Hello, November, I get the feeling that we haven't been acquainted in a while, having not gotten out onto the trail at all in your last iteration, having put on your gloomiest face when my walking enthusiasm had dwindled back in 2013. This time round you are putting in quite a different face, offering sunshine and a balmy temperature that really shouldn't be seen this late in the season, it's such a shame that I dropped the FOSCL trip to Wild Boar Fell from my plans when I started to rationalise down the trips for the late portion of the season, as I had no expected anything like this from you this late in the day. So FOSCL deserve an apology for my failure to join them at all in 2014, but even though I won't be taking to the high edge of Mallerstang today, there's no reason to not go on a ridge walk when the cloudless skies could offer views for many miles around, and whilst Black Hill ought to be the obvious target, the excessive mileage counts against it in these days of all-day evening sunshine and rapidly diminishing daylight hours, so we require a much more modest high land, like the loftiest elevations of Wakefield district.
Darton to Outwood, via Woolley Edge, Crigglestone, Horbury & Wrenthorpe 12.7 miles
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| Woolley Edge, the view East |
Start out early to make best use of the daylight hours as we enter the days of GMT, I would have sworn that Darton lands within the WY Metro territories, but the lack of signage at the station would indicate that we are actually in South Yorkshire, and my Metrocard should not have afforded me a free ride, so Northern Rail are owed a rare apology as I disembark at 9.20am under the brightest of skies. I'll be venturing no further into this village of terraces on the edge of the old Barnsley coalfields, instead rising away from the River Dearne, only a stones throw away below the station, up the rough footpath that leads to Woolley Colliery Road, which once led above the local playing fields and below the wooded ridge of Woolley Edge to the colliery that has now vanished to be replaced by an expanding development of midscale housing quite incongruously located amid fields. For some reason the pair of colliery terraces sloping up the hillside would make sense remaining in the landscape after the mines have gone, but a new bunch of housing makes little sense in my mind, and I guess the fact is that this brownfield site has been planned with car owners in mind rather than those who'd like all facilities to be within walking distance. Anyway, follow the rising track that leads up to the houses on the edge of Windhill Woods, returning to West Yorkshire as the track ventures off beneath the tree cover, passing old worked out mine shafts before hitting a field boundary to rise up to the top of the Woolley Edge ridge, with immediate views offered to the vaguely familiar landscape of the Dearne - Don bracket, whilst Emley Moor transmitter rises like the sentinel it is to remind you that the tracks of Kirklees are not too remote from here All told the rise from the Dearne is only 100m or so, but it's enough effort for early in the day, and hitting the Woolley Edge Road at the top, riding the 170m contour, affords a superb and evolving view to the east, with Woolley village front and centre, with the city of Wakefield beyond, and the high buildings of the Wakefield 41 business park above Outwood in the distance, and the high towers of Seacroft even further afield, heading north along the roadside and the power stations stretching down the River Aire appear, looking so close when so far away, Ferrybridge still being inactive after a serious fire this summer, and that whole flat expanse looks so inviting under the morning sun.
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| Woolley Edge, the view West |
Woolley Edge road itself is not a lot of fun to walk along, far too busy for a road that has both the M1 and A61 running as its obvious parallels, and the verges are just a bit too narrow to be honestly comfortable, so sides are swapped several times, mostly as the views east evolve as the sharper western edge of the hillside is heavily clad with trees and good views through the woodlands are few and far between. Thoughts drift to just how green the landscape is looking so late in the season, as fresh grass grows and some fields even have their root crops growing again as if they think Spring has already arrived, hopefully the inevitable temperature downturn isn't going to do them too much damage, but I know noting of horticulture so who knows. At High House farm, we finally get our view to the west, and it's a beauty, across Emley Moor to Meltham Moor and Holme Moss, a perspective on Kirklees not seen whilst touring within the district, whilst far down below is the M1, just south of the service station which takes the name of the hillside, and the lakes of Bretton Park, and my failure to wander into the Yorkshire Sculpture park must be counted as another strange omission in this season. A little further along is Rose farm, and the view westwards is most appreciated here, as the house has the largest picture window I have ever seen, a single pane of glass from floor to ceiling and the full width of the ground floor room, as well as a glass wall at the end of the garden to provide uninterrupted sight lines. The lane slips beneath tree cover as it moves around the highest edge of the ridge, but no sight of the 176m trig point on Beacon Hill is gained as far too much attention is to be spent keeping out of the way of traffic along the narrowest edge of the verge, with the declining hill slipping away to your left, and its a relief to come to the crossroads where the high edge swings east, and the path along Common lane get much quieter and seem welcoming to joggers and cyclists as the view north is again obscured by too many trees as I make my way around towers the mast and covered reservoir beside Intake lane, where the descent down from the ridge starts, slipping down the concealed s-bend of the lane through Totty Spring Wood, where senses have to be kept alert, before finally gaining a footpath having lost some 60m from the top of Woolley Edge.
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| Horbury & Ossett, from Crigglestone |
Stoney lane Leads us to the edge of the settlements that make up the southern part of greater Wakefield, a lot of bungalows in this one, Hall Green, which I recognise as a bus destination to give a bit more shape to the local landscape, and straightforward suburban walking is to be avoided as I take the path down Holligthorpe Lane, offering views back as Woolley Edge recedes and the smell of bird poo becomes overwhelming, even if the considerably sized poultry farm looks like it hasn't been in use in years. Around Dennington Hill and onwards to Painthorpe, just one of the many estates that surround Crigglestone, where the most straightforward route is across the edge of the rugby fields before slipping through the terraces and uphill past the Mackie Hill school, noting that dominating picture windows seem to be a thing on many houses in these parts, to arrive on Cliff Lane, where a perspective across the Calder is gained. Even at a modest height it's quite a panorama, looking all the way upstream to Ovenden Moor in the west and far over the city of Wakefield to the east, with the centrepiece being the quartet of towers looming over Horbury and Ossett, and it provides a feeling of extreme elevation, when you are only 50m or so above the river, and even with my ridge walk done, a surprise viewpoint is always welcome. A little way down through the house of Crigglestone, we meet the shortcut path that leads down to the road beneath the M1, and it wouldn't be too much of a detour to go for a look at the remaining portal of Crigglestone tunnel, on the Midland Railway's ill-starred Royston - Thornhill line, but that would involve more trespass than I'm comfortable with, so that will have to wait for a day when I'm feeling bolder. So on to Hollin Lane, still skirting the edge of greater Wakefield at Calder Grove and meeting the crossing of the A636 Denby Dale Road, at a point where making a passage is about as difficult as it gets, and then down to Broad Cut Road, passing the Crigglestone -Horbury parish boundary, which doesn't lie at the Calder for some reason. Pass over the Navigation (C&H) and past the Navigation (Inn) for some moments in a familiar landscape before meeting the scary footbridge that passes over the Calder entirely enclosed in plate steel beneath the railway bridge on the Wakefield - Barnsley line, not a spot for the faint of heart, especially if a train passes over when you are on board.
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| St Peter & St Leonard, Horbury |
On the north bank, the smell of balsam dominates as the cyclepath is followed alongside the factories up to meet Millfield Road, and this corner of Horbury Junction looks like it hasn't changed much in the last 60 years or so, and some features could easily pass muster in a 1950s set drama, the Calder Inn especially, rising to cross the Wakefield - Mirfield line, and one of those spot where a railway station should have endured, but hasn't. Along Daw lane, suburbia and council house have some old farmsteads mixed in between them, demonstrating more interesting patterns of development, and a look south in a couple of place shows up Calder Grove viaduct off in the distance, confirming at that it is one of those huge structures that hides in the landscape very successfully. Cross the A642 Southfield lane, continuing as the cyclepath ascends to Peel Street, which must have been attached to Daw Lane before the bypass road truncated it, and it's on upwards through the suburbs with the spire of Horbury Parish church to focus the attention as Cross Street leads to Cluntergate and Horbury's main drag, finally meeting the most notable West Yorkshire town that my trails had avoided. The town immediately strikes me as one of the more upscale settlements encountered, with a large number of independent stores and boutiques with very few chains, and the whole of the town centre is old, with the only 20th century buildings looking no more recent than the 1930s, so even if it's bit out of the way as the major routes all avoid it, it's not a town lacking in prosperity. Queen Street has the same sort of fell as it leads up to the town's point of interest, the parish church of St Peter & St Leonard, a fine Georgian composition in Ashlar of 1793, aping a number of Wren styles, by local boy and noted Yorkshire architect John Carr at his own personal expense, not one of the largest but certainly the best designed in the county, which surely dominated this landscape before Ossett parish church usurped it in the following century. The churchyard is a good spot to pause for lunch and to take stock on the day at its mid point, and finishing in Ossett as planned seems a waste of late season sunshine, so I have myself a mental redirect before heading off, aiming for the top edge of Wakefield district and adding an extra hour to my day.
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| Lofthouse Colliery Disaster Memorial |
Up Northgate as the older buildings continue keeping Horbury picturesque, and take a turn to Dovecote lane and around the Silcote St Hilda's school, a former convent with its prominent green copper clad spire, which cannot be actually be seen to be attached to any part of the extensive site regardless of which angle you might view it from, and then it's onwards down the path by the side of the cemetery to Manorfield Drive and the edge of the town where all the council houses have been secluded. Meet the cyclepath that heads north, and we are on the line of the Wakefield Wheel once again, still making its oddly mapless way around the district, slipping between equestrian fields to the beck crossing in the green space that separates Horbury from Ossett, and thence to the next town along Manor lane, wondering if there used to be a manor somewhere amongst where suburbia has now grown. Away from Ossett town I head though, along Manor Road past the playing fields and on through the suburban sprawl, heading up South Parade where the point of interest are the Victorian chapel that seem to predate most of the area, and the Prince of Wales pub whose prince is the future Edward VII, and eventually landing us on Teall Street to cross last weeks route at the Thai restaurant, heading off along Queen's Drive just as the cloud cover comes on to spoil my plan of making the most of the sunshine. Head under the M1 and across a couple of horse filled fields to meet the A636 Wakefield road, where the entrance to the Silkwood industrial park has obscured the way onto the footpath that leads over towards Low Laithes Golf course and the way that I walked at the very start of this season, and I spot the turn that I missed last time, but don't make for the city of Wakefield on it, instead retracing steps to the clubhouse and the hitting Park Mill lane to head northwards. It's not a fun road walk, far too narrow with too much traffic and no refuges, so sides are changed multiple times as I rise to Batley Road, getting one last look back at Ossett Parish church before pressing on along the verge to the point of interest at this quarter, the memorial to the seven miners killed in the Lofthouse colliery disaster in 1973, more than two miles distant from the pithead to give an impression of the scale of the workings, and a reminder of the human cost of energy production and progress, with six of the bodies still remaining entombed in the flooded chambers far below our feet.
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| Declans, Wrenthorpe |
Onwards along Wrenthorpe Lane, once again at the edge of greater Wakefield, and I'll contort myself to get pictures of me by the signage, for hopefully obvious reasons, and this is again a suburbia of varying ages and qualities, but it's another place that I have not previously visited, so it's all good to me, and I will try to keep the lanes green, so don't head into the heart of Wrenthorpe, instead taking the path that leads down to the primary school, at such a steep pitch that it must surely be hated by kids and parents in equal measure. At least the section out to Jerry Clay Lane is more friendly, and another footpath takes me along the back of many domestic gardens along the field boundary to trough Well Lane, and the avoiding the suburbia becomes impossible, so paces are made to meet Wrenthorpe Road, and to find a familiar sight where it crosses Bradford Road, the route of the 425 bus, a local service that I've taken a good few times. Declans (with no possessive apostrophe) is one of those shops that sells all kinds of bizarre and oddball furniture and ornaments that all fits in that fashion of 'Didn't know it existed but now you know it does you wonder how you could live without it', stores like this used to be much more common than they are now, and it's a place I'm glad exists, even if it's some where I wouldn't burn my cash, personally, the sort of place you'd miss if it wasn't there any more. Hit Potovens Lane, a name familiar from a couple of early season trips, and pace on to the bridge across the A650, and on around the Wakefield 41 business park, seen much earlier in the day and now well hidden by foliage, which is remarkable when you consider how big it is. Pass over the Leeds - Wakefield line at Robin Hood bridge and make my way on into Outwood, which convinces me more is part of the empire of bungalows. Take a left onto Lingwell Gate Lane towards the station, but have to detour along the footpath that leads down to the old GNR terrace to take another look, and then it's a long circuit around to the northbound platforms at Outwood, noting the old entrance to the station that used to sit to the south of the road bridge, before rolling down for a 2.05pm finish. I've no idea what time the train is due, as I did this last stretch on a complete whim, but a 20 minute wait at a mainline station is never going to be boring as a trio of expresses charge through and I can enjoy some railway photography as the sun shines down once more.
Next on the Slate: The corner of Kirklees that I almost forgot about.
1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1379.1 miles (2014 total: 465.9 miles)
(Up Country Total: 1283.5 miles)
(Solo Total: 1152.1 miles)
(Declared Total: 1170.9 miles)
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