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

Brighouse to Batley 09/11/14

The final corners of the season are here already, the last days of my three year odyssey as well for that matter, and having been good to my word to do a lot of wandering below the Calder - Colne boundary, I still find that there are corners of Kirklees that I haven't ventured into. Far too many actually. Last year I apologised for not getting anywhere near Slaithwaite or Meltham, and a year on neither of those locations have been visited on my travels, and even with all those lines coming down on my map, I have somehow failed to go anywhere  near Mirfield as well, so I can only conclude that there will still be plenty of paths to pursue when more walking comes on in 2015. For now, though, a trip across the Spen Valley seems in order, as the top corner of this district has been largely forgotten when most of my routes went south, and so we head to the land of Cleckmondedge once again, to see if its best features are still there, and to sneak in a railway walk that could have easily been forgotten about. Additionally, as I'm trying to make the best of the weather whilst November offers days that are little more than 8 hours long, I'm travelling on a Sunday without making any changes to my plan, which means that my start line in Brighouse is not 35 minutes distant, but nearly 2 hours via the long way round through Bradford and Halifax.

Brighouse to Batley, via Clifton, Liversedge, Heckmondwike & Birstall.  10.5 miles

Darton to Outwood 01/11/14

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

Wakefield to Dewsbury 25/10/14

This time last year I had just about run out of energy and was trying to keep the season going when my body was feeling extremely reluctant to keep going, and it's a good feeling to find that twelve months on my demeanour is feeling much more resolute and my body feels like there are still many more miles to be put down this season. A change in the weather helps, and after glum days and general exhaustion taking hold in September, the weekends of October have felt much more amenable to being out of doors, and with the joys of Autumn in the air, I finally look towards that major architectural feature that has cropped up again and again on my travels without me ever getting that near to it, and if the day is only going to be a relatively short stroll once again, I'm going to find plenty to see as I fill in another gap on the map and make a significant trip between Wakefield district and Kirklees for the very first time. (A deeply trainspotterish thing to note along the way is on riding out to Wakefield Westgate, I think that on all my travels, I have now ridden on every type of rail unit that serves the lines of West Yorkshire, the class 322 EMU being the only one not previously encountered, and whilst that has nothing to do with my walking exploits, it shows that a small part of my youthful brain is still active.)

Wakefield to Dewsbury, via Lupset & Ossett  9.3 miles

Huddersfield to Halifax 12/10/14

I'm not going to ruminate on running out of steam as my third walking season runs into Autumn, that would involve even more writing when my enthusiasm for this blog is already at an all time low, so let's just admit that once October rolled around, I was desperate for a weekend off to have a couple of long mornings in bed and to look forwards to running down the season with some more modest exploits. That means there will be no attempt on Black Hill this year, and a late season jaunt to Mallerstang shifts to the improbable side of unlikely, and filling in the blanks on the map starts to look like the plan for the remainder of the year, as once the three years of lines have been overlaid on Google Maps, there are still a few distinct holes where my feet have failed to fall. So after the third celebration of a 40th Birthday this year, for my best friend IH whose distaste for birthdays is unmatched among all the people I know, has gone by on the Friday evening (Thai food and Ales in Hebden Bridge, if you are wondering), I've still got most a weekend to use, and going out for a Sunday morning exercise seems to be the best course, and to make a return trip to Calderdale after claiming that I would only make it out there the one time, and the plan for the day is Colne to Hebble, or out through the north of Huddersfield, and into Halifax from the south, both routes which I have not taken on my travels around the county.

Huddersfield to Halifax, via Lindley, West Vale and the Halifax Arm.  10.4 miles

Egerton to Ramsbottom (successful!) 28/09/14

I had imagined that the trip to Pendle Hill would have had a much greater mileage than it did, somewhere in the region of 6 miles, so only putting down 4 miles seems a bit low for the journey to the other side of the Pennines. So, we look to a bonus stroll for Sunday, to get some miles down quickly before I head homewards, and I'm not fancying any hills after yesterday's escapade and the girls would rather play with Lego or take a trip to the park rather than tag along again, and we have to get it in before lunchtime too, which means options are naturally limited. Rivington Park is the obvious port of call but we've done that too many times already, and my idea of walking down the valley into Bolton won't take us anywhere near Moss Bank park, so that doesn't wash either, and the third choice comes together eventually to keep everyone happy, Dr G takes the girls to Nuttall Park, whilst My Sister and I make another attempt to do Egerton to Ramsbottom in under 3 hours.

Egerton to Ramsbottom (successful)  7.3 miles

Pendle Hill 27/09/14

If I hadn't planned to head over into Lancashire for this weekend, I'd almost certainly have spent all of it in bed, as my activities last weekend left me feeling like my battery was almost completely flat after 5 days of work, and mix that in with far too many nights of restless sleep and agonising pains in my neck, and heading to Bolton for a weekend with My Sister's family seems like a very poor idea. However, September is Completion Month, and I had planned for this visit for nearly two months so such considerations need to be cast aside as this is the last opportunity for the weather to still look decent as I make for the hill that has been on my target list for all of the last two seasons, always proving an elusive goal. Younger Niece needs to get up a hill under her own power too, as Elder got out with us last year, and whilst they have both done more physical activity in the intervening time than I managed in my entire childhood, Younger is still to achieve a summit without being carried and she's now at a similar age to when Elder topped the Coniston Old Man. So cast aside the physical problems, gather yourself some fortitude and let's get on the shortest of trails for a Saturday afternoon, not walking a recognised long distance path for the first time since July, and that means the first trip in nine without the reader having to look at my grinning mug as they read of my exploits here.

Pendle Hill, from Barley  4.2 miles

Wakefield to Barnsley 12/07/14

So why walk to Barnsley, I keep promising it but it keeps on dropping from my schedule, so why does it need to be done? Well, I've never wandered that far into South Yorkshire in all my travels and only know the town from my rides through on the railway to Sheffield, and more pertinently, there's a canal walk to follow, one which I missed out on my travels in 2012 because a disused canal surely couldn't be as interesting as the six active waterways in West Yorkshire? As this year has taken a much greater interest in the trails of industry around the county, this seems as good a time as any to dive into the heart of coal country to see what's left of a canal that history seems to have completely forgotten, finally getting this off the slate of unwalked routes before the summer gets much older. Anyway the Barnsley Canal is too important a canal to ignore anyway, opened in 1799 and travelling 16 miles between Wakefield and Barugh, it was a booming route through much of the 19th century before the railways dominated the transportation of coal, providing a key link between the waterways of the Aire - Calder basin and the Dearne - Dove - Don basin to the south. It enjoyed a good 150 years of service before closure came in 1953, finally done in by declining traffic and the problem that has blighted South Yorkshire ever since the commencement of deep mining, subsidence, now a channel that has retreated far into the landscape, only to be rediscovered by the most intrepid of explorers.

Wakefield to Barnsley, via the Barnsley Canal and the Trans Pennine Trail  14.3 miles

Ravensthorpe to Holmfirth 14/06/14

The good news is that the latest 40th birthday celebration on 7th June went off in a much more predictable manner than the previous one, with 30+ people descending on AK's house to enjoy afternoon tea, a larger crowd than I'm usefully sociable in, but enough familiar faces to keep me company before staying on late for pizza and drinks, altogether a good day, enjoyed by all. The bad news is that the following weekend has me dropping Wild Boar Fell off my schedule again, as I can see no way to fit it into a day that also has me invited out for a dinner date with a group of my colleagues, attending the restaurant which we had been due to visit at Christmas last year before being curtailed by a power cut. Travelling out to the bottom corner of Cumbria and then being back in time for a 6.30pm table seems beyond my scheming, even with FoSCL doing the organisational work, lateness will either ruin it or I'll arrive still reeking and sore after topping a 700m+ hill. The later considerations come down to cost, as a rail trip and a meal seems like a lot of green to drop on one day, especially with another trip coming on the next weekend, and the weather finally looks not really good enough for a trip that really would deserve to be a year highlight. So on Friday evening, we look to the reserve list instead, wondering where else in Kirklees has avoided my gaze so far, and that's where a wander to Holmfirth drops in, for it's the notable town in the county that I have still never visited in all my years up country.

Raventhorpe to Holmfirth, via Lepton, Kirkburton & Brockholes.  12.1 miles

Woodlesford to Cross Gates 21/04/14

I know that a Bank Holiday cannot be wasted on R'n'R when the weather promises to be good, but I have learned that it is wise to not throw yourself into a major excursion when you have to work the following day, because your legs are not gong to thank you when you need to do the things that keep you in bread, which my colleague who went up Ingleborough found out to her cost. So I need something of less than 7 miles to keep me interested and not exhausted, and the missing miles from the original route of my day from Stanley Ferry to Rothwell looks to fit that particular bill, because why shouldn't I spend my Easter Monday like so many other citizens of Leeds, by taking a walk in Temple Newsam Park?

Woodlesford to Cross Gates via Temple Newsam Park  5.8 miles

Castleford to Knottingley 12/04/14

With the 1,000 miles before I'm 40 target achieved, and three more 1,000 mile targets set, this is not the time to rest on my laurels, as there are new paths to be traced, and this journey through my mind has me thinking of a view from my childhood that I have never forgotten, and I want to go see if it's still there, and still the awesome sight that my 7-10 year old brain thought it was. It will also allow me to complete an error from my 2012 season, having bragged about walking from one side of West Yorkshire to the other, when in reality I had actually come up a few miles short, plus it's in a corner of the county that hasn't been visited yet, and it allows me to get in another stretch of Canal Walking after being forgotten during 2012's exercise, as well as earning a Better Late then Never tag, as you might have noticed that the power stations down the Aire valley have kept popping up in my commentaries, but have remained at a studied distance.

Castleford to Knottingley, via Fairburn Ings and the Aire & Calder Navigation.  10 miles

Emley Moor & the Dewsbury Arm 08/03/14

Once I started thinking about places that I have regularly regarded whilst on my travels but never visited, the list started to rapidly expand as tracks and high points started to be recalled and added to my list. So onto my plans go Almscliffe Crags (the first visible high point of Lower Wharfedale) and the pair of Great Whernside and Buckden Pike (seen from afar on so many times on my trails about the Wharfe and Aire), and then you start considering the routes you had plotted and then never gotten to, like the Barnsley Canal and the long odyssey between Towton and Marston Moor battlefields, and they have to be added on too. Plus small fragments and un-used deviations start to appear as you plot, and future routes start to get shaped to somehow add them into the schedule, so that a route might start to look somewhat eccentric, but adds in a mile or so that you wouldn't have been able to factor in otherwise. That is why the Dewsbury Arm of the Calder & Hebble Navigation got onto today's route, with the Emley Moor transmitter being the primary goal, because of all the features of Yorkshire, this really is the one that is the standard candle, the landmark that can be seen for, quite literally, many miles around.

Shepley to Dewsbury, via Shelley, Emley Moor, Flockton, Thornhill and the Dewsbury Arm 
      11.4 miles

Castle Hill 16/02/14

Honestly, February is not bringing the joys of Spring with it as the Dark Season continues to recede, far too much rain and days of utter changeability, and the work situation isn't leaving me with much in the enthusiasm reserves, so combine rum weather and a complete lack of gusto to greet the weekend and it looks like February's adventuring might come to an end rather early. However, recall what #hibernot means, and don't think that you have to be out all day every Saturday, if you only have short window of Sunshine due on a Sunday, go out and make the most of it, hurry out to the nearest viewpoint for an exhilarating dash and know that your entire round trip could take less than 4 total hours. So a Sunday dash it it then, to the nearest available high point in Kirklees, with a window of only 2 and a quarter hours to use, and a wholly new panorama to absorb, plus a start on checking off those places regularly observed from afar and never otherwise visited.

Honley to Huddersfield, via Castle Hill  4 miles