A Spring Walk

On Thursday I was going to go for a bike ride and/or a swim but decided to go for a decent walk with the dogs instead.

The day wasn't as nice as the previous one but it wasn't doing anything horrible so I set off wearing a thin fleece top and a waterproof. Bear was his usual exuberant self and dragged me for the first part of the walk.

We went down through the village and crossed the golf course. There were plenty of golfers out but no-one was aiming our way at the time so that was safe enough. After safely negotiating our way across there we come to a path alongside some woods. Evie is okay to let off her lead at this point but Bear still won't come to a call if he doesn't want to so he stayed on the lead. It was good to smell the fresh air.

Then we arrive at a road junction, cross and follow a narrow, but at times, busy road. Halfway down here there is a small road that goes round the back of the houses but becomes a footpath at the far end. It eventually comes back onto another road effectively cutting a corner off the narrow road in safety.

We ambled through the bottom end of Bierley estate and eventually came to Bierley Woods. We used to play in Bierley Woods as children mainly as there are four ponds down there. There is also a cave, a druids circle and someone was always making swings in the trees.

The woods were part of an estate belonging to Bierley Hall which was a fabulous big house built in the 16th century. Without too much of a history lesson this was eventually given to the council and became an isolation hospital. In 1968 it was closed as a new hospital was built a bit further up the road. In 1970 I believe it had a fire and was derelict from some years and eventually demolished. It has now been dedicated as a leisure area.

















Walking down through the woods Evie decided she wanted a drink and as she was off the lead she went straight down to the pond and fell in! (or jumped). We left the woods after walking down past the last pond which had several fishermen sat round it.

The next part of the walk isn't the most pleasant as it is an industrial estate. There is a lot of rubbish about here and lots of traffic. It serves as a contrast to the pleasantness of the woods.











However we are soon at the other side of this and we go back down a track into an area we used to know as the Rowdy Dowdy. It is now known as Toad Hole Beck, that might have been what it was called all along but it was known by all the locals as the Rowdy Dowdy.

Leaving this area via a small footpath brings us back to civilisation, Oakenshaw. Crossing a busy road again we walk round the park and up an unmade road until we get to the Spen Valley Greenway. This is an old railway now used for walking, cycling and horseriding. It is always a pleasure to walk down here as things change throughout the seasons. There are sculptures and seats made from industrial hardware, lots of wildlife and plants and as it it is higher than most things around it is a vantage point too.















On our walk we saw Daffs in full bloom, shrubs and trees in bud and lots of bumblebees and bluetits. We stayed with the Greenway for about 1.5 miles and then left it to walk down to the top end of Cleckheaton and up Hunsworth Lane.


Hunsworth Lane is split into two by another main road but after that it is a meandering long country lane of about 1.5 miles. It passes through a small estate and then past farmland. It also crosses the M62 motorway! There is a 'field' just after the crossing that is chock a block full of plant machinery. It looks like an army has invaded and I suppose it has sort of. This field a couple of years ago was a farmers field full of strawberries.








After this the road becomes steeper and narrower (I know I've cycled up here quite a few times) and eventually a few houses start appearing and then we come up into East Bierley village where I live.

In the village the road opens onto a large green space which has a children's playground on it and swathes of daffodils in full bloom at the moment. Quite a sight! Past the playyground you come up to the village green with it's stocks and more daffys. This is a pleasant triangle with seats on and where our Christmas tree is stationed during the festivities.










If you don't go straight into the village you can go to the right and you come up to the village pond. This is not quite as pretty as it used to be as there used to be planty of shrubs and trees round it but I don't know why they have taken most of these out now. There are a lot of ducks of varying kinds that live on here and therefore little houses on stilts have been built for them to help protect them from the foxes.











And so we are now nearly home again. The walk was about 3 hours in total and probably about six miles.



This evening I went circuit training for the first time in a few weeks. There were only five of us there but we had a good workout and an even better laugh. Boy could I feel my muscles the next day! Not looking forward to the training ride on Sunday!