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.

Weeton to Thorpe Arch 13/08/16

17.1 miles via Dunkeswick, Netherby, Kearby, Sicklinghall, Kirk Deighton & Walton.

Force an early start, as the enthusiasm is high today, as is the risk of the afternoon turning very warm indeed, so make for the train to Weeton to disembark at 9.20am, primed for a long day, and take the first steps to see the old station houses by the A658 Harrogate Road, which endure to provide the NER atmosphere for the station since the actual platform buildings left us only relatively recently. So away, and into Huby, with actual Weeton still a mile or so distant, looping back under the railway to pass among the district of council houses, complete with vintage VR post box, and on to the road to Weeton, which could easily be mistaken for a driveway to one of the posher houses in this quarter. On to a road walk under gloomy skies, avoiding the horse riders and mail van that are racing me down this lane and letting the mind wander among the wrinkles of Wharfedale whilst I try to plot out what the manicured lands around the cricket field might have been in a previous life, and spot the spire of St Barnabas's church a couple of fields away to show just how close we came to having been here before. So Weeton itself arrives, a settlement with a lot of proud looking gritstone, scattered along the Main Street, all of it expensive looking, but mush less substantial than Huby, which makes you wonder how it named the parish and the railway station. Press on, as Weeton Lane wends its enclosed way to the east, gradually rising and giving views to Almscliffe Crag in one direction and Rougemont Carr in another, and that keeps things interesting in a terrain of a lot of hedges before the hamlet of Dunkeswick arrives. Never been too sure how to pronounce this one, uncertain where to place the emphasis, and there's little more to it than a trio of farmsteads, along with a small dog running around to proudly display the rabbit it has caught, and from there it's a short walk to meet the A61 Harrogate Road, crossed in short order to get away from the cyclists and to have the fields to myself for a while.

Baildon to Weeton 06/08/16

12.6 miles, via Tong Park, Park Gate, Yeadon (& The Tarn), West Carlton, Old Bramhope,
 Pool in Wharfedale, Riffa Wood & Huby.

Return back Up Country for some necessary socialising to end my holiday week, but after a week back in work, the Summer Sag comes on once again as mood, impetus and energy levels all drop through the floor, and a weekend drops from the schedule and plans get shunted around again. Not that my plan for August gets altered, as a three day trek across the width of my annual walking field seems like a good way to go, but even then I struggle to get myself going, and find that riding out to Baildon station can involve some ungodly amounts of waiting, as you anticipate the arrival of the trains that run the line between Shipley and Guiseley. So onto the trail just before 11am, on the single platform which still possesses a lot more character than many stations which didn't endure 20 years of disuse, altogether a tidy little presentation, departed by ascending to the footbridge and dropping down to the path that doubles as a driveway to the houses behind Roundwood Grange, one of the many proud older houses that live among Baildon's suburbia. Langley Lane and Hollin Head give us much more of the late 20th century face of the town in the Tong Park district, and the way to the undulations of the corner of Airedale is found as Lonk House lane wanders its way into the valley of Gill Beck, with a war memorial midway down and a fishing lake and cricket field at the bottom, this probably being the flattest part of Baildon all told. Ascend the other side, to meet a golf course, and hang at its edge through rough grass and shady trees to get good looks at Tong Park Viaduct and the extensive woods of middle Airedale in one direction and to the rising edges of Baildon and Rombalds moors in the other, and focus requires you to look out for golfing hazards before a better surface is gained at Lunds farm and another long wall guides the walker in the direction of Guiseley. The golf course seems to just keep on going, until you acknowledge that there are actually two of them, Hollins Hall and Bradford, butted together, and as the track rises the view towards Bradford is pretty grand, whilst once the descent comes on the Aire-Wharfe gap is revealed in all its impressive scale.

Humberstone to Great Dalby 21/07/16

12.9 miles, via Keyham, Hungarton, Lowesby Park, Twyford & Thorpe Satchville.

Two days of intense heat, the sort not experienced in years, is not that useful for me getting active whilst on my jollies, so not get much gets done aside from an early morning start for three hours of shed painting, so the hope comes that my batteries will feel recharged when the temperature drops and the need to walk comes on. Thursday has a 4 degree drop from the previous days' highs, so it has to be the time to get some miles under my feet, as it's been 12 days since my last serious burn, and it's good to keep things relatively local whilst in Leicestershire, adding a few new places to my wandering field and establishing a new boundary to the land of Car Treks and youthful travels. A 9.30 start then for a projected 5 hour trek to the north-east, starting out from Abbots Road URC and heading up to the ring road to detour into Monk's Rest Gardens, one of the three local parks of my youth, the others seen in March, taking the route between tennis courts and bowling green to the wooded shade beneath the Cedars and Beeches on the lawn of the Italianate vicarage. Arrive in Humberstone village at the lych-gate of St Marys, and head east on Main Street to take in the Medieval Mud walls preserved on the north edge of the churchyard, and the imposing red brick house in the old folks flats that I always assumed was 18th century but is actually a 1970s reproduction, before passing my old schools once more but this time continuing east once we reach the top of Keyham Close. Across the Ring Road again, and the ongoing road will always be Keyham Lane to me, bordering the outer edge of the city regardless of a name change to Elms Farm Cottages in it early going and the Hamilton Estate having grown over the last 20(!) years to its north, and largely hidden from view anyway, with the correct name returning with its West addition as it passes on above the Nether Hall estate.

Humberstone to The King Power Stadium 18/07/16

5.9 miles, via Uppingham & Humberstone Roads, St Martin's, Kate Street & Filbert Street.

A Summer week off from work, and I'm off Down Country because it's July, and not feeling the need to attempt the 30+ miles that I did last year, so this time around we are scaling back the wandering so that the stamina might last a bit longer as the warm months press on, and it sure looks like we've got a few hot days on the immediate horizon so modest distances are a given. Rather than heading for the countryside, it's good to start with a city walk, as Leicester's centre has still to drop onto my schedule, and an early start from the East is due so the trail might be done before lunch time, departing my chosen local start point of Abbot's Road URC at 9.05am, and setting course along Scraptoft Lane. Always felt that this was a good road for illustrating the development of suburbia in the early 20th century, showing up both the planned estate developments of the late 1930s and the more haphazard and bespoke building that preceded it, and this leads to the Troc and the Terminus, already mentioned here, before joining the A47 and Uppingham Road for the Red Route to the city. The shopping parade along here has seen a lot of family custom over the years, from Nando's the Barber (spoiling the Chicken restaurant in my mind forever) to the Hong Kong (the Chinese restaurant that was a favourite until becoming takeaway only last year), before we go a bit more Victorian Residential past Coleman Road, the sort of townhouses which I always desired way back when. Pass the site of Humberstone station on the GNR Leicester extension, where the station house remains, and on into the empire of takeaways on the latter portion of Uppingham Road, ending by Swallow Park, The Uppingham Hotel (the pub being an Islamic school these days) and The Shaftesbury (a lost cinema that still names the junction). Continue on as the A47 crosses the Willow Brook and becomes Humberstone Road, and beyond the terraces, the Merlyn Vaz health centre is the major new arrival in these parts, and a telling indication of changing times is noting the second-hand electrical retail store occupying a shop which once sold Pianos. Pass under the Midland Main Line, and the site of Humberstone Road station (the building now preserved at Shenton), and some of the industrial buildings to the south are worthy of note, the ones to the north (and the St Matthews Estate) rather less so, but you do have to love the name of Lesta Packaging PLC, don't you?

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 Selby 02/07/16

15.2 miles, via Kirkby Wharfe, Ulleskelf, Ozendyke, Ryther, Cawood & Wistow.

Arriving at the High Street bus stop in Tadcaster, it looks a lot like the weather that I left here last weekend has only just passed, which is odd as you wouldn't think you could fit all this rain into the weekends when the other days have provided so much shirtsleeves weather. Anyway, it seems like it's impossible to get out here early in the day, not getting my start until 9.55am has passed, and I wonder just how many more times I might be pacing my way up Bridge Street before this season passes, having been here four times in the last month, and the ghost town is soon to be left behind as the path takes me to the riverfront once again. Pace past the 2016 footbridge, as there'll be no criss-crossing the Wharfe on this third and final leg, taking the tree lined avenue out to the east, detouring around the house on the bank, and past the local plating fields (where all the town's sounds of life are to be heard) and on to the embankment path, onwards under the A64 and the last crossing point on the river for foot passengers and rubber tired vehicles. The hiss of rain continues as the river winds on, these lowest stretches of the Wharfe being a completely unknown quantity to me, and this feels a lot like a path I might have to myself, aside from the company of the odd dog walker and a number of roaming sheep. Pass over the sluice at the outspill of Cock Beck, finally encountered after so many appearances elsewhere, and this must be where the Wharfe ran red with blood in 1461, if the chroniclers are to be believed, and the eye does wander some to seek any landscape interest as the flat lands head east, and you stop looking west to the receding town and the hills at the edge of West Yorkshire. Grimston Park spreads out to the south, but offers little more than a lot of trees, despite the relative proximity of the house, and the only other habitation in the area is Ouston Farm, distant on the other bank, so it's time to watch the livestock and waterfowl along the way as the last hiss of rain passes over, ending just as we meet the hamlet of Kirkby Wharfe. It's a pretty modest place, set just far enough from the river to be off piste, and well hidden by many trees, but the tower of St John the Baptist peeks out to give a first bit of landscape interest since the start of the day.