bridge.

We seem to have arrived on the first hot spell of the year, in mid June, as we reach the end of my first worked five day week in a while, and there's no telling if the energy levels are going to keep up for regular walking days as we attempt to push on towards the Summer, as my body has gotten used to working shorter weeks through May, though we're not getting too ambitious with our planning yet as there are at least 14 destinations around West Yorkshire that could be plausibly walked from home and added to the local Tier of Relative Proximity, and we've sights set on three of them for today as we set out, aiming ourselves towards Kirklees district for the first time in a while. There's no morning chill to be had as we arrive at our start line, at Morley station naturally, at 9.05am, and thus attempts to stay ahead of the swell of warmth count for nought, despite getting out an hour earlier than usual, and I can already feel like I'm getting a work out as we set off away up Station Road, noting Dartmouth Mills getting reconstructive works after suffering a fire last year, and rise up the angled path that leads up to Albert Road, where we join Troy Road and pass over Troy Hill by the still derelict St Mary in the Wood, around to Commercial Street, which we quit via Little Lane by the library and the the unity hall, down the ginnel that leads to Queen Street and the looming presence of the Town Hall. Pass behind that pile via Wellington Street and up through the Windsor Court shopping centre and on through Morrisons car park up to the civic complex on Corporation Street, where we hang a left past St Francis of Assisi RC church and the Fountain centre, as well as the WMC and the GNR goods shed, to join Fountain Street to lead us off to the southwest, pacing the sunny side of the street for a change in an attempt to get a different perspective on a local landscape that we've observed up close a good many times already as we track a way down from the Morley Academy to the Fountain Primary school, with all the terraced fronts and ends lying between, down to the former chapels on the A650 corner.

Morley to Normanton 03/06/23

10.9 miles, via Owlers, West Wood, Sissons Wood, South Middleton, Thorpe on the Hill,

 Lingwell Gate, Lofthouse Colliery, Lofthouse Gate, Stanley, The Nagger Lines, Stanley Ferry,

  Newlands Park, St John's Field, and Smirthwaite. 

We were very fortunate through the whole month of May to have not worked a single five day week across the whole width of it, and as we find ourselves at the first weekend of June, that five week run comes to an end, and thus we'll have to start worrying if the stamina is going to hold up after a very testing four day burst in the hospital libraries, followed by no scheduled time off until mid-July, so hopefully a return to sunny days will give me a mental lift to propel me on through the High Season, rather than proving physically draining as my body has yet to get itself into the early Spring mindset, as we veer dangerously close to your actual Summer. So, sunshine abounds as we head out, from Morley station once again, at 10am, and setting a course to the southeast as our quest to add new destinations to the local tiers, and to shuffle the routes beyond continues, rising from Valley Road up the long step flight again and feeling like we're soon going to be at a total loss for new routes away from this town as we join Clough Street again, ahead of visiting Denshaw Drive and Grove in our ongoing attempt to Watchperson every pavement hereabouts on our way towards Newlands Academy and the Gardeners Arms, where Wide Lane is joined to push us east, beyond the suburban reach and into the fields of Owlers. Meet and cross Dewsbury Road, and join the West Wood Road track for the n-th time as it drops down beyond the A653, passing over Millshaw Beck and rising under the railway lines current and former, before meeting West Wood and the intermittent shade that comes with paths along the periphery of the Middleton hillside, a route which I'm really glad that I haven't tired of having seen so much of it in recent years, and one which we surprisingly have to ourselves as the heat starts to bear down already, especially on the exposed stretch uphill to meet Sissons Wood, where the views back west across Morley, and northwest to Rombalds Moor, always entertain my brain, despite their familiarity to me.

Morley to Sandal 28/05/23

13.6 miles, via Gilroyd, Burn Knolls, Topcliffe, Tingley Common, Black Gates, East Ardsley,

 Jaw Hill, Kirkhamgate, Bushey Beck, Lodge Hill, Shepherd Hill, Low Common, Ossett Spa,

  Spring End, Hall Cliffe, Horbury, Horbury Junction, Broad Cut, Calder Park,

 Pugney's Country Park, Sandal Castle, and Castle Grove Park.

Three rest days later, and after some extra fortification thanks to a whole family get together lunch at the Booth Wood inn on the Ripponden & Oldham Road (which looks like it could become a regular tradition), we ought to be ready to go again as we find ourselves back at home on the middle day of the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, with the prospect of a filled slate for the month for the first time this year, and the marker of 100 miles on the year finally falling into view, which prompts us to Sunday walking despite the gloom gathering once again, to reveal that all those bright days still haven't heated the aits all that much. Left to my own devices once more, there's no impetus to get going at a hurry, as we return to the business of finding new trajectories out of Morley towards every railway station within reasonable walking distance, not getting going until we've seen what's happening at our own local development, where work continues on the new platforms and footbridge, with new lampposts being added to the mix, before our trail starts, southbound for a change at 10.30am, rising up the steps flight to Albert Road, noting that some recent tree felling has revealed a new angle on the Miners Arms that hadn't been seen previously, before we strike off, along Clough Street, between terraces and semis down to Middleton Terrace. We seek the path among the local green spaces among the developments on the Gilroyd Mills site and among the closes around Magpie Lane, passing in leafy seclusion across Peacock Green and down to Topcliffe Beck before we start the sharp rise up Topcliffe Lane, towards Topcliffe farm, where much heavy agricultural machinery is arriving, and on around the West Ardsley colliery site, with its tramway embankments still visible, before we pass through the Capitol Park office complex again, dropping down to meet the A653 Dewsbury Road which is crossed by the Highway Agency maintenance depot and the site of the lost Tingley station.

Rumination: Spring Jollies & Planet Spotting

Blogging with a View, in Scarborough.

Sometimes, the value of a week away from home really cannot be understated and before we press on into the High Season, it's worth pausing for a brief moment to contemplate just how good getting away from it all has been for me at the end of May, completely breaking away from all that's going on in my regular life and work in Leeds, and putting some considerable mental and physical distance between it and me, allowing me to properly unwind after some testing weeks and to allow me to get back into a creative mindset that had almost fallen way to the point of irredeemability, restoring my belief that I will be able to continue pursing the hobbies that I've invested so much into over the last decade. Peace and Quiet is wholly under-rated need in this age of almost constant activity, and we really managed to find that on this break away, keeping away from all the disturbances that you might expect when staying in a seaside town, which we were only just doing, as our let was to be found about three miles out from Scarborough town centre, right on the edge of the Throxenby and Newby estates, and looking over the hillsides of the North Yorkshire Moors, where the River Derwent and Scalby Beck rise, on an urban country lane where there was little traffic to be had outside of commuter hours, allowing us all the silence that we needed to allow us to unwind. Thusly, across all my days off the trail, we had time in the mornings and evening to get busy with catching up on almost two months worth of blogging, which you wouldn't know from the timestamps on these posts, but anyone who's been following me for a while should know that my time-keeping is a complete tissue of lies, and that I work better when away from my own desk, despite it being set up for my needs with an appropriately adjustable chair, leading me to conclude that I do my best work when sat at a dining table with an uncomfortable seat that needs to be padded with random cushions, working in a posture that surely couldn't be doing my back, neck or arm joints any favours. 

The Cinder Track #2 - Ravenscar to Whitby 24/05/23

11.9 miles, via Ravenscar Brickworks, Peak Alum Quarry, Brow Alum Quarry, Stoupe Brow,

 Howdale Wood, Allison Head Wood, Fyling Old Hall, Ramsdale Beck, Fyling Thorpe,

  Robin Hood's Bay, Bay Ness, Rain Dale, Hawsker Bottoms, Hawsker, Stainsacre,

 Cock Mill Wood, Larpool Wood, Larpool Viaduct, and Prospect Hill. 

NB: Historical Reminiscences are in Italics.

Long Distance Trail
Means Selfies!
#2 at Ravenscar

Two rest days are spent, to useful creative extent, and for getting ourselves out of our holiday let for a while to see the sights of Scarborough, so that when we land on Wednesday Morning we are feeling ready to go once more, not having to head out to early as the Parental Taxi takes me up the bouncy coast road to the top of the Ravenscar headland once again so that we might start the notionally downhill back half of this rail trail, and after getting dropped off at 10am, My Mum can head off to reconnoitre the finish Line and I can prepare myself to immediately head into a landscape where I walked purposefully, on a school trip. for possibly the first time in my life. The trail for today starts on the pavements, as the railway vanishes underground and inaccessible, so we are compelled to trace Station Road around the site of the resort that wasn't, with only the Raven Hall at the corner enduring, which marks the apex of a walk that my 10 year old self did with a school party whilst on a residential week at the Boggle Hole Youth Hostel back in 1985, which might have been my first experience of sustained uphill walking, which my little legs and under-developed brain were completely unprepared for, making what was intended as a bonding opportunity for many kids, gathered from about the city and county of Leicester, in a new school turn into something of a nightmare for me as I was dropped off the walking party and had to toil along the last long uphill stretch all by myself. Nearly 38 years on, I'm much better prepared, not least as we're headed downhill from here, tracing the Cleveland Way route down from the village to the amazing view over Robin Hood's Bay to the north, before we join the trackbed and double back through the over growth to spy the northern portal of Ravenscar Tunnel (notoriously hated by railwaymen for its tight curvature and foul atmosphere), which appears intact and dry, making it a sad omission from the Cinder Track, which starts its long decline away from the line's 200m summit as we resume our north-westerly push into a sea of gorse that clings above the long fall down to the sea, into a landscape that appears wild but is actually one where industry has scarred the cliffs, found as we approach the complex at the Peak Alum Quarry and Ravenscar Brickworks.