Saturday 30th March 2019 - Leeds to Barwick-in-Elmet
After a good breakfast in the hotel we crossed the road to a petrol station/supermarket providing us with sandwiches for later.
We found many green patches through the Leeds suburbs, and if not we walked on quieter residential roads with only occasional life threatening crossings of major thoroughfares. Part of the Dalesway Link followed Meanwood Beck through attractive woodland and into Meanwood Park. At Tunnel How Hill we were puzzled by endless cars coming back and forth along what is a cul-de-sac road. The reason turned out to be a huge David Lloyd leisure centre with hundreds of cars parked. Long ago, after spending much time in the gym I decided the best exercise for walking is walking.
Crossing the sports ground at Tunnel How Hill we chatted with a local walker who pointed out mysterious tree planting on this open space which is used by dog walkers and children as a playground, but in time will be transformed into a mini forest - we wondered why. The halfway mark of our straight sea-to-sea line crossed this open space so it will be all downhill from here? Surprisingly we watched a red kite diving, gliding and swooping overhead. They must be getting fairly widespread now.
Roundhay Park was impressive in scale and ambience with its two large lakes and wide open spaces. Here we had a coffee break at the Mansion café. Soon after we left suburban Leeds behind to continue on country paths to Barwick.
We waited for twenty minutes for a bus back to Leeds and then the train to Skipton and our cars awaiting at BC's friends. We had had two days of excellent walking full of interest. I reckon the remainder of this route will be much quieter, but we will see.
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| This was not far from the hotel |
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| On the Daleswsy Link - Meanwood Beck |
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| David Lloyd Leisure at Tunnel How Hill |
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| Blackthorn reigns this year |
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| Colourful and attractive roundabout belying the busy traffic endlessly rushing past |
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| A sad old SAAB. I remember watching Eric Carlson dominating the rally scene in the 60s in one of these |
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| Roundhay Park |
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| BC waiting for our coffee at The Mansion Café in Roundhay Park |
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| Wide open space in the park |
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| The lower lake in Roundhay Park - I couldn't see the other end from here - massive |
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| Fortunately there was a trodden path through this newly ploughed field |
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| The famous maypole in Barewick-in-Elmet - it is 87ft. high! |
Hi Conrad
ReplyDeleteI've caught up! You seem to be as active as ever and have returned to the magic of backpacking. Well done!
Lots of nostalgia, hopefully of a positive kind.
All best wishes.
Martin
Phreerunner - Not as active as you! I'm sorry to say that most of that nostalgia was not particularly pleasant - I had a somewhat disturbed childhood, until I was about 12 years old when things began to improve.
ReplyDeleteThornville is of course the correct name. An unusual error on my part given that words like that, dating back to a period of very absorbent memory, usually stick. As time passes this ability reverses itself. Thus I am still able to remember hymn verses by the hundred, yet not the words of songs I've learned during the last three years. The difference being that the hymns arrived orally (often from Mother and from church services) whereas the Schubert, Mozart stuff has been learned from scores. In my own defence the score material isn't just limited to words
ReplyDeleteYour satchel wasn't Rexine (which was mainly used for covering furniture in those days) but a coarsely woven khaki fabric covered with transparent plastic. It also had tape-finished seams. It was far more capacious than my satchel and fairly inflexible.
I'm glad you've made that small correction about the date. My subsequent inference (that I arrived at Thornville in 1943) just didn't seem right. The war was still raging quite fiercely then and I think I would have been dimly conscious of that.
I note in another re-comment you refer to your childhood as disturbed. I would agree on my own behalf. However in my case I'm fairly sure I wasn't truly aware of this at the time. Or, if so, only in a general way. The contributing causes only became apparent decades later and via means other than just memory. Is that also your impression? Perhaps any further discussion on this should proceed via emails.
Sorry. The above comment should be attached to your previous post.
ReplyDeleteYour typo in the last image brings to mind a long gone post which elicited a number of place-names with curious connotations -
ReplyDeletea surprising amount of rus in urbe in this walk - not just these two posts, but altogether !
You have been lucky with the weather - winter here (I was in Newcastle for three days this week and it was savage)
Gimmer - how do you know it wasn't intended - no further comment.
ReplyDeleteWe try to wslk on footpsths rsther than roads and thereby often discover green spaces in urbsn areas.
that's what maypoles are for, n'est ce pas ?
ReplyDelete