Huddersfield to Halifax 13/02/20

8 miles, via Highfields, Edgerton, Prince Royd, Birchencliffe, Ainley Top, Storth, Elland, 

 Elland Wood, Salterhebble, Skircoat, and the Piece Hall.

Thanks to the weather it looks like my schedule isn't going to have much space for recovery time between trips, so it's just a well that I'd only planned a short excursion for today, the sort of distance that's too short to dedicate a whole day to, not that Northern Fail are doing anything to help me along, with their services delaying my arrival into Huddersfield by a quarter hour, showing that they've really given up on their business ahead of being stripped of their franchise at the end of the month. So we alight at 10.25am, with the day's sunshine already retreating from view as we get off to an inauspicious start, finding the favoured route from St George's Square blocked by roadworks, and thus a detour take us along Railway Street and West Gate to pass over the station throat and then set a course along New North Parade, the southernmost stub of the turnpike that has been severed by the Castlegate ring road, and this doesn't present a direct way forward until we've gone under the Trinity Street underpass and emerged by the old town infirmary. Once we've passed St Patrick's RC church, New North Road finally gets us going, with the A629 finally taking us towards Halifax, leading us on among the most attractive sort of early 19th century suburbia, showing up the sort of vintage suburban front that doesn't immediately having you thinking of what Huddersfield looks like, finding the castellated Highfields Centre in its midst across the way from Holy Trinity church, and adjacent to the overstated Congregational chapel and Sunday school, as we press on through Victorian townhouse to the Blacker Road corner. Beyond, things get a whole lot leafier as Edgerton Road settles into a landscape of villas with extensive grounds and gardens along the valley edge on which it runs, taking us past the sole surviving tram stand in the town as the houses retreat away from the roadside and behind their banks of trees, which give the whole of the Halifax road a feeling of being ahistorical as none of what you might expect to see along a major town road appears in suburban Edgerton as we pass our next previous contact point at Daisy Lea Lane. It seems that nearby Lindley must provide the facilities for this part of town, and we don't meet a pub until we encounter the Cavalry Arms at the East Street corner, just across from the Mormon temple, meeting some actual vintage cottages and terraces once we hit the urban hamlet of Prince Royd, where a brewery and a brickworks once brought some industry to this lane, beyond which Huddersfield's outer suburban band can be found as we pass into Birchencliffe.

Bradford to Dewsbury 12/02/20

11.4 miles, via Adolphus Street, East Bowling, Bowling Hall & Park, West Bowling, 

 Staygate, Odsal, Low Moor, Oakenshaw, Chain Bar, Cleckheaton, Royds Park, 

  Liversedge, Heckmondwike, Staincliffe and Batley Carr.

The first few weeks of 2020 proved to be pretty dry by recent standards, so once I chose to take a break from work, the weather found it to be an excellent time to come on strong, with Atlantic Storm Ciara bringing on all the rain, causing flooding issues again over Sunday, causing major headaches for my friends in Calderdale, with rains following to blight all of Monday and Tuesday, where the only outdoors time I'll be spending involves going to the optician to see about new specs for my failing eyes. It's not until Wednesday that things look better and the early season roaming can resume, to pick up the trail that returns us in the direction of the River Calder, emerging at 10.15am under sunny skies again, setting a course south along Bridge Street and past the Leisure Exchange complex to the tangle of the A647 and A650, as beyond these lies the site of Bradford's original station on the GNR lines, Adolphus Street, which only served as a passenger terminal between 1854-67, but endured as a goods complex until 1972, and while its main buildings have long gone, where Wakefield Road now runs, a large section of its plinth endures. We follow this along Dryden Street, passing the bricked up entrance, the platform level access ramp and the retaining walls to the coal drops where small industrial units now dwell, accessing the high level by a flight of steps and passing on through the Essex Street Industrial Estate, where the St James's Wholesale Market resides on the station site, following the access lane out to the A650, which we cross via the subways to emerge by the Gurdwara on the Usher Street corner, where we progress on past the Bowling Park primary school, and elevate among the industrial units on Barnard Road to pass under the Bowling - Laisterdyke line, under one of the many bridges on the alignment Bradford avoiding that's been closed since 1964. We then ascend through what could be the confusing rabbit warren of terraces and semis of East Bowling, but we've prepped a route to lead us up and along Paley, Brassey and Flockton Roads to land us at the top on Brompton Avenue, which leads us to Bolling Hall, one of the definitively oldest houses in Bradford, of medieval, 17th and 18th century vintages having endured on site since the 11th century,  famously featuring as a Royalist base during the English Civil War and the siege of Bradford in 1643, and now in City ownership as a museum and library. A fine place for a bit of historic transportation away from the contemporary surroundings as you pace around the gardens, and then continue the trip into the greenery of the past as our route leads us into Bowling Park, Bradford's green lung, high to its south, where we pace through the wild gardens and playing fields on the way over to Parkside Road on the eastern edge of West Bowling.

Huddersfield to Bradford 08/02/20

10.9 miles, via Hillhouse, Fartown, Fell Greave Woods, Bradley Bar, Toothill, Brighouse, 

 Bonegate, Bailiff Bridge, Lower Wyke, Wyke, Moorside, Hilltop, Odsal, Bankfoot, 

  and West Bowling.

My traditional February break from work lands, and for the first time in five years I'll be spending it all at home, as previous years have had me away to visit My Parents, but with Dad having passed away last year and with Mum having some Winter sun in Malta this, I've got all of it to use for my own entertainment, getting my ninth season of walking going by firmly welding it to the terrain of 2019's wandering as we build an early season framework in the eastern edge of the territory that I intend to explore over the coming nine months. Thus we hit the first Saturday of the year, where sunshine still pours through ahead of Storm Ciara bringing on all the Winter weather that we haven't experienced over the last six weeks, landing ourselves at Huddersfield station at a little after 9.50am, thanks to some strange train alignments, marching ourselves boldly across St George's square with a trajectory to the north in mind, leading us past the very closed George Hotel and onto John William street, where we pace along to the old Empire cinema, and meet Viaduct Street, which leads us along the elevated railway that leads into the station from the north. It really is the hidden engineering marvel of the city, far too easy to not acknowledge properly as you travel, which we follow out behind Tesco to the inner ring road, which we cross at the Castlegate - Southgate junction to join the side of the A641 Northgate, as we strike away from the town centre, past the car dealerships and under the noticeably widened railway bridge above, where our path becomes the Bradford Road, which already announces our destination for the day as we start our rise, among the terrace parades on the way up through the urban district of Hillhouse. More stone terraces and low-rise flats fill the roadside beyond the Halifax Old Road corner, leading us on towards Fartown where the Railway Inn announces the proximity of the old MR Newtown Goods line, the contemporary Birkby - Bradley greenway in its Heckmondwike-esque cutting, all located a short way below the Fartown Green corner where we bust through my circular route around the town from last year, and hit the real rise of the road as it pushes out through Huddersfield's suburbia. Less than two miles out and the banks of woodlands that apron the hills to the north start to make themselves apparent, filling in the roadside around Ash Brow Mills and the Asda superstore on all the sections of land that have proved too steep for suburban development, where we take our last looks back into the Colne Valley, before we rise on, to meet the ancient Fell Greave woods, where the Kirklees brought us back in 2014, beyond which the suburban and literal top of Huddersfield can be found at Bradley Bar.

Out of the Dark Season and Onwards!

New Walking Duds
for the 2020 Season!

A month on in 2020, and we're all still here, which is a relief, and with another Dark Season retreating into memory and the usable weeks of the year looming large, it's time to get back into the idea of walking for fun (and profit?) in 2020, as the first year of my Five Year Plan to get all of West Yorkshire's remaining corners and trails properly explored before I turn 50 comes into focus. Still, we've got on off-season to look back on before we set off full tilt into Season #9 of this ongoing odyssey, and it hasn't proved to be as inactive a break as I might have anticipated, as my supposed sit-down role at work has proved to be much more active than was suggested, as the need to provide cover for the Medical Records distribution, and the amount of bulk materials still being delivered on site mean that I'm not sat so much that my job immediately poses too much risk of me getting under-exercised and overweight. Thus we are alighting on the new season feeling like I'm physically ready to get going, not feeling too bloated at a measurement weight of 74.8k, a good three kilos lighter than I was at the same jump off point a year ago, and feeling mentally prepared for the fresh challenges, after only three stretches of an hour plus during the past twelve weeks of relative hibernation. They all came in around the festive season, one being the annual(ish) excursion out to Birstall retail park from Morley, which came ahead of Christmas, which we did about as low key as possible, with me hosting Mum at mine over the holiday day, before tripping over to Bolton to visit My Sister and family over the following weekend, where a circuit of Entwistle Reservoir filled out the useful exercise quota, before my traditional trip to Calderdale for New Year landed, opening 2020 with a trip out to the reservoirs around the head of the Ryburn, right at the heart of the terrain that this year's wandering should be headed. It wasn't a bad season for new additions to the walking gear pile either, landing another new wicking vest to replace the medium-sized ones that I rather boldly fill out these days, scoring many more pairs of socks to replace the ones that have either worn beyond use or proved not entirely suitable, and having finally gotten a new pair of Craghoppers to replace the two pairs that have been retired to a cupboard in Leicester, which are hoped to prove as durable as my most enduring trousers, which will be bravely entering their 16th(!) year of service as we hit the trails next week.

The Conclusions of 2019

Wrapping the 2019 walking season
at Berry Brow station.

My eighth walking year concludes, and we thus settle into another Dark Season to contemplate the passage of another year into history, and this time around, at the end of 2019, I have to change my familiar declaration, as this time around, we didn't all make it and we aren't all here to see the start of the third decade of the 21st century. So again we ponder what we have learned in the last twelve months, and the main truth has been that 2019 has been a rough year that I do not care to see a repeat of, as it has brought me personal upheaval the like of which I haven't experienced in decades, maybe a whole lifetime, if we're being honest with ourselves. I've pretty much said I that needs to be publicly stated on the subject of bereavement, as after eleven months, the passing of My Dad still stings, as 77 doesn't seem to be an old age to be dying in the modern age, especially after having endured three years of aggressive degeneration of the brain beforehand, and I still lament the loss of the father that I had in the years before his mental and physical capacities drained away. His demise having come when it did in late January at least gave me the opportunity to use the whole year to work out my grief and come around to the reality of losing one of the few constant presences in my life, and the amount of practically used alone time, and the number of socially offered shoulders sent my way have both been invaluable through the year, but honestly, I'd still going to miss Dad immensely as his absence is still being acutely felt in my family life. Upheaval also came in my working life, after 20+ years of service in the Medical Records Library at Leeds General Infirmary, the storage facility was run down through the opening half of the year, reducing the core business down to a distribution hub, and my role being switched over to the library at St James's Hospital in June, where the labour was familiar but fitting into the routine of the much larger staff proved to be quite a challenge. It's not in my nature to complain about work in a public forum, for obvious reasons, but the change or work rate and culture, with me frequently being on my feet for all seven worked hours of the day proved hard to adapt to, so when the opportunity came to take up a new role on the LGI site came along in October, I grasped it firmly, to the ultimate benefit of my mental and physical well being.

Mirfield to Berry Brow 10/11/19

8.9 miles, via Lower Hopton, Upper Hopton, Dransfield Hill, Houses Hill, Whitley Willows, 

 Fenay Bridge, Birks, Almondbury Common, Bottoms, The Lumb, Castle Hill, Catterson, 

  Lower Park, and Robin Hood Hill.

The last walkable Saturday of the year also gets dropped from the schedule, but not because of seasonal rain, rather a projected maximum temperature of 4C gets me feeling that I'd rather be in bed on such a day, but as we still have a 3+C warmer Sunday to use before my birthday week of being NIW, so we head out for another rail replacement bus ride that seems to be a regular fixture of the mornings at present, taking us out to Mirfield for a tilt at a viewpoint as my planned finale route got walked a fortnight ago. Hop off the bus at the Huddersfield Road bus stand at 9.20am, five minutes walk away from the station, and thus only ten minutes later than a ridden rail would have gotten me out to the heart of the middle Calder valley, but as we set out along Hopton New Road the intense cold of the morning air is felt in the lungs and the view across the fields to Holme Bank Mill and the woods beyond reveals the wisps of a morning mist that has only recently dissipated, and there's frostiness on the pavements too as we arrive at Hopton Bridge to cross the River Calder. Once on the end of Granny Lane, and passing the Flower Pot inn in Lower Hopton, we find ourselves on a familiar path, retracing steps up the suburban ribbon up Hopton Lane at a predictably slow rate thanks to the pitch of the climb, as the alternative field walk seems seasonally unsuitable, meeting the turn to the main body of Upper Hopton with Hopton Hall Lane, passing the old manse and Park farm on the edge of the suburban estate that surround them, getting views over the reverse to the middle Calder as we go. Land by the long wall that contains Hopton Grange and soon come up past St John's church and its vicarage, ticking another Kirklees church off the list, and then come past Hopton Old Hall with its timber framed wings that suggest a lot of vintage, opposite the hall farm, and the arrivals of a late 20th century vintage, joining Jackroyd Lane as it rises on, past the old village school and the last suburban outliers, heading south as we come up level with the woodlands that cover the southern bank of the Calder. Pass Hopton Green farm, and the Clough terrace that sits at an odd remove from the village, and to avoid a twisting road detour, we hit a short and rising field walk between Covey Clough and Benroyd farms on the shoulder of Dransfield Hill, a choice that proves challenging as the waterlogged soil and icy covering make for some hard going on the elevation up to the B6118 Liley Lane, dirtying up the boots something proper as we take our last looks over the middle Calder for this year, territory that still needs further investigation even after 8 years of walking.

Ossett to Mirfield 03/11/19

7.7 miles, via Ossett Street Side, Shaw Cross, Hanging Heaton, Batley Carr, Knowle Hill, 

 Dewsbury Moor, and Northorpe.

Another Saturday disappears beneath sheets of rain, and with it goes my remaining plans of any more trips in excess of 10 miles in 2019, as there's no point at all in contesting the shortening and cooling days of November, and we ought to take things easier, as I've been granted a working break from the long days on my feet at St James's hospital for an altogether more relaxed role back at the LGI, for the time being at least, and thus we look to a Sunday morning stroll and the two remaining targets for my walking in 2019, 600 miles on the year, and a new annual mark, which ought to be achievable in the last pair of excursions. So as Sunday morning sunshine rules the day, we ride out for a relatively local trek, even if the rail replacement and regular service buses take the better part of an hour to get me to Ossett, landing us at the bus station at a whisker ahead of 9.45, just across from Ossett United FC's ground on Prospect Road (the small town being notable for sustaining two minor league teams against good economic sense), and we set off our path by wandering to the small plaza behind the Town Hall, and across the bottom of Dale Street by the complex of Co-op stores, to make our way out to the northwest along the B6128 Kingsway. Only half a mile out and our ticker passes the 600 mile marker for the year, and this suburban lane incidentally gives a fine pun quality to the name of the King's Way church at its bottom end, and once out past Lidl and the Gledhill garage, we are soon deep into ahistorical suburbia, with the vintages running across all the styles of the mid to late 20th century, as our interest wanders to the views to the spire of  Holy Trinity church up the side streets and forward to the Gawthorpe water tower as we shadow the route of the early leg of this year's Long Walk. Things get a more vintage as we land on the old Dewsbury to Wakefield Road at the Leeds Road island in Ossett Street Side, and we pass a rake of almshouse cottages before we cross over the A638 Ossett Bypass via the footbridge by Royd's Mill, where the Wakefield Way brought us on our way towards Gawthorpe in 2015, though our path keeps us on the line of the bypassed old road as it leads us past the Salvation Army hall and on to Owl Lane by the industrial park dominated by Newly Wed foods, over which the Gawthorpe water tower looms, illuminated by the low sun.