Saltaire Saunter

 2nd. February 2022.                 Saltaire Saunter 

For today’s adventure the lads have decided to visit the West Yorkshire town of Saltaire and take a rather pleasant 5 mile circular walk, which will include woodland and the nearby canal pathways. Three of the Lads will get there by means of the railway, that’s Brian, Colin and Dave, John meeting up with them at the station.It will be the 10:26 train out of Leeds arriving at Saltaire some twenty minutes later.

Upon leaving the railway station they first called in at a nearby cafe to collect a lite bite to eat and drink before commencing their walk down the road and over the canal bridge and into the park , where statues of the renowned founder of this town have been erected ie, Sir Titus Salt, along with other artefacts from that era.

The Lads carried on walking through this parkland which included formal gardens and avenues of specie tall trees. Upon leaving the park the lads now found themselves along side a roadway that would eventually lead them to the old coach way bound for Milner Fields, a place synonymous with the Salts family.

This old coach way was steadily leading them up hill to the South Gate House of the former estate which once included a magnificent and rather impressive mansion house built by Sir Titus for his son. Only ruins of this structure are visible now as the building was left to decay and fall into disrepair due to tragic circumstances that fell upon its various residents. Much of the ornate stonework was taken away at some point and used in the restoration of Salts Mill another legacy left by Sir Titus .

After a short while searching the ruins the Lads rejoined the drive way that would lead them to the North Gate House and onto Primrose Lane, not before having a brief conversation about the former building with a dear old lady named Maureen. She told the lads of a short cut path from Primrose Lane that would take the lads back towards the canal in the valley bottom and then return them back along the towpath into Saltaire once back in the town it was time to  have a bite of something to eat sat in the small park opposite the takeaway cafe. With lunch time over it was back to the station for Colin,Brian and Dave to take the 14:12 train returning them back to Leeds, John took a bus ride to his home.

All in all yet another great time spent with the Lads ,

sorry about the order of the photos 

Cheers Everyone.