Kirklees Way #3: Oakenshaw to Dewsbury 16/08/14

Self at Oakenshaw

On my wanderings this year, I have already discovered just how extensive Kirklees district seems to be, spreading into areas that i would have placed within other sections of West Yorkshire if you had directed me to do so. The start of today is within territory that I would have considered as being the outer suburban fringe of Bradford, and the course of today will lead us ridiculously close to home, and that shouldn't really come as a surprise as Morley sits at the bottom left corner of Leeds district, I clearly cannot get the my mind to accept the that the Dewsbury / Batley / Cleckmondegde agglomeration is a component of the same district as Huddersfield and all the rural land and the moors to the south. It comes so close to home, like the Leeds Country Way, that it could be met within a 10 minute of a bus ride from my flat, but after checking the route profile, there's really no way of breaking up the route to start from Howden Clough Road and get a satisfactory division of the route into five or six legs, as one day always turns out to be far too long, and so, we just come close to home for a while on part of a longer loop, and even when we will be finding paths previously walked, it'll also be good to find that there might still be some virgin territory right on my doorstep.

Kirklees Way #3: Oakenshaw to Dewsbury  11.1 miles

Birkenshaw

Hop off the bus by St Andrew's church under glum skies at 9.30am, setting off past the Richardson Arms (former pub), one of the many buildings in Oakenshaw which have the Richardson arms (heraldry) upon them, taking a right down Mill Carr Lane to pass beneath the bridge of the M606, and confirm my belief that we are on the edge of Bradford district as the sign just up the road greets travellers into the borough. We're staying in Kirklees though, swinging up Cliff Hollins Lane, down to cross Hunsworth Beck at the top of the Spen valley and then uphill again to hammer it up to the mix of horse farms at the op of the lane and then descending into a filed crossing to get dew collecting on my boots for the first time this year. We continue, passing through Chatts Wood, and around the edge of a trotting field, to find more old woodlands surrounding Cockleshaw beck, a quiet glade with a very muddy ascent out of it, and the autumnal feelings seem to be coming on early this year. Rise to a field walk, ascending without a fix on my direction, and spending a lot of time looking back to place Oakenshaw and Scholes in the immediate landscape, before clocking the correct route towards Copley House farm, over more fields before ascending though what is best described as a vegetation-choked ditch. A hard surface is gratefully received as we rise towards Hunsworth Lane, and with the altitude gain from the start the panorama to the southwest emerges once again, and even when we are as far as the trail get get away from the highest points of the district, our attention is drawn towards it, and it remains in view as the path descends down a farm track before swinging around to cross Lodge Beck and pass right through the middle of a herd of cows before rising once more, crossing the contour hugging Navigation Bank, another mineral works tramway lost to history, before finding that this track ends passing through far too much overgrown vegetation too before slipping around the back of the suburbia that has grown along the edge of Bradford Road in Birkenshaw. Along the A651 we go as far as the old Co-operative store and the George IV inn, moving onto Town Street / Station Lane, and this looks like where many Bradford merchants escaped to, back in the day, to get the sort of view that isn't available on the other side of the hill to the north. Sububia and general expensiveness seem to have endured along here right up to this century, and we slip back to the fields via Sherburn Grove, around the back of a house whose gardens litter the path with apples and pears, just that too far away from home to journey to sneakily fill one's fruit basket.

Warrens Lane bridge, Oakwell Hall

A field boundary walk passes the northern apex of the trail, leading us over to the dilapidated Springfield Farm, where the chained dogs do no seem to appreciate visitors, and we meet the bridleway that featured on my early season jaunt to Bradford, as well as dog walkers, and the old GNR railway embankments that still attract my interest despite having seen them before. The route follows the grotty access track to Hill Top farm, dropping out onto the A650 as it crosses the A58 at the start of the Drighlington bypass, and our stretch in local territory can start, in my mind at least, departing the roads around the back of a horse paddock and field of scrawny chickens, to meet a rough path along the edge of some rather marginal land alongside the A650. A fish pond below could easily be mistaken for the remains of canal, if you weren't paying attention, and whilst the immediate surroundings are somewhat unprepossessing, the view to the southwest captures the attention again, such a pity that it is hidden away below glum skies, but it is one I have now seen and photographed a thousand times. The path threatens to vanish entirely beneath thistles and long grass as it crests a rise before dropping down to meet Warrens Lane by Heightlands farm, and this enclosed track is followed all the way down towards the M62, because following the supposed shortcut will only get you lost very quickly, and from the passage beneath the motorway we enter the grounds of Oakwell Hall. This is a section that could easily have been dropped from the day's route, having been here on the way to Halifax, but it's worth it to find the bridge that crossed the L&NWR Leeds New Line, and seeing stretches of previously unwalked formation in both directions, before greeting the relative throng of folks out to enjoy the park and following the track down to the hall itself where elevenses can be consumed on a previously visited bench. Glum weather doesn't show the hall's best face, but it does invite a wedding party, it seems, complete with an Austin Princess limousine parked outside, not one of those awful 1970s British Leyland cars, mind you, but one of the good ones from the 50s, and as these grounds are being reserved for a dose of #hibernot in 2015, I move on back to the Way, looping around the west side of the hall to pass over railway and under motorway again to find the track that rises away to the east, just as the sun breaks through.

Birkby Brow Wood

Follow the twisting field paths over to Fieldhead Lane, meeting a dog that seems deeply distressed by encountering this man with a stick, a deeply traumatised rescue case according to its new owner, passing over the M62 for the last time to the mix of stone terraces, old farm buildings and healthcare showroom which has developed by the house that claims the location of the 1733 birthplace of noted scientist and radical non-conformist preacher Joseph Priestley (a man claimed by many towns in these parts, and whilst recorded as the discoverer of Oxygen in 1772, he never really grasped the significance of his scientific breakthrough). We pace on along the shaded Owler Lane, which is followed to its end would drop you behind Ikea at Birstall retail park, and as it crests above the playing fields we get the only distant view for the day of our exciting elevated hillside walk that will conclude the day on Crakenedge. More prosaic walking must follow before that though, meeting the mixture of suburbia and factories which sit along dark lane, before descending to cross the A62 Gelderd Road and to rise up Nab Lane, sealed up at its main road junction at this end too, rising to meet the Birstall Industrial estate that has already featured on my travels, whilst the pleasant village square has yet to feature, for which I probably owe Birstall an apology. From Pennine View, it's down over the Leeds New Line bridge once again, and down the track to meet Moat Hill Farm Drive and the A643 Leeds Road, just adjacent to where the bus ride to Cleckheaton enters the council estate which always gets me disorientated. As the better part of the day's weather passes, I guess I'm good to pace down the right side of the road in the direction of Howden Clough, not realising that I'm going to run out of pavement by the Mann's Buildings terrace, and some jinking across the road is needed before I can find well hidden entrance to the steep and slick path that descends from the main road down to Howley Beck and the way into Birkby Brow Wood. It's my third time wandering in this corner and I am still to enter this wood via the entrance from Howden Clough Road, and as one of the times was on the Leeds Country Way, I know that the path has wandered out of Kirklees as there seems to be no other route down this valley, which seem odd for such a green space, and considering that there is the old GNR trackbed up on the other side that could have got the cyclepath treatment. Instead it's down through the woods, still looking like they did in 2012, with the rising LCW junction still showing up as vaguely as it did back then, and in places I still feel that the path really isn't suited to use by joggers, cycling kids or ambling lovers, despite its popularity.

Hanging heaton & Crackenedge

Openings in the woodland cover focus my attention in the direction of Batley, and the presence of a horsebox with a registration ending EAW amuses me no end (deliberate or coincidence?) as I walk down to meet Scotchman Lane, where I cross over to stay on the familiar tracks down Howley Mill lane, past the riding school and under the wonky rail bridge on the Huddersfield line, and joining the horribly muddy path down towards Lady Anne's Mills, where each view out down the valley is one previously seen when crossing Kirklees back in April. Change routes as I pass uphill along Broomsdale Road, away from the stone terraces and into the Soothill Council estate, for a mixture of low rise blocks and brick terraces, where that path never seems obvious as several road junctions lack names, and as we head uphill, along Grace Leather Road, the guide book keeps promising views down towards Batley but they never seem to emerge, even after the rise to Soothill Road has ended and we re-enter the land of stone terraces. Cross the B6124 and descend down Bridle Street, a suburban lane that gradually peters out to a track, complete with blackberry pickers among the undergrowth, but it does offer a new look towards Crackenedge again, which for such a sharply inclined hill does a good job of hiding in the landscape, and more views are gained as a rough path drops down over one unclaimed field among the terraces and factory units as the path bottoms out at the B6128, Grange Road. The way forward appears fenced off, but it's only an optical illusion, designed to deter cyclists I'd guess, and the rise up slips between the fences of several factories, with piles of bobbins in the yard indicating a link to the industries which made Batley and Dewsbury's fortune in the 19th century, before hitting a sharp incline that I knew was coming but that doesn't make it any easier, even in the latter stages of a short walking day. The view up to the north east feels like it should be familiar, but lacks immediate points of reference, and later checking identifies it as Easy Ardsley, convincing me further that Morley is a town that cannot be seen from afar, and it may have been only 60m, concluding on some stone steps up the edge of Hanging Heaton but |I felt every step of it, and across High Street the ascent isn't done, rising uop more steps and through a lot of nettle and weed growth to finally top out on Kirkgate, next to the estate that grew up on the hillside between the 1950s and 80s, and rising to the Fox & Hounds on the corner we finally start to get views into the valley, and I'll immediately lament the lack of sunshine that this location deserves.

Dewsbury from Crackenedge

The path skirts the edge of the hill on which Hanging Heaton sits, around the backs of gardens which hopefully have good weatherproofing as the wind whips across Crackenedge with enough force to have me tightening the fit on my hat, above the grassy and scrubby slopes of the hillside that has never had any development attempts of any kind made on it, oddly seeing that many streets have consumed slopes the seemed too steep for them. Initial views are over Batley, showing up the viaduct and the railway, with the wooded cleft of Howden Clough beyond, whilst the town itself, and much of the land to the west remains mysterious as I have never walked into it, and attention moves southwards to the mills at the valley floor, and the rugby ground and the tower of Holy Trinity, Batley Carr, higher up the hill. Thwacking sounds beyond the hedge to my left indicate the presence of Hanging Heaton golf course, the first one seen since day 2, and attention turns south as the Colne valley panorama returns, as well as the view to Emley Moor, visible from pretty much anywhere in Kirklees, whilst straight down the hill is that path that makes an apparent beeline straight towards dewsbury viaduct and the railway station, but I'm staying on the high path for as long as I can manage. Vague route marking and mapping means I'm not sure where the descent is supposed to start and it feels like I've missed a turn when I meet the 'dangerous path' above the former quarries at the southern end of Crackenedge, and a straight descent has me meeting a thicket of conifers that cannot be easily penetrated, and the path into Caulms wood doesn't feel like the one I should be taking. Not one to waste time finding the right path, i trust my tracking instinct to take me onward through the woodland, below the disused quarries where local lads can be heard larking around, as i head eastwards on a decent track to popout by the stone pyramid that marks the Leeds Road entrance to caulms wood, where I can get back on track. The A653 feels like it should be the end of the day, but we still have another short rise to go, up Sugar Lane and along Hollinroyd Lane, another of those rare urban tracks that never became actual roads, a leafy finale on the edge of Dewsbury before we descend down to meet Wakefield Road, but as I'm still fond of living, I'll err and use the crossing of the A638 to drop me by the ring road, just behind the Town hall for a 2.05pm finish. A little later than I had anticipated, think that I was going to do less than 10 miles (despite my rough plot telling me it was 11), and as I travelled without lunch it's a short hurry up across the town to be delighted that the train homeward which I was aiming for is running late 10 minutes late.

Next on the Slate: Half way around already, and the way back starts, out from the familiar and returning to the unknown once again.


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1244.5 miles
(2014 total: 331.3 miles)

(Up Country Total: 1148.9 miles)
(Solo Total: 1029.1 miles)
(Declared Total: 1036.3 miles)