The Last Act: Bradford to Leeds 11/11/14

Well, the last day of the season is here, indeed the last day of my 3 year, 1,000 mile odyssey has finally arrived, it seemed such a long way away when I was first thinking about a long walking season to conclude on my 40th birthday, but over 1,100 miles have gone down since then, and I'm only just shy of 1,400 on the whole enterprise. Having featured five long circular trails, two cross-country treks and a whole mess of summits and high points, the season almost calls out for a dramatic conclusion, but mid November is no time to be making for Black Hill or Great Whernside, and I'll have to settle for somewhere a bit more mundane, and a trip to the old country of my first 14 years in West Yorkshire seems to be in order as I haven't visited my old haunts in Burley and Hyde Park since I moved away 7 years ago. Of course, a start in Bradford is pretty remote from there, but it makes more sense then striking out from New Pudsey or Horsforth, and anyway, filling in the gap between Leeds and Bradford seems appropriate at this late stage, indeed the city of Bradford deserves another apology, as whilst the district as a whole offers plenty for the walker, the city offers nothing at all. I have kept avoiding it as it has no green corridors or riverside walks, whilst development has ruined much of it historical face and the town planners seem to have favoured the motorist far more than the pedestrian, and whilst the terraces and suburbs of Leeds offer a kind of familiarity to me, those of Bradford have no resonance for me at all. But none of that is such a worthy excuse to ignore it completely, it is the second city of West Yorkshire after all, and so it deserves more than just the one visit during my 3 years of travels.

Bradford to Leeds, via Tyersal, Pudsey, Upper Armley, Burley & Hyde Park  12.6 miles

The remains of Bradford Exchange

I feel like a slightly later start is in order, so as to avoid all the commuters whilst I am NIW for my 40th birthday week, so we don't arrive at Bradford Interchange until 10.10, and unlike Forster Square this station seems to be a lot more amenable to getting its noticeboard contained within my selfie, and even though it's now functioning as a transport interchange once again, it's still a pretty sad replacement for the original L&Y/GNR joint station. So first steps are taken between the Victoria hotel and St George's Hall along Drake Street to seek the mortal remains of Bradford Exchange station, and whilst the Combined courts and a car park have absorbed most of the site, the industrial archaeologist in me is delighted that the retaining apron of walls has remained, along with the pedestrian gateways and footsteps to Hall Ings and Leeds Road, the latter still possessing a small remnant of its signage. The generally glum weather doesn't show up the town's best face otherwise, and my path soon leads me off among the newer office buildings of the city centre and the immediately interesting thing to see is the mural on the Bradford Playhouse, which celebrates the 1893 foundation of the Independent Labour Party. Passing across the A650 and up Filey Street and the town centre recedes from view, as my chosen route leads me through a largely industrial district, passing onto Hammerton Street where trucks pound up and down the road with fierce abandon and the air is filled with industrial smells that feel like they might be taking years off my life. Passing beneath the railway bridge of the line to Leeds, and of the abandoned Laisterdyke - Bowling avoiding line, and the ascent I'm taking on starts to make itself apparent, I know that Bradford sits in a hollow, so I don't know why its always a surprise that it should be uphill all the way to get out of it. Bowling Back Lane and Parry Lane continue the industrial surroundings as the pull uphill continues, finally levelling off when I meet the A6177 ring road, and a look back gives as good a perspective of the city as could be gained in these conditions, as the town centre peeks through the haze, whilst Valley Parade stadium and Manningham Mills loom above it in the distance. 


Tyersal Beck Embankment

Once over the ring road, we find ourselves in urban surroundings once more, and Broad lane takes me through the district of Tyersal, mostly know to me because of all the old railways which used to junction near here, and to prove my thinking, it's only a short way past Dick Lane, that we meet the former bridge and in-filled cutting of the Ardsley - Laisterdyke branch, the old line to Morley Top, making a late and last appearance on the year. Tyersal Lane leads me out of the city, where a council estate on one side faces a field of many, many ponies on the others, and this green space is where I'm heading following the track for a mile of more towards the farms that sit above Black Carr wood and work the land that keeps Leeds and Bradford as separate entities. Views north show up the former triangular junctions where a bunch of old GNR lines used to merge, and attention eastwards shows up Pudsey high on its hillside, and the view south reaches all the way down to Morley, with the Town hall making a rare appearance on the horizon, it's odd that this green space is only getting its second visit from me, having only come this way before on the second day of my walking tour, and it's such a pleasingly peaceful spot after the bustle of Bradford has been left behind. The track between Tyersal Hall and Black Hey farm descends gradually, drawing attention to the looming embankment of the GNR Pudsey Loop Line of 1893, which I have talked about before, but once you have passed below the missing bridge and followed the broken track all the way down to Tyersal Beck, the hugeness of the structure become apparent, this tree clad monstrosity must be half a mile long and 40m tall, and the logistics of constructing it, and wondering why a viaduct wasn't put in its place frankly boggle the mind. The stream is really what keeps the two conurbations independent of each other, and the pull up to Smalewell Road is no fun at all, a lung-burster that I could do without in these damp conditions, and I keep on looking back at that embankment as it drops below us, just to marvel at it, the largest embankment by volume, in the world?

The GNR Pudsey Loop Line

Say Hello again to the Leeds Country Way route once we finally hit the top, and the lungs get some relief as I pass the Fox and Grapes, too early in the day for booze or food, and I head into the town, where another day might have seen me heading off for a closer look at Greenside Tunnel, but for now I'll consider Pudsey as an ideal example for a village study, to illustrate how the passages of local history have turned an independent rural town into a suburb of a larger city within the last three generations. The variety of vintages along Smalewell Road and Station Road is certainly broad, and that's a thesis to ponder for another day as I come up on the large void that sits in the middle of the town, and even with the trees being free of leaves, it's impossible to see through them down the to east portal of Greenside Tunnel, so other railway features will have to be noted instead, like the Royal hotel, a very fine public house, and the bold bridge carrying Carlisle Road over the site of Pudsey Greenside station, a better view of which can be gained by descending to the industrial sites at the bottom of Carlisle Drive. I'm pretty sure this line, between Bramley and Laisterdyke, closed in 1964, is one that Britain's railways would love to have back, as the growth of Pudsey in the last 50 years makes the railways absence seem all that more stupid, and despite the half century of development that has gone on since then, large sections of the alignment remain intact, beyond the old folks bungalows on New Street Grove. Rights of way might not exist along the filled in cuttings, but popular paths do, all the land remaining shaded by trees and pleasingly wild, surely preserved by the local council as I can't think of any other good reason for it not having been built upon, with four iron overbridges remaining in situ between New Street and Robin Lane, with the last section being the best stretch in this quarter, a neat little finale for 3 years of railway walking, having managed to somehow cover most of West Yorkshire's walkable lines in that period. Development has claimed the site of Pudsey Lowtown station, but access is still available between Longfield Court and Crimbles Place, and the pedestrian tunnel is still accessible too, so I'll pass through that before arriving at the B6154 Lowtown, where course can be set for the city of Leeds.


Wortley Reservoir

Away From Pudsey, and the older corner of the town judging by the buildings, following the B6154 as it slips out of town, as the terraces are left behind, and more recent builds command the hillside view into the green space on this side of town, another deep valley cleft of the same complex of streams encountered before, now flowing north up Troydale, where a wooded embankment endures, and my Sis and Dr G used to live in house somewhere down in that direction too, if we are noting personal links to this area. It's actually going to be a bit of a haul until we get to any locales that I am actually interested in, so my entry into West Leeds is best done with the hammer down, following the footway all the way along Pudsey Road  to the roundabout on the A6110 Ring Road, by Wickes and opposite the Corn Mill Lodge hotel, continuing on as the council estate rises on the hillside to the north, and my lack of geographical knowledge in these parts comes to the fore when I fail to put a name to it. We are not in Farnley, Swinnow or Bramley, for sure and I wouldn't have thought we were in Wortley either, but that is the name given to the beck that feeds into the reservoir which site between the roads, so I'll stick with that for now, and it's a disappointment that even when you slip down to the perimeter path, no good views can be gained across the water's surface, hiding away behind thick vegetation on the elevated banks. Hit the rise on Tong Road, and slip onto my path towards my old residences via the footsteps up to Heights Drive, and the council estate retreats from view as we pass on along the many terrace ends of Upper Armley facing onto Whingate Road, noting that they get a bit lager and more upscale as you progress closer to Leeds. Past the Commercial Inn, we pass over the railway line to Bradford once again, above the site of Armley railway station, and that's surely another location to wonder why is isn't still on the railway map. Cross town Street and follow Armley Ridge road past the architectural highlight of this corner of town, the bold high Victorian take on Early English style that is Christ Church, Upper Armley, one that you wouldn't notice if you attention was drawn to the much larger and brasher St Bart's closer to the town centre, and once down through some of the craziest terraces seen on my travels we meet the A647 Stanningley Road, to finally get a view towards the part of West Leeds that was my home for 13 of the 21 years that I have lived up country.


Gott's Park, Armley

I'm hitting that point in the day when I realise that this supposedly short day of wandering is actually turning out to be a lot longer than I had expected, a handy reminder that Bradford and Leeds are actually a lot further apart than you might have thought, so a brief watering and feed are necessary before I make my way down Redcote Lane as it makes its way across Gott's Park. This is probably a good moment to talk about Benjamin Gott, the third major industrial of the trio including John Marshall and Matthew Murray who fired the development of Leeds in the 19th century, a man who made his fortune in wool, establishing the first factory producing woollen goods in the world at Bean Ing, on the site once occupied by the Yorkshire Post offices, in 1792. The parkland here formed his personal estate, acquired by the city in 1928 and largely containing a public golf course these days, the landscaping having largely endured in the period, with Armley house, Gott's residence, now forming the club house, and oddly, this is the first time I have ever been here, so the walking is proving useful for some things. The rough track eventually leads to the bridge across the Leeds & Liverpool canal, and that's a track previously walked again, and a lot of fresh miles have gone down today, which is already something of a surprise, but all tracks from her on in will be familiar, first following the road around the perimeter of the main electrical substation for Leeds, now surrounded by dense wire fences to prevent photography of its interesting geometrical shapes, and then slipping beneath the bridges of the railway line to Skipton. Pass through the golf course associated to the health centre that sits at the valley floor and then come up to Gott's Bridge crosses the river Aire, and this end of Redcote Lane at least seem to have a bit of purpose as it rolls me out to Kirkstall Road, just a bit too far along to get a picture of the viaduct on the Harrogate line. I'll apologise ahead of time if nostalgia seems come out rather heavily over the remaining few miles, but we are heading into my local old country as we head up between the terraces to meet the Haddon Hall pub, one of the more awful drinking establishments in student land, which I am happy to report is no longer open, and beyond that we meet Burley Road, and it's hard to believe that 7 and a half years have passed since I was last in this quarter.

Left Bank Leeds, Hyde Park

Start up along The Village Street, next to the parkland where the original Burley village lingered until the late 19th century, and our path takes us up Knowle Road, the last of the quartet of steeply rising roads which have terraces that are really a bit too good for student accommodation, and then on to still-cobbled Knowle Mount, the street where I lived for 8 and half years, 1998 to 2007, sharing with my good friend IH for most of them. All this time has passed since I was last out here and it's still looking much the same, my old house still being the odd one at the angle that is full width at the front but half width at the back, looking like it has had a fresh lick of varnish since I moved out, but offering no sign of the interior as the residents have left all the curtains drawn, sure indication of student occupation. It's an odd feeling to think I've now been in Morley for just a year less than I resided here, and I move on as a previous residence is only a couple of streets away, so I note the launderette has gone from the corner, and Dial-A-Pizza has changed identities, before passing onto Lumley Road, that has Leeds Rhinoceroses' Headingley Carnegie Stadium looming beyond its end, and down Lumley Avenue to see my first post-university residence at the corner of Beechwood Terrace, where three friends moved in in 1996, and only two friends moved out in 1998, a lot of good times had whilst living there, but really too much unemployment endured to make the whole period not one to be remembered too fondly. Move on, past the garage on the corner of Beechwood Crescent, to roll over the platforms of Burley Park railway station, one that is unlikely to ever feature on my walking travels, but still stands as the third most used station in West Yorkshire during my residence here. Down Ashville Road, to where the Co-operative store and the video shop still endure, and then strike off down Cardigan Road, to note that estate agents seem to be the local growth industry, and take a slight detour to see that Temple Moore's St Margaret's church has finally gotten the second life that is deserved, reinvented as Left Bank Leeds, a creative arts space, and then it's on up Royal Park Road, past some of the district's least appealing terraces and the Makkah Masjid Mosque (for all you alliteration fans), to see what the heart of Hyde Park's student land is looking like these days.


The Michael Sadler Building,
the University of Leeds

That odd space that used to be a scrapyard is still there, not wanted by any developers, whilst the shop fronts along Queen's Road  have definitely changed during the last decade, and the Royal Park pub still endures, always having been one of the better awful pubs, and always good for pool, and most disappointingly, Royal Park Primary school has been demolished, replaced by a fenced off green space that just looks like it needs to be wanted. Ascend the steep hill up towards Woodhouse Moor, resisting the temptation to venture into the terraces to see if Peter Chan's Chinese Chippie or Man Mountain, the Asian supermarket, are still in business, instead rising to the top to find my second student house, on the corner of Hyde park Road, where four ill matched characters lived between 1994 and 1996, and left on good enough terms to be Facebook friends 20 years down the line, not the site of wanton debauchery mind, as I did most of my drinking at the late and lamented Bricklayers Arms in Woodhouse. Move on along the wooded perimeter of Woodhouse Moor, above Moorland Road, a track walked many times when supposedly attending university, noting that student land is looking far healthier than I had thought, considering the changing expectations of under-graduates these days, rolling on past the Old Leeds Grammar school, and the Duke of Wellington statue (still painted in incongruous colours) to get my first student home seen as well. That will be the Henry Price building, on Clarendon Road, looking like it has had a major refit since I lived there in 1993-4, but I can still walk up to C-block and point to my window, demonstrating that I still have a memory for such things, and hope that the first year students of the 21st century have better accommodation that is more state of the art than one which had 2'6" pull-out beds and 3amp electric supply. Then onward through University campus and the bustle along Lifton Place, to note just how young students are looking these days, and to look distinctly out of place among the many people hanging around outside the Union, one of my other drinking establishments, to then go on past the Michael Sadler building, which contained the School of History, which I did my best to avoid during my days as an undergraduate, but they still somehow saw fit to award me a Desmond 2ii in International History and Politics in 1996, a degree which I have insisted I did nothing to deserve for more than 18 years now.

The 2014 season , and the
1,000 mile odyssey, ends.

My conclusion to this this trip through the university is that not much has changed in the last 20 years, a thought soon refuted once I spot the Ziff building, and the ongoing construction work next to the Emmanuel institute, but my day of walking needs to come to a conclusion, with me on the wrong side of the city centre, so I stomp away, down Hilary Place and onto Woodhouse Road, past the Fenton, the grimiest and most authentic of all the Otley run pubs, to pass over the Inner Ring road, and wonder how I missed the extensive redevelopment of the Metropolitan University campus, and it being renamed as Leeds Beckett. For complete trip down Memory Lane, I really ought to go though the underpass to the Merrion centre and Morrison's, but that has been inaccessible for a long time now, and I'll not be ending my day at Cuthbert's on Millennium Square like so many of my jaunts into Leeds this year, instead choosing to press on down to Albion Street and on though the heart of the Leeds shopping district, passing by the St John's centre, the Light and Trinity Leeds as I go and slowly marking most of the streets of Leeds Town centre off on my walking travels, which hasn't officially featured the Headrow yet, which seems like a mistake. Also missing from my walking destinations list is Leeds City Station, which has been passed through so many times, but has never had a walk start or end there, which is again a major omission, and half way down New Station Street is as close as I'm going to get today, passing away from it as I take the steps down to Swinegate, passing below the station throat and past the site of the recently closed Cockpit, a venue I should have done a lot more to love when I was a younger man. On past the Malmaison (French for Sick House) in the old tramway HQ, and onto Bridge End, over Leeds Bridge again, and on to the corner of Hunslet Road, where the Tetley brewery may have slipped into history, but its most celebrated heritage pub is still in place as my 3 year journey comes to an end at the Adelphi at 3pm. A celebratory drink is in order, but just the one as I'm four days early for my 40th Birthday bash, and that is the end of the odyssey that started at Gargrave station 983 days prior, ending on a total mileage that exceeded my expectations by quite a distance, 1402.2 miles, and I'll drink to that!

Next on the Slate: Turning 40, and Celebrating it!


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1402.2 miles   
(2014 total: 489 miles)

   (Up Country Total: 1306.6 miles)
   (Solo Total: 1175.2 miles)
   (Declared Total: 1194 miles)