22nd – 24th June, Weekend in (North) Yorkshire

 22nd – 24th June, Weekend in (North) Yorkshire

This weekend saw a return to West Yorkshire with staying in a guest house in Headingley, thankfully the weather was forecasted to be dry to allow for some walking and exploring mostly in North Yorkshire with a bit of Lancashire.

22nd June – Exploring the Selby Canal & old ECML path.

The trip began with the 06:57 service from Grateley formed of 158883, 159020 & 159012 which was busier than expected for high peak on a Friday (although it was more leisure passengers than businesspeople).  This service runs nonstop to London after Basingstoke and once I reached London, I set off on foot towards Kings Cross going via Blackfriars & back streets of Clerkenwell to make a change from my usual route via Holborn.  After grabbing some supplies, I took my seat on 800104 working the 09:33 service to Harrogate, a reasonably busy service which called at Stevenage, Grantham & Doncaster on the ECML before the usual Wakefield Westgate and I alighted (along with most of the coach) at Leeds.

I headed across to the platform 14 area to have my lunch, noticing the wires on this east facing bay platform wondering just when the last time they were used (maybe one day they will see more use when Leeds – York gets wired up allowing Northern to use EMUs on the stoppers).  Anyhow after lunch I relocated to platform 16 to board 185126 working a Hull service to take me one stop to Selby (as a ticket on TPE was cheaper than a ticket on the Northern stopper when I booked up the day before).  In Selby I exited the station and did a short loop towards the river Ouse and the entrance lock to the Selby canal walking along the towpath to reach Bawtry Road and a short section going over the railway near the station to reach the bus station (which wasn’t much to shout about).  As I had some time to kill before my next bus, I popped towards Selby abbey to have a look before returning.

Selby Abbey

The next Arriva run route 476 for Pontefract rolled into the bus station with an VDL SB180 MCV Evolution fleet number 0665, a rather unusual looking bus which featured a sliding window (something I've not seen since Jersey!)  This was a busy bus (I guess due to the following bus being over 3 hours later) serving Selby hospital before Brayton & Burn.  I alighted in Chapel Haddlesey picking up a footpath running alongside the river Aire to reach the start of the Selby canal.  After a couple of photos at the lock I followed a path towards a road before joining the towpath of this rural quiet canal as it headed away from West Haddlesey into the countryside.  The towpath was reasonable quality (for a rural towpath, bit narrow in places) however it was mostly set back from the canal with views of the canal blocked by hedges or trees (although the countryside views made up for this).

I went underneath the East Coast Main line, although the bridge was hidden by trees turning towards the A419 where the towpath turned from more grass to a harder surface as a cycle route joins the route.  The canal skirted around the edge of Brayton, going underneath the Doncaster - Selby railway route (passing the remains of the old Selby - Goole route lost in the 1960s along the way).  After the railway bridge the scenery changed to being more urban before reaching Bawtry Road where I joined up the section I walked earlier in the day and headed along the road to the bus station, arriving around 4pm.

River Aire Lock on Selby Canal, Chapel Haddlesey

I got lucky with a late running Arriva route 415 bus (on a Selby - York service with double decker 1951) just starting to load when I arrived at the bus station (was aiming for the one 15 minutes later) as this service headed away from Selby towards Barlby & Riccall where I alighted near a garden centre to start my second big walk of the afternoon with the route of the former East Coast Main Line which was bypassed in the 1980s due to the Selby Coalfield and reopened as a mixed used path called the "Solar System Way" (due to being a scaled model of the solar system.  A reasonably busy path with other path users as it heads towards York within trees or open countryside.  No evidence of the former stations remain but there was a nice structure on top of the bridge over the Ouse near Bishopthorpe.

River Ouse bridge on the Solar System Way (Former ECML), Bishopthorpe

Within Bishopthorpe there was a short section requiring walking on roads due to modern developments before re-joining the route of the old railway line going underneath the A64 and ending near the Askham Bar Park & Ride (near the large Tesco a couple miles south of York city centre).  I headed onto the road heading to the bus stop outside York College flagging down a busy Leeds bound Coastliner 840 (bus 2773) which was running 30 minutes late (no real time tracking for Coastliner on Google Maps it seems).  I settled down for the run towards Leeds via Copmanthorpe, Tadcaster & Seacroft with the usual slow run within the city (shame these buses are not semi-fast within Leeds where alternative bus routes are available, or at the very least set-down only heading towards Leeds & pick up only away from Leeds).   Made sense using the bus to Leeds to make use of the £2 fare considering it was likely going to be £2 to York city centre plus whatever fare would have been for the train.

I was toying with using the train towards Burnley Park, but considering that cost nearly £4 for a single, I decided instead to use a bus (for £2).  After grabbing some dinner items from a Co-Op, I returned to the bus station to board a route 28 bus towards Headingley (with First Leeds's 35543).  A busy bus route as it made its way out of the city centre towards Headingley, where I alighted near a big Sainsburys to grab some drinks before making my way to "The Boundary" hotel getting checked in and relaxing for the rest of the evening in a basic but functional single room on the top floor overlooking the cricket stadium which had some event happening (including fireworks).

First (Leeds) Bus 35543 (SK68 TVE) in Headlingley on a route 28

Two decent walks in the North Yorkshire countryside in some beautiful weather.

23rd June – Leeds & Liverpool Canal

The idea for today was to walk the Leeds & Liverpool canal with the 16-mile section from Gargrave towards Nelson where it twists & curves around hills in North Yorkshire to enter Lancashire with maybe an extension towards Brierfield, doing this rural section of canal during the summer months as I suspect parts of the towpath during winter would be quite muddy.  Anyhow the day began with a short walk down a hill to Burley Park station to board 158792 on the short run to Leeds popping to Sainsburys for some breakfast before boarding 333016 (“Welcome to the Skipton Train”) to Cononley for a random revisit with 333002 for the final 3-mile section to Skipton where I popped out to visit Morrisons (and Tesco) to grab items for lunch meeting up with my good friend Stu who was joining me with today’s walk.

Back at Skipton station and it was onto 158797 on a busy Carlisle service to Gargrave where we began the walk with heading from the station towards the village centre and the canal at Higherland Lock.  The canal skirted round the edge of Gargrave going underneath the A65 with a slow climb towards the railway bridge, pausing for a photograph of a passing Morecambe train before we continued towards the countryside going towards the small settlement of Bank Newton with the canal turning very twisty due to the hills reaching the Double Arch bridge at East Marton carrying the A59.  Some beautiful views of countryside and it was very peaceful.  This section of towpath was a bit rough in places with large stones creating potential trip hazards.

A Northern 158 crossing the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Gargrave

We continued the walk crossing over into Lancashire reaching the town of Barnoldswick with the path changing from rural to urban & industrial with the canal skirting round the eastern side of the town before returning to countryside with the section towards Salterforth, the towpath returning to a more solid surface due to being shared with a cycle route.  At Salterforth we paused to head lunch on a handy picnic bench before carrying on (between Barnoldswick & Salterforth we passed the remains of an old railway bridge which carried an old branch line from the closed railway between Colne & Skipton, which gave a game of spotting the route of the main railway route crossing the fields picking up remains of old bridges).  Anyhow the canal returned to rural quietness with some beautiful countryside views as it headed towards Foulridge and a tunnel.

Like most canal tunnels, it lacked a towpath inside with the path diverting over a hill picking up the route of the former railway line, firstly along top of a cutting before dropping down onto the route, although other than an old bridge there was no evidence. This was the worse section due to being a bit overgrown in places and muddy within trees where the sun hadn't reached, but soon we reached the canal once more with the southern portal of the tunnel.

Leeds & Liverpool Canal between East Marton & Barnoldswick

Countryside had returned as the canal headed in a southern direction reaching the Barrowford locks as it started to drop from the summit pond, passing the Barrowfield Reservoir and into a more urban area going underneath the M65 to skirt round the edge of Colne with traffic noise increasing as the M65 was quite close to the canal reaching Nelson.  We continued another twisty section of canal (some nice woodland areas mixed up with industrial landscape of old mills).  Moving away from the M65 and towards Brierfield which was a good place to end the walk after nearly 18 miles, as we headed over the railway line at Brierfield station as I said my farewell to Stu as he was catching a Preston train to head back, and I headed to a bus stop outside the Town Hall.

I was aiming for a bus towards Keighley, but it seems the real time tracking doesn't work for the Burnley bus company with Google Maps as a Skipton bus (route M6) rolled in running 20 minutes late.  As that was a double decker (bus 2015) compared to an Optare Versa on the M4 (to Keighley) I decided on the busy decker which was quite nice upstairs (a couple of tables, an area of single seats, armrests) certainly better than a 3+2 seated 150.

Platform at Brierfield Station

This bus headed towards Skipton via Nelson & Colne town centres, passing the Foulridge reservoirs before going towards Barnoldswick & Broughton towards Skipton.  I alighted at the railway station bus stop (the fire station) to walk to the station to catch 333011 to Steeton & Silsden for a random revisit before 331003 rolled in the next Leeds train to take me to Leeds where I was in two minds at what to do.  No required 9 coach 801s were floating around so on arrival at Leeds I decided to jump onto a busy 195023 to Normanton with 185143 forward to Wakefield Kirkgate.  Had my foot felt better I might have risked a dash to the big Sainsburys, but it felt a bit rough after the walk so I remained on the station returning to Normanton on 150277 with 185119 forward to Castleford on a York service.

A short wait at Castleford for a Goole bound 150203 to arrive to take me to Knottingley where I was quite surprised at how busy the 150 was after Knottingley for the zombie train section and I crossed over to board 150210 on the next Leeds via Wakefield service to take me to Streethouse where my photo of the train departing was crap due to the angle of the sun.  I headed to the bus stop to wait for the next bus towards Knottingley to take me the couple miles up the road to Featherstone, but that bus was a no show so for lack of a better plan I jumped onto the Wakefield bound 148 (Arriva bus 1018) for the trip via New Sharlston & Belle Vue to reach Wakefield bus station.  A different view of west Yorkshire compared to the train.

185119 departs Castleford Station (for York)

I had a stroll from the bus station to Wakefield Westgate arriving at the same time as 220026 & 220001 for the short voyage to Leeds where after popping out of the station to grab some dinner items I decided to make more use of the bus validity of my West Yorkshire ticket and jumped on a route 19 service run by First with an electric 63594 to take me towards my guest house as there was a bus stop close to it (and avoided the uphill walk from Burley Park).  I got back into the guest house, climbed up the stairs and relaxed in my room giving my tired feet some fresh air.  An enjoyable walk along the canal with Mr Stu as we set the world to right with some lovely scenery along the way.

24th June - Harrogate Loop revisiting

Sadly, the walk on both the Friday & Saturday had taken their toil on my feet with a blister popping up on the back of my right foot so my original idea of a canal walk to finish the Rochdale canal (using a bus from Littleborough towards Halifax to avoid the tunnel tax on the train.) was put on hold for another trip, at least the towpath on that canal is a hard surface so could easily be done during the winter months without fear of a mud bath.

I dug out a “wet weather” plan which involved revisiting a few stations on the Harrogate loop line for some better photographs and a chance to do a TPE service between York & Castleford for the novelty factor (due to engineering works on the main route via Garforth).  The day began with checking out of the guest house (after fighting the door lock as it was a bit sticky), a place I would use again if the price was right, certainly was quiet (compared to the pub I’ve used a couple times in Dewsbury).  Anyhow after checking out, I headed towards a nearby Sainsburys Local to grab items for breakfast before heading to Headingley station, where I nearly got caught out as there is only the one TVM on the Leeds bound platform (unless the TVM on the York platform was hiding in plain sight).

First (Leeds) Bus 63594 (ML73 EBG) in Headingley on a route 19

First train of the trip was 150220 to take me over the border into North Yorkshire to Weeton for the first 30-minute fester, spent having a little explore and a photograph of a bus working a Harrogate – Airport – Bradford service which stopped outside the station.  Back on the platform and next up was 170454 for the short distance to Pannel, one of those awkward stations to visit due to the trains passing within a minute of each other.  I made use of this half hour by popping to the Co-Op in the old station building and watching the world away as an Azuma passed on an empty service to Harrogate.

The next York service was a busy 150268 and I was lucky to grab a seat near the front for the trip via  Knaresborough (where the train did empty out somewhat) and onto the single track section of line towards Poppleton where I alighted for another 30 minute fester before 158795 completed the trip to York arriving into platform 8 giving me some time to pop out of the station to grab lunch and a couple photographs of passing buses before returning to the station to board a busy 802208 to Leeds going via Castleford, it was good to see the wires complete to near Church Fenton, maybe one of these days they will carry on all the way to Leeds.

Platforms at Poppleton Station

Arrival into Leeds was near enough on time giving me some extra time before heading back towards York on 185112 & 185115 which got delayed on the outskirts of York due to awaiting a platform due to a voyager (diverted via Doncaster and had a long dwell at York to get it back onto the right path) sitting on platform 11 and a northern unit on platform 10 (caused by a late departure of a 150 from the bay platform).  When the voyager departed the 185s rolled into platform 11 allowing a cross platform change onto 1704554, one of the Northern 170s with 2+1 seating in the former first-class area so it was a bit of extra comfort for the slow run out of York, getting held at Poppleton & Cattal due to the late running 150 in front causing congestion with the single track.  Eventually the 170 rolled into Harrogate near enough 10 minutes late as I changed to await 800113 to roll in from the siding to form the next London train.  Making myself comfortable before the world & their dog boarded at Leeds.

Nothing unusual happened along the way towards London, a couple minutes late into Leeds due to that late running 170 but it soon made up the time calling at Wakefield, Doncaster, Grantham (which was extra busy due to the Midland Main Line being closed) and Stevenage (where I had to laugh with some kids going into 1st class saying “we will get a seat in here and they won’t check” only to return a few minutes later (so I presume the first class host or the guard checked tickets and threw them out).  Arrival into Kings Cross was near enough on time as I headed towards the sub surface line with 21339/21340 on a Hammersmith & City line service taken to Paddington where due to engineering works the trains from Waterloo were on a tour of Staines with the Salisbury stoppers starting from Reading.

800103 passing Pannal Station

At Paddington I popped to Sainsburys to grab some dinner from the limited selection they had left before boarding 387147 & 387159 on a Swindon service for some high speed 387 based bounce.  This took me nonstop to Reading where I had time to relax before 158882 & 158887 rolled in to form the 20:12 service to Salisbury.  A busy service to Basingstoke (as a voyager had been cancelled due to the issues around Southampton) afterwards quiet for the run to Grateley where I had a gentle walk home, sorting out my rucksack removing the overnight bits as the next few weeks would be day trips (so no need for my toothbrush).  An enjoyable long weekend in Yorkshire with some enjoyable walks along two different canals and a disused railway line.  More photos can be found on my Flickr *here*, thanks for reading (presuming I haven’t sent you off to sleep).