Leeds to Bramhope 02/03/13

Self at Woodhouse Moor

Having endured a severe brain grey-out on the the 23rd, spending the whole day feeling fuzzy and listless, I was already a week out on my early season schedule when March came around. Of course, I'd factored in a weekend off but I'd hoped to take it a little closer to the serious activity at the end of the month when my legs would need the time out. Still, a weak day of grey weather was lost and that didn't feel too bad, and the weather eye kept looking toward a repeat performance until a late week change predicted a good 7 hour window of clear skies for Saturday. Let's get going early to curse the fact that the early buses into Leeds at the weekend are just not as regular as I'd like, to wind up at that rather scratty corner of Woodhouse Moor to again stand beneath the statue of HR Marsden and contemplate the panels of the aspirational Victorian triptych on the plinth, noting that while 'Industry' and 'Education' remain, 'Commerce' has gone missing, somewhat appropriately for these rather straightened economic times. Anyway, enough with the trenchant political insight, the Dales Way Link awaits!

Walking to Windermere: Leeds to Bramhope  9.9 miles

Woodhouse Ridge

A 9.20am and Northwards we go along Raglan Road to note that St Marks university flats are getting a much needed redevelopment, and the church of the same name has has a thorough clean so it's no longer ink-black. It also cheers me that the Harrison Almshouses are still used by a charity and have not succumbed to the spread of student land. Anyway, off along the border of the parkland to cross Woodhouse Street and to note the only place in Leeds that I have been mugged, so far, and then head up into the heart of Woodhouse along Delph Lane, there's a fine mix of housing styles up here, terraces large and small, as well as 30's semis and what might have been country cottages that preceded the city spreading out here, all very scenic in the sun and it's almost a shame that student land has subsumed it. The road leads us out to the edge of Woodhouse Ridge and down through the trees you can peer into the Meanwood Valley, apparently far below us and the long green artery that runs all the way out of Leeds is met and I can wonder why I missed it out of all of last year's walks. We take the well-made path that hugs the top edge of the ridge, beneath the shade of the trees and under the shadows of the University Halls which have developed among the large Victorian Villas of Headingley, I can pick out Devonshire and James Baillie, but cannot recall the name of the one where My Sis, and friends and I had a particularly memorable blowout in 1994. The path descends from the heights as I follow the signs indicating the Meanwood Valley Trail and the path dips down to cross a descending track and then you almost shuffle into the undergrowth behind a terrace, wondering if this poorly surfaced stretch is actually the right way before you pop out at Grove Lane opposite the only other Green Space in the area.

Meanwood Park

Every green space along the Meanwood Valley Trail has a name and this is Grove Lane Park, where a bit of urban wasteland has been crafted into an urban nature reserve, and the path continues past terraces which look like they have their fronts facing towards it, and then we dive right into a narrowing stretch of greenery where the houses claim bits of park for treehouses and trampolines before we are squeezed into an alley that drops us onto Monk Bridge Lane. Street walk along Highbury Lane, and note that St Oswalds Mission church is looking even less loved than it did when I came this way a decade ago, and then it's on to revisit a few sight seen from when I walked from Adel to Headingley in 2003. These include the extensive site of Meanwood Tannery, now nicely done out as flats, and the path leads around the mill pond and onward through the allotments and alongside Meanwood Beck for the first time before signage sends us on a detour along a mill goit to enter Meanwood Park at its southern end. It's pretty busy out on this Saturday morning, as it should be, as sports teams, dog walkers and folks with small children are all out to make the best of the winter sunshine. I progress, criss-crossing the beck and enjoying the transition out of parkland and into the woods which form the remnants of the ancient Meene wude which gave the area its name. Nowadays its known as Meanwood Grove, and the path follows along side the beck, and elevating slightly to parallel a raised drainage channel. There appears to be a gate to nowhere down by the beckside, as well as various local paths passing out into the woods, and when it comes to a bridge over a weir, the signage confuses me and I head uphill into the Hollies when I'm sure I should shadowing the Beck. I'm not far into the holly bushes before I know this is the wrong way, but I'm convinced that there should be path descending back to the beck, and there is, but it's a lot further on than I anticipated and it's a bit of a squelch down through the fields to meet the beck again and find some stepping stones that don't feel too dangerous and then we're back on the right route up to Parkside Road and around Valley Farm to look back at the bucolic scene which ought to be familiar to anyone who traverses the ring road and then it's on to Adel Beck and the tunnel which leads under the A6120.

Seven Arches Viaduct

Onward as the Dales Way Link hugs the western upper edge of Scotland wood and somewhere below us are the remains of Scotland mills, but i can't see them among the trees, and I'm pretty sure that it was somewhere along here that My Sis did some channel profiling on the beck as part of her degree dissertation, and 21 year old me had refused to help her with it. Onward to enjoy the patterns the low sun makes through the trees, knowing that there's a fun feature coming up that isn't illustrated on Explorer 289, the path descends to Seven Arches Aqueduct, now not in use but it once brought water to Leeds from Eccup Reservoir, and now it can lend its graceful curve to making this bit of the woods that bit more interesting. I don't like the look of one of the arches though, which looks like it has sunk badly and hope that it is secure enough to not fall down, and thence on into a wood of birch trees as the path ascends up to the other side of the valley. Teabreak here, and then it's on to find a the Slabbering Baby Spring, and a few gritstone outcrops to add to the wildness as we pass into Adel Woods, finding all the latreral paths make this stretch a lot more confusing than it was when I walked it southwards a decade ago. Even keeping to the upper edge could lead you astray as you have to navigate over a surprise beck and the join between maps as you cross onto Explorer 297. Meeting the edge of a sports field has you sure you're in the right spot and the wood open out a bit as the path leads to the carpark at Star Foot Lane. From there the ascends away from the influence of the beck and as you arrive at the end of the woods you can look out into the big sky north of Leeds, and as you set off into the fields the Tinshill BT Tower appears as the standard candle of these parts. Also take a moment to consider my mileage at this point, and if my sums are correct I am already at the halfway point to my 1,000 mile target, and within a single calendar too! I'm sure that must be the cue to pause for a Proclaimers song...

                                            Sorry, but I HATE '(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles'

Eccup Reservoir

There's a bit of questionable going as we wade into our first mire of the day as we negotiate our way onto the path that leads behind Headingley Golf Course and it's a lovely tree-lined route that ends by King Lane and the marvellously turned out Ashfield house farm. Then on into the fields as the path starts to head almost due east and the first stile of the day takes us past seven concrete pillars which might be an incomplete barn structure or a piece of modern art, and beyond the surrounding fields feature quizzical sheep and abandoned combine harvesters. The dominating feature of the area is Eccup Reservoir, hidden away beyond a fringe of trees and as our path takes us north I start to wonder if we're going to get a good view down toward it as we descend to the head of the feeder stream and then start to ascend to the road. We do get a good look from here, and I ascend to the road satisfied as I leave the many folks going to walk the southern perimeter path in my wake. Onward up Eccup Moor Road to meet the hamlet that is Eccup, which looks like it is mostly three farms and five houses these days, but it did once have a school whose foundation stone is now preserved in a wall along Village Road. Descend to Eccup Lane and Brooklands farm, and cross the path of the Leeds Country Way, and the temptation is to detour out to the New Inn for beer, as it is open as I pass this time, but I stay to my course through the farmyard and find a spot beyond to take lunch, still puzzled as to why the sky north of Leeds seem to be so large. This is also a good place for my first Red Kite action of the year, as several soar majestically above the fields, proving that these local birds are nowhere near as antisocial as their reputation would have them.

Wharfedale Viaduct

Along the next stretch of path, I encounter easily startled sheep, who cannot seem to understand that they could run away from me in a direction perpendicular to the way that I am going, and for a while I wonder if I'm going to have to chase them all the way to Bramhope. Then its off along the field boundaries to the top of the ridge that marks the top edge of the Aire catchment, and it's mildly annoying that the trig point at The Bowshaws is on the far side of an adjacent field so I can't strike a dynamic pose by it as I crest the ridge and start the walk down into Wharfedale, where the Walk to Windermere be for most of its next four legs. The landmarks come up quickly as you descend, Almscliffe Crag, the Washburn Valley and its telephone mast, and Wharefdale Viaduct, lit up in the afternoon sun and looking much better than it did when I came this way in May. So arrive at Bank Side Farm and we're meeting the path that I walked from Menston to Harewood along the Ebor Way, and it's retracing that path we go up Bank Top Lane to regain the altitude which we had descended, and that's a less fun walk when going uphill, and I still wonder what sort of work a pharmaceutical company might be doing at Bank Top farm. It looks like the best part of the day is passing, so pick up the pace a bit as we cross Black Hill Road and go on through the fields where there's no cloud of birds over Arthington Quarry, but the going is as vague and soft as it was before, and right at the end of it all, at the stile to Breary Lane East, I encounter my first mud puddle where my footfall has my foot lifting and the boot wanting to stay exactly where it was.


Bramhope Puritan Chapel

Extract myself and it's down the road by the expensive houses we go, and there are folks out doing DIY, gardening and cleaning their cars, as well as the recent signs of road resurfacing so the tarmac is still a little spongy in places, and I'm very pleased to see that the flock of black sheep is still resident along here too. Still think this part of Bramhope looks ridiculously expensive, and one of the houses is so ostentatious, it frankly makes my teeth hurt, and at the Leeds Road junction, it would be a good spot to end and board the bus down the A660, but I want to see Bramhope's interesting historic relic so continue along Breary Lane, and ponder that the recreation ground at Parklands really looks like it has been built on the remains of a hillfort. The stretch along the Dales Way link ends at the end of Eastgate, beneath the fingerpost which was bequeathed in an age when the good citizens of the town made some rather odd stylistic choices (aka the 1930s), and thence it's down Church Hill, past the parish church of St Giles and over Leeds Road, eventually, to see Bramhope Puritan Chapel, one of the few enduring Churches of the English Commonwealth, built in 1649 and as austere as could like, but beautiful in its own way, and Grade 1 listed to give some indication of its historical significance. Check the timing and it's just past 2pm, and that has not been a quick ten miles, by any interpretation, but this has been a good day to reach that half way point on my total and to end the first whole year of being a walking man.

Next on the slate: The High Road to Wharfedale.

1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 505.3 miles
(2013 total: 40 miles)