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| Self at Dewsbury |
August has been going well so far, so I think this is a cue to go against the clock again, not because I'm feeling like i should be going at a healthier clip, but more because I've got a hot date in the late afternoon (or that's how I've been teasing it on Facebook, more prosaically it's a barbecue at my supervisor's house in Garforth, scheduled in whilst we can still claim Summer is in the air). I've realistically got one bus ride from my destination that will get me home in time, and that's due at 2pm, so a very early start is in order, rolling through Dewsbury town centre as the low sun glowers down into my eyes, long before the citizens emerge to hit the shops and the only people about are busy setting up the urban beach around the town hall for August bank holiday weekend. One thing to ponder at this early hour, however, regarding the statue of two figures in the town hall square, notionally titled 'The Good Samaritan', it actually looks like someone tending their drunk friend after a heavy chundering session and ought to be titled something like 'I think that's the last of it' or 'That curry was a
really bad idea'. Also, I'm not the only person on the internet to have made this observation, so look it up, but anyway, I think I'm starting to digress, so onward...
Kirklees Way #4: Dewsbury to Clayton West 12.6 miles
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| Earlsheaton Tunnel |
Depart from the Dewsbury ring road at 8.25am,
which might be my earliest start in all my up country wanderings,
heading off down Ridings Road and through the yard that is home to
the fairground folks and their kit, wondering how many of them are
making busy in the town hall square this morning. Thence onward down
the old GNR Dewsbury Loop line, still shrouded in much greenery and
not looking like a decent surface will be coming this way anytime
soon, even though it would be an obvious link to the cycleways that
run out by the Calder, the junctions of which are soon met, and I'll
be heading in the direction of the relatively new path towards
Ossett, which offers a good look back in the direction of Headfield
viaduct, the stonework of which is lit up beautifully by the low
morning sun. The route of the Kirklees Way does not officially take
in my next feature, but it would be foolish to avoid it just for
fidelity to the path, and I'd be certain that a future adjustment
would surely want to send the route through Earlsheaton Tunnel, not
the longest of tunnels but gracefully curving to cut through the edge
of the upland on which its district namesake sits, supposedly
illuminated by LED lights which don't actually shed that much light
on the surroundings, and already well used even at this hour, making
a straightforward link to the eastern fringes of Dewsbury and to the
settlements beyond. On through the cutting to the junction of paths
to Earlsheaton and Chickenley, also re-engaging the Kirklees Way
official route, with the more obvious path being not the correct one,
instead following the snaking route uphill to the east to meet the
level path along the old railway formation to Ossett, of which only
the slightest hint of the parish church spire can be seen, so much
nearer by than it was from the high moor land three days on the trail
ago. The way's route into the fields is at a distinctly well hidden
junction, and it's a pity to abandon the greenway so soon, but many
more steps will have us heading into Wakefield district, and thus the
long walk down to the river starts, hugging the field boundaries,
between fields of corn and stubble before meeting a new plantation of
trees where the path swings east again along a muddy track before
hair-pinning south once more along the margins as far as a sewage
farm. Then eastward again, as the path heads into some rough ground
to emerge behind Healey Old Mills, which don't have an appearance
that requires that name, but for an active industrial site, they are
wise enough to give you clear indication of where the right of way
lies, providing a yellow line to walk behind through the whole length
of the site.
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| The Calder at Healey Mills |
Not much opportunity to see much of Healey itself,
or the award winning Brewer's Pride public house, instead heading
south to cross the footbridge over the Calder, opposite the bridges
that carry the railway lines around the western throat of the former
Healey Mills yard, the eldest of which is the one that I get a view
of as I cross over. The path then wends its way beneath the railway
line, three bridges in all, with the third of them much further along
than the route guide would suggest, still enduring despite the rail
yard ceasing to exist in the 1980s, and the Calder throws in a
dramatic curve too before we take our leave of it, rising to meet the
towpath of the Calder and Hebble Navigation, for some familiar
footfalls for a distance before crossing over at Lady Anne's Bridge
and continuing south. The broad farm track rises away from the river,
beneath many pylons and never quite offering the view towards Ossett
that it promised, but it does cross over two overbridges, passing across
the Thornhill spur and the main line of the Midland Railway's
ill-fated route into Dewsbury, neither offers a good trackbed view,
sadly. Meeting the lower edge of Thornhill itself, I make the
immediate discovery that it is much larger than I would have thought,
passing the old farm buildings and lodges associated to the the
grounds of Thornhill Hall, and a little further along the road the
buildings of Combs Hill Hall primary school are boarded up and
abandoned, looking inviting for the adventurous urb-ex types. Pass
into the hall's parkland, a little off piste to get sight of the moat
which once surrounded the hall itself, destroyed in the wake of the
English Civil war after the Savile family backed the Royalist cause,
and the way rises vaguely up through the park, nicely landscaped and
again much more extensive than I'd expected, finally meeting a
metalled surface and rising to exit the park onto Church Lane. This
corner calls itself Four Lanes End, and four lanes do indeed end at
this spot, and I'll take the route up Valley Road, where suburbia has
bloomed in recent years to show that this is a settlement of many
faces, and the east facing houses along here have at least got a view
to appreciate, looking across the lower Calder valley in the
direction of Ossett and Horbury, to go with their morning sun-traps.
The road peters out to track and to path rapidly, disappearing into a
shroud of trees and swinging westward, and the only route instruction
that needs to be retained is keep taking the uphill paths, as we are
now setting course for Thornhill Edge.
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| Thornhill Edge |
The steep southern edge of Thorn Hill (surely)
falls away sharply as the path rises and you don't seem to have
ascended for very long before a great deal of altitude seems to have
been gained, and the wide valley around Smithy Brook and the fields
of Emroyd Common spread out below you, with the villages of Overton
and Middletown standing atop the hills on the other side. It's mostly
bracken, brambles and gorse for company along the path edge as it
rises to the top, behind the houses that you actually get little
sense of, hiding behind their walls, as all your attention is drawn to the
bucolic landscapes below, recognising the view over towards Emley
Moor mast and acknowledging that it will be a focal point for the
entirety of today's walk (it's visible from everywhere in Kirklees,
of course, but today it will be at its most prominent). Emerge behind
the Flatt Top inn, and pass across Albion Road, then rising to the
second half of the edge walk, meeting the artistic seat which would
be a prime spot for lunch if it wasn't far too early in the day, and
the path continues concealing the nearby council estate behind a
grassy bank, and I do wonder what sort of 20th century
brain though this high hill would be an ideal spot for social
housing. The bank takes an a grassier aspect, and also gains a
railing as its drop gets steeper, with little more than foot of bank
before dropping into the void, at one point a recent rock fall has
left the path feeling just a little precarious, and you wonder if
those nice suburban houses below are sure that they are safe,
originally conceived for the views without thinking of the risks
posed by the landscape above. The rail disappears as the slope eases
off, making the path feel safer as the last stretch of bracken and
grass is traversed before disappearing behind a fence as the houses
below claim the last stretch of the slope for their back gardens, and
a short route down steps to High Street is indicated, and this most
certainly isn't the main strip of the village, or even a particularly
elevated road either, but it is a landscape of suburbia conceived in
yellow-brown stone and slate. The way further down the hill passes
down a steep path between the garden fences, steep and slick with far
too many incursions by brambles, and it's very slow going downhill
for a stupidly short distance, resisting the temptation to stop for
blackberries as I pass, and then it's back to the fields down to
Howroyd Beck, where I can startle the only dog walker on the trail as
I pause at the field corner to check on my directions.
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| Denby / Grange Wood |
The rise to Carr Lane is through a field of mixed
livestock and is the first in a string of elevations followed by
drops as the landscape is roughened up by a variety of becks feeding
into the distant Calder, and elevenses are taken at the top of the
rise as my timekeeping is checked and a look back reveals the full
extent of Thornhill Edge behind me, and even with the drawbacks, a
residence here would be most desirable. All height gained is lost as
field walk drops me down to Breastfield beck, and the rise beyond
leads to Sowood Lane for some relatively level going along the farm
tracks beneath the power lines, before swinging around the head of
another beck and rising to the hamlet at Woodlands Farm, which still
looks like a holiday village to me (one of the big house being
currently vacant and yours if you've got over 350K to drop on it, I'm
sure). Depart the path back to Thornhill and swing down the edge of a
trotting field to enter Denby / Grange Wood, for another beck
crossing and a rise up through the trees, a real empire of spindly
trunks where the only other pair of serious walkers on the trail will
be found, indicating that this corner of the Way is probably the
least engaging, and engaged. The field walk beyond is along a number
of stubbly fields, horrible and potentially painful going among those short, sharp stems of
harvested wheat, but the view back to Thornhill is a good one, and
the spires of Ossett and Wakefield appear proud in the landscape as
the eastward view really opens up, and that's pretty much the last of
it we'll be seeing in that direction as the way leads past Fish Pond
Plantation and through the iron turnstile at the back of Rookery
farm. Cross over the A642 Wakefield Road, the oldest turnpike in the
district, and the rising field of wheat leads us quickly over to the
back of Flockton, where the path descends into the village behind a
lot more brick terraces than I would have anticipated in this
quarter, and that has us looking towards Emley Moor mast once more as
the path sends us through the eastern edge of the village, along the
A637 Barnsley Road. Descend down the farm track of Mill Lane towards
Mill Beck, where a house has done its best to hide the path that
passes through its yard, and the route continues along the beck
through the next couple of fields and for the first time since
starting out on this trail, we are out of the landscape that feeds
into the Calder, as despite being still within West Yorkshire, we
have now entered the Dearne valley, definably one of the major rivers
of South Yorkshire.
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| Emley Moor Mast, above Clayton West |
Field walking and clock watching governs my
progress for much of the rest of the day, as a stroll around Furnace
Grange farm leads me through wheat and stubble before dropping to
cross Clough Dike and then hitting a long field boundary walk along a
level track in the direction of Emley Woodhouse, wondering why the
trail has avoided Emley village itself, and just when I have gotten
used to the easy going on the ground, the passage across Little Dike,
and the final rise to the farm offer me slipperiness and overgrowth
that I could have done without when going at the hurry up. Over Ash
Lane, and the route is detoured around Woodhouse farm and its
associated detritus, with no indication of which side of the hedge
the path continues along, and I choose incorrectly, but the barbed
wire fence has been neatly mangled by other walkers to give me ease
of passage before crossing the stiles to pass through the fields of
the picturesque White Cross Farm, and site of my finish line in
Clayton West is finally gained. A hard track is met, leading me
around Gillcar Farm and past the dozing cattle as I work my way down
to the A636 Wakefield Road, where leg 8 ends according to my guide,
nowhere near a bus stop once again, and so I press on down the track
beyond to cross the River Dearne, not yet a major waterway at this
point, and the follow the lane sharply uphill to Clayton Hall farm,
from where a view is gained of High Hoyland church, far from its
village and surrounded by forest off to the south. Press back down
the hill westwards towards Clayton West, where the tooting whistles
of the Kirklees Light railway can be heard, and it would demand a visit
if I weren't against the clock, descending across the fields to enter
what the locals would call The Park, laid out in the 1890s by John
Kaye, the industrialist who fired the growth of the village in the
19th century, and since donated to the villagers in
perpetuity by the family as the Millennium Gardens, a nicely wild
and unkempt corner that seems well used and still watched over by the Kaye family
pile at the top of the parkland. Press on into the village, emerging
onto Scott Hill, which seems a bit too leafy to be part of a former
mining village, pressing on down Church lane, past the neat All
Saints church and rolling up to the bus stop outside the Shoulder of
Mutton pub at 1.25pm, with just enough time for a cheeky half, if it
wasn't for the pub not opening until 3pm. So a 40 minute wait for the
bus follows, with a late lunch being taken in the war memorial
garden, and my sister is proven right that it is sometimes good to
have a good burn followed by a rest rather than maintaining a slower
steady pace. I beat the weather too, looming ominously in the
north-east for the late part of the day, and all hopes for dryness
the remainder of the day are carried with me as I ride homeward, with
course set for an evening of food, booze and sing-songing at my
supervisor's place.
Next on the Slate: August bank Holiday promises
rain and low temperatures, so the following weekend will bring on my
late Summer Jollies and the second half of Hadrian's Wall Path.
1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1257.1 miles
(2014 total: 343.9 miles)
(Up Country Total: 1161.5 miles)
(Solo Total: 1041.7 miles)
(Declared Total: 1048.9 miles)
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