Bradford Millennium Way #2: Oxenhope to Silsden Bridge 10/09/13

Self in Oxenhope

Having my parents up country on one of their flying visit proves handy, as getting a lift out of them means I'm not having to start out from home at 7.30am to make a 9.30 start in Oxenhope, it can allow for an extra hour in bed and more rest time for my aching calves. Plus we get  journey of only 45 minutes to my start point, and it can offer my folks sight of some of the views regularly described to them but not previously scene, especially as we pass through Queensbury, and my choice of route has me realising that I have done lamentably little walking close to home this year, when I've had no good reason to avoid the Spen Valley, Lower Calderdale and Alpine Bradford, and I'll have to start putting them on the slate for next year as I've probably got more walks for this year than I have weekends available before the end of the season. Those thoughts need to be put aside for now, though, as I know that I have got a hardcore day of walking coming my way, I'm prepared for a day of clustered contour lines and many stiles and I might be starting out much later than I'd wanted to but I'm not going against the clock today, so enjoyment, rather than speed, is the key for a day in more virgin territory.

Bradford Millennium Way #2: Oxenhope to Silsden Bridge  15.4 miles



St Mary the Virgin, Oxenhope

A 10.20am start, and it's quickly away from Oxenhope, almost as if I'm deliberately avoiding the town, up Hill House lane on the first ascent of the day to meet the field walk that ends up to the A6033, and on the other side of the moor road is St Mary the Virgin, and it's nice to find a medieval parish church out in the county as there seem to be a lot of Victorian ones elsewhere. Beyond take the path that winds between nicely made-over gardens and then on to the rough edge of Stones Hill and then winds the first descent through the yard of Stone Lane farm, complete with a crowded dovecote, and then field walk down to West Shaw Lane, and turn to meet the path by the mill, now home to the makers of bespoke furniture, and then its another field boundary walk to cross Moorhouse beck and then second ascent of the day starts to hammer up the hill towards Mould Greave farm, just as the morning sunshine passes and gloom settles over the day, just as the moorland views were staring to open up. Cloud cover doesn't stop me sweating hard as I go, and as my ankles and calves are already objecting, I get the feeling that this is going to feel like a long day, and so pass through Mould Greave as the path squeezes between the buildings and then its on to meet Marsh Lane before continuing to hammer it uphill to Upper Marsh, and the Worth Valley does seem to be littered with miniature settlement of little more than a terrace and scattered farmsteads, barely describable as hamlets. The next path has us leaving the trapping of civilisation to meet the rough and quarried out edge of Penistone Hill, and again we don't go up to the summit, instead following the tracks between the car parks, which still might suggest the influence of civilisation, but the lack of people gives me the moor to myself and as the gloom continues to gather I can look forwards to the long grass of Haworth Moor.

Haworth Moor

Two weeks ago, this moor was still a riot of purple with the heather in full bloom, but now the best of the flowering season has passed and it has turned to a dull brown, and the lack of sunshine doesn't improve it any, but I've go t it to myself for half a mile, heading over to meet the bridleway at its north edge, with Lower Laithe reservoir as my local reference point and the only direction coming from one very old sign directing people to Brontë Bridge and Top Withens. Indeed we are now in the heart of Brontë Country, and on the bridleway can be found the more intrepid literary fans out to see the more Romantic locales, both real and fictional, associated to that family, while I'll just have to accept not having the path to myself for a while as it moves along the clough of South Dean Beck, and noting that Lower Laithe farm is a decent ruin for those who don't want to trek as far as Top Withins, and is probably a bit too remote for the makeover treatment. It's a long decent through the bracken to get to Brontë Bridge, a modest clapper bridge that is actually not ancient at all, having been installed in 1990 after the original was destroyed by flooding, and I'm not going to venture any further into these so-called Wuthering Heights, I've got ascent #3 to do to climb away from the beck, and the guide is correct to describe it as a rocky path as it is almost worthy of scrambling and then the route description get vague as I meet the edge of Hill End, and I pause for an early much to decide that i missed the ruin of Virginia farm because it is actually too ruined to be visible. Pass through a couple of cultivated fields to startle the sheep and then the sign of an acorn means I'm going to make another of my acquaintances with the Pennine Way, only for three fields as the rough descent is made towards Ponden Reservoir, and departing it at Cold Knoll Hill, and I'm still pondering on the idea of taking it on in both directions from here to Hebden Bridge and to Cowling. A level walk follows over the road to the next farm, and then the field descents twist confusingly, and I note that we are now deep into the season where animal husbandry make for some sticky going in rural areas, and I only realise that I've missed a corner and descended the wrong field when I meet the bottom corner and there's no access point, so I have to shuffle over the wall and nettles rather uncomfortably to drop down to Hob Lane.


Keighley Moor

Back on track in no time at all, leaving the lane and making a crossing of the River Worth, an altogether unimpressive trickle at this quarter, and the we are on to ascending again, and I've lost count as I go, but it's #4 for reference, and there are more fields to angle uphill through towards Oldfield and I'm glad to find that there are more gates than stiles on this rise, but my legs are starting to object very loudly as they decide that consecutive days of walking is no fun for them. Pass a pair of those rather wonderful signature long farm-barn combinations that seem to be a git of a fixture in the Airedale high lands, startling the horses as I go and disappointing a postman when he realises that I'm not coming up the drive to take the post off of him. Oldfield is another barely-a-hamlet, but seems to keep a primary school in business (and busy, judging by the noise), and it also marks the three-quarter mark of the ascent from the Worth. The remaining path goes straight uphill beyond the school, leading up to Hare Hill Lane and what appears to be a disused water treatment works, and following the lane gives a good view over the Worth Valley and the surrounding moors, but It really wants for a bit of sunshine. The rough track up to Harehill House provides the last bit of shelter we will be having for a while, as the day meets the long moorland walk that it has always been promising, meeting the high level of Keighley Moor at the 350m contour and a solid mile of moorland opens up with the wind blowing hard into my face. Despite the cloud visibility remains good, and having a wall to guide me for a substantial distance means I won't be getting too lost as I'm not ascending more than 20m, and getting my first look to the northern tableau does confirm the impression I got from a week ago, yes. you can see Pen-y-ghent from up here. Once the wall and the one small plantation on the moor has been passed, that marvellous feeling of isolation descends, and this is the first moorland trek I've done where I really feel that I am completely alone, with barely any signs of civilisation on any side.

Keighley Moor reservoir

I've not even gotten close to the middle of the moor, a much larger expanse than I'd realised, and won't be meeting the Pennine Way again, instead the track eventually rises to meet Keighley Moor reservoir, which has been hiding away from view for most of my passage, and it's a pleasing sort of spot, offering views back over the moor and the Worth Valley and a silvery pool beneath the leaden sky. I'll sit down by the dam, to enjoy a second lunch break and to soak in the solitude for a while more, not that this is a completely forgotten spot, it looks like someone has been building rock sculptures on the shore line and on the far side, a young mum has brought her toddlers and her many dogs out for an excursion. As I'm probably not half way on through my day, it's soon time to move on, and the trail off the moor features no grass, heather or spongy soil, the access road to the reservoir is the path of choice which allows for pretty rapid progress if not immediate interest as it carries on downhill to Higher Intake farm, and the only break from long grass is the road passing a large erratic boulder, probably so it provides a feature on the horizon. Eyes turn towards the coming cleft in the landscape, and looking for the next ascent, and drop out at Morkin Bridge, and then it's a pull up the road to Slitheroford Farm, and once we're through the farmyard, it's down to the riverbank again along the field boundary, and then the next field is uphill again, and that's ascent #5 and #6 in short order. Settle around the 260m contour, following the fields before rising into a mess of bracken on a worryingly narrow crumbly leading into the clough of an interceding stream, and lady steps are necessary as I can't see where I'm placing my feet as the beck is traversed. Rise to meet Bottoms Farm, and I'm still counting this as ascent #6, meeting the access track and rise to meet Todley Hall Road, sitting at the edge of the high fields above the 300m contour.

Newsholme Dean

Off the road again to descend down the bridleway back into Newsholme Dean, getting some views of the wooded valley that give me the feel that Colden Clough gave me last year, a slightly vertiginous track sitting above the trees, one that should be seen when it's a riot of Autumnal colour, I'm sure. The track descends gently, starting off paved and then moving into a section which seem to be used for penning livestock, judging by the amount of poop on the ground, before turning to a ditch and wall remnant, and eventually gaining a road surface without really giving any indication of the farms that it might serve. First visible farm is Newsholme Dean farm, naturally and the path wanders off the track into the undergrowth before entering the wood above Dean Beck, and the guide warns to stay on the highest path, not that I think you could get that lost in this tangle of birch, bracken and deciduous forestry. A pleasant bit of shade from the wind that had been hammering hard on the day, coming down to a millpond, and a heavily shaded stretch between goit and stream to meet the road emerging onto the road at Goose Eye, an odd little hamlet that has two substantial watermills enduring in conversions and rather a lot of redevelopment for an out of the way corner (the triumph of brown field sites, I'd again assume), and with a pub, naturally called The Turkey, an attractive spot to find yourself as the sunshine finally starts to make a breakthrough on the day. The road beyond, the only available path in the area, is the start of ascent #7, and it's a hard pull uphill providing no real places of refuge against the oncoming traffic downhill, and meeting the blind corner has me momentarily flummoxed as how to traverse it without getting squished, but a bit of wall climbing gives me a route that doesn't go under anyone's wheels. Relief come to get off the road, and a flagged path continues the ascent to meet some more of those multiple storeyed houses that I like so much, a track offering views as North Beck pushes its green wedge into the edges of Keighley, and coming out on the road drops us into Laycock, the most considerable of settlements encountered since leaving Oxenhope.

The Worth Valley from Steeton Moor

The level stretch through the village is a welcome break, and would be an excellent place to stop aside from the fact that I have no idea of how the bus service runs up here, so I'll go on, judging this mix of vintage houses as a good spot to retire, out of the way but by no means remote, and wondering why Chapel Hill offers a graveyard, but no chapel. Field walking then continues the ascent, offering gritstone walls and squeeze stiles and each field no offering any further aspect as to the rise beyond, and too many of the stiles have had boulders wedged into them to make them harder to traverse, maybe it keeps the sheep in their place but it doesn't favour the weary and short-legged walker. The rise does offer a good view back over the Worth Valley, and a last look at the hills that have kept me company during the last month, and also a pretty good illustration of why the Millennium Way should really be considered as Keighley's circular walk. Tarn Lane is met and the ascent then provides fields that I can't even see the far corners that I'm supposed to be aiming for, so some sheep have to be disturbed as I wander hopefully, but eventually the crest is met and the upper Airedale view comes into focus, and having ascended over 100m since Goose Eye, it's a pleasing amble down through long grass to meet the road at Redcar Lane. A road walk follows for more than a mile, quite a shock to the system after all the moorland, and I'll judge that Steeton's moor has been successfully pacified by agriculture as the first downhill run to Lower Redcar farm is made, but the middle section on the level is pretty scary as people coming home from work along this back road are choosing to tear it up and taking evasive manoeuvres is difficult when there's a high risk of stumbling into a concealed ditch. Then it's downhill from Wheat Fields farm, where the local dogs take potentially aggressive objection to me before being restrained by their mistress, and I lament that the enclosed avenue of trees that runs down by the road has not acquired itself a permissive path to protect the walkers from the motorists, but 100m are descended before I meet the familiar Intake Lane and I'd completely forgotten that it had a 50m rise to meet the view to Airedale again, a pull I could have done without at this stage, the 8th and final ascent of the day.

Nab End

Depart to the bridleway that descends through on of Steeton Moor's roughest fields, heading towards the Cross Hills / Glusburn / Sutton-in-Craven agglomeration and enjoying the view over Kildwick to Flasby Fell, but this is paying too much attention towards North Yorkshire and Craven district, and I should look down the Aire instead from above Currer Wood, to see that Eastburn and Steeton are more towns that merge seamlessly. Run down into the mess of trees and bracken above the heather encrusted quarry, and think that this is a bit of a challenging path to take your kids for an after-school amble, even if you are ostensibly walking your dogs, and then careful steps are needed to make the way down to the back lane into Eastburn, flagged like an old packorse road, which is odd as it runs down to meet terraces and semis by the main road. It makes sense to press on as the route guide indicates this as a break-off point, chooising to pad all the way to the railway station, and decend down to meet the valley floor along Green Lane, passing another of those housing development that must be awful for flood insurance, and then take the path that leads behind Airedale General Hospital, and this back corner looks like some awful 1970s accomodation blocks that haven't been occupied in a long time. Field walking then has the sun coming in low behind me and the feeling of Autumn arriving is acutely felt as the local high points of Nab End and Earl Crag are illumniated or rendered in deep shadow. Make for the footcrossing on the Skipton Line, but first have to get by a quartet of dogs who are too happy to make my aquaintance, with an owner who immediately recognises that path that I am taking, and once over the railway it's on trough more sheep fields and past the county's other Damart factory to find my passage over the Aire valley road. Find the first indicator poast and the rise up the embankment is difficult because of massive growth of weeds, and after that run accross the carriageways is much easier despite the rush hour traffic. Don't see the path down the other side, and the route guide tells me I wnet over one  crossing too early and who'd have thought that the A629 had two? Eventually sramble from the roadside to join the farm track that runs parrallel to the main road, and come out to meet the A6034 Keighley Road and Silsden Bridge on the Aire is only a corner away, and I settle on the bollard to check my time keeping, 5.40pm my latest finish in a long while and easily the most tiring day of the walking year so far. Still, only one train later than I's aimed for and Steeton & Silsden station is a very short stroll away, and I can head home feeling like I have earned my rest day.

Next up: The return to Wharfedale!


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 833.7 miles
(2013 total: 368.4 miles)