Saltaire to Otley 21/09/13

Autumn is upon us and as is the tradition, a ferocious head cold descends on me, only a 48 hour virus and one that I choose to work through to demonstrate what a trooper I am, but that means that the tank is going to be running low as the weekend comes around and the long walk from Marsden to Hebden Bridge isn't going to happen. Walking after a respiratory ailment is not a good idea, as recalled by leg #3 of the Calderdale way when a trek of less than 10 miles took more than 6 hours, so walking from Colne to Calder is going to have to wait, and as the last phase of the walking season is upon us, I think I can allow myself a short excursion to get in three high points between Aire and Wharfe.

Saltaire to Otley, via Baildon Moor, Hawksworth Cliff and Otley Chevin  9.8 miles


Baildon Moor

Having come and gone from Saltaire in the previous week, it make sense to add some of the paths going north onto my walking plate, and that means a 9.40am start and heading north over the canal, and then over the River Aire, over which New Mill looms in a rather imposing way,  and some preparations seem to be in place for a festival of some sort in Roberts Park, so I have to walk among the stall of the market selling local produce, and again think 'Street market is needed at the end of the day, not the start.'. Head out past the statue of Sir Titus Salt (a Morley native!) and onto Higher Coach Road to head on between Upper School, woodlands and the council houses of whichever town claims this corner of Airedale, I think it's Baildon? Then meet the path into the woods that I descended on the Millennium Way, ascending as far as the fork that leads into Broadstone wood, so that I might walk up Shipley Glen from the bottom and get some views of the gritstone outcrops from below. It's certainly a pleasant woodland stroll, out of the way and distinctly under populated,  but the rocks are not nearly as impressive as I'd hoped for and it all ascends a bit too quickly. I'd figured that the path would go for the full length of the glen, somewhere along Loadpit Beck, but as it is it emerges from the Birch trees about halfway up, so this is a track I might need to investigate further when I have time on my hands, but for now I'll have to pace the sandy paths above Shipley Glen and get the feeling that every trip I make in this vicinity is going to feature a wander alongside Glen Road, but I can no look on into the the next phase of the day, wandering into the apron of bracken that surrounds Baildon Moor.I guess it qualifies as a moor as it is uncultivated and has a covering of bracken and long grass, but it doesn't actually top 300m and it's still getting counted because I can make up the rules as I go along, and hitting the steady ascent has me feeling like I'm shaking the last remnants of my virus loose as I head upwards, and despite the low cloud and modest temperature I'm already sweating really hard, which feels distinctly unhealthy.

Hawksworth Cliff & Otley Chevin
from Baildon Moor

There are rather a lot of tracks crossing the rising hill, and I don't know how this moor maneges to have four different roads crossing it, so you have to give way to passing joggers, horses and motorist as they enjoy their morning exercise, and going is surprisingly hard as I rise to start to get some scale of the panorama of Airedale, aiming to meet the edge of the caravan site at Dobrudden farm. I have no idea why there is a caravan park up here, or who would want to own a static caravan on a hill like this, it can't all be for the view? I know what rain and wind is like at altitude and I'd happily keep well away from that at all times, and what's more, there are two of them up here, the mind boggles. Still, they've got a small antiquity to enjoy, a cup marked rock, and I'd like to elucidate on this prehistoric art, but knowledge of their age and purpose has yet to be deciphered, but it's a handy reminder that there has been a lot of history on this strange orb before we were around. Only 30m of uphill beyond there, and a rapid ascent to the top, at 281m high we are at Leicestershire levels of altitude, but the modest height provides an excellent 360 degree panorama, offering views both ways along Airedale and of the high hills that flank it, not one surrounded by mountains but a great view of both rural and urban West Yorkshire from a single vantage point. I'm also cheered to see the number of people out to to enjoy the hill, and I'm going to guess this is Baildon's personal playground, and it's in that direction I head moving to the descent on the eastern flank and making note of the future route to the next pair of rises, and it's careful steps down the 70m of the high hill to meet the lower moor. Along here housing has encroached right up to the edge of the common land, and I hope the developers of the 1970 understood the dark art of weatherproofing, as it's going to get harsh above 200m, but it is an excellent spot to have your own telescope (a Newtonian Reflector, no less) erected on your terrace, and it's just above the housing level that the path takes me, skirting the golf course and crossing Hawksworth Road to descend below the rocky eastern edge of the moor, and it might not be a big moor, but it's certainly one of the more amiable ones.

Hawksworth Cliff from the north

Descend from Moorside, down through an equestrian centre and onward into a rural landscape that descends down below the 100m contour to carefully cross the stepping stones on Gill Beck (so good they named it twice) and then to ascend the other bank up the slick and knotty path through Birks Wood (another name I'm sure I've encountered somewhere else). Midway up the 100m ascent to Hawksworth village, the views re-emerge as I pace along the rough of Bradford Golf course, offering more views to that wooded corner of Airedale around Esholt, and back to the looming Baildon Moor, but it oddly doesn't dominate the landscape like I thought it would, and the standard highpoint turns out to be Idle Hill, standing above Shipley with its telephone mast and covered reservoir at its top. Out of the fields, and into Hawksworth, strung along the road on the hillside, and then straight out of the other side on the enclosed path between the woods and the quarry which offers no further views as the last 30m to the top of Hawksworth Cliff are ascended. Actually it's not called Hawksworth Cliff at all, merely being a nameless 230m rise off the bottom-right corner of Rombalds Moor, but it's a distinctly sharp looking edge from both sides and also divides the views of Airedale and Wharfedale, finally seen as the hill is crested, and consider this hill named. The view to the north offers the coming route to Chevin, and gives a view over the strange ribbon of settlements that extends through the gap in the Wharfedale - Airedale Cleft, from Burley to Rawdon, and I just wish that I could get a view south, but I didn't bring the chainsaw needed to provide that aspect.The descent is steep, as previously scene on my amble down to Harry Ramsden's, and there's no need to hurry as I have no desire to go sliding into the gorse bushes, whilst from the bottom it looks a whole lot higher than its 50m of prominence, like a random bit of moorland got dropped into the fields. Meet the track from my crossing of Rombalds Moor, and walk it in reverse, down to Mire beck and back up towards High Royds hall, where there is a strong gas smell coming from the nearby storage facility, and it amuses me that such a generically named farm would become synonymous with the county lunatic asylum, our next point of call.


High Royds Hospital

I expect the permissive footpath to lead down to the front of the old hospital, opened in 1888 and closed in 2003 and now home to extensive residential development, but it only goes as far as a north-south trod and offers no obvious way to the front, so I head to the north edge to meet the derelict out buildings of Linton House and the partially fenced off Norwood Avenue, and from here I have to make my way through a redevelopment that I find almost unbearably ugly. I use my best homing skills to find my way down to the remaining sections of the old hospital, which offers some architecturally interesting vistas, but even though the Ramsgill and Amerdale wards are now apartment blocks, the Gothic styling means they remain cold and forbidding buildings, and could only appear welcoming on the sunniest of days. Trot all the way down to the front to see the administration building and clock tower and then depart along Ingle road, not entirely sure if I have been trespassing on the grounds of Chevin Park or not, and head out to the main road, ruminating that whilst I might not like the new houses on the site, I'm glad plenty High Royd's old buildings have remained, unlike at Killingbeck, for example. Cross the A65 and set course for Otley Chevin, starting out on the bridleway past sub-station and over railway to pass Intake farm (another generic name that shows up everywhere), to start up the first 80m of ascent up a track that offers shifting views over Guiseley and West Leeds, gradually resolving into a familiar sort of Aire-Wharfe panorama as I rise between Chevin End Road and Moor Top. On the top road, a battlemented valve tower guards a covered reservoir on the curiously named Whale Jaws hill (?!) and a road walk is unavoidable to get around the quarry, before joining the bridleway that leads up around Moor Farm and along to the back of Chevin, and you'd never guess that Wharfedale hides down the far side of this hill, even though the view makes you feel the elevation. Tamping on and looking south to the view towards Cookridge Microwave tower has me feeling that I have unreasonably neglected the paths around Leeds since I first wandered into Wharfedale this year, and make mental note to pay more attention to these fields in 2014.

Otley from the Chevin

The footpath to the last ascent to York Gate is well hidden and horses have to be shooed away to cross the final pair of fields, whilst I ponder the wisdom of having an airport and clay pigeon shooting in such relative proximity. Note that The Royalty is still closed, and tag it on the fantasy career paths list, before rising up through the forest park car park to see why Surprise View earns its name as the land falls away as Wharfedale reveals itself below and pause to soak up a view that now has a much larger number of known points in it, but don't get much solitude as the crowds of lower Wharfedale are out to enjoy their personal hill. Retreat to the nearest bench to enjoy a very late lunch and to get myself feeling recharged before starting the steep descent through the grass down to enter the forest, joining some steep steps that cannot be hurried down, before meeting a cobbled path that is slick and nightmarish. Ignore at the tracks branching to the side and keep on down to meet the houses below the woods and the field of chickens and sheep with a very large and prominent DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS sign that amuses me more than it should, rolling down to cross the A660 bypass road and find myself glad that I chose to do the walk this way and not in reverse as the wander down to the road is a solid 200m, not something you want at the start of the day. My railway relic Spidey Sense tells me that the site of Otley railway station must have been on the open area between the houses and the bypass which occupies the old trackbed, and moving on down Station Road proves my instinct was correct. It's been the lack of railway that has probably been responsible for keeping me away from Otley, a town that strikes me as Todmorden to Ilkley's Hebden Bridge, but it bustles nonetheless and even offers a Folk Music if I were feeling that way inclined. I'll move down Kirkgate to the distinctive clock tower on the market place, but not go in search of Wharfe Bridge or the Thomas Chippendale statue, instead taking a look back at Chevin to see how it looks like a wooded Ilkley Moor, complete with white house half way up, and then heading through the wrong sort of street market for the days end. Roll up at the bus station for a 2.55pm finish, and then realise why I avoid ending days waiting for buses as the X84 decides to do a 40 minute disappearing act, turning my simple trip home into something of an odyssey.

Next on the Slate: A slow dance along the Lancashire Border!


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 863.8 miles
(2013 total: 398.5 miles)