Meaningful Meanwood

Wednesday 28th September 2022.               Meaningful Meanwood 

Today the Lads are duly paying their respects to their dear friend Eddie who sadly left this world 3 years ago.

 They intend to cover one of his favourite walks, which will  incorporate part of the Meanwood Valley Trail an area of north Leeds.

It was a group of 7 that fulfilled this journey, which proved to be full of trials and tribulations so to speak. Nevertheless it was done with great determination and sentiment. 

Our group consisted of John, Malcolm , Colin, Brian, Derek, Dave and Alan as the guide, owing to the fact that he had accompanied Eddie on this particular journey along with many other outings. With the lads congregating at a bus stop in the city centre at about 11 o’clock  in order to board a No 51 bus that would transport them to the area of Meanwood, a journey of approximately 25 minutes. Plenty of chatter about the route the bus was taking , however we eventually arrived close to the entrance of the local park and soon began our journey, once out of the parkland we now entered a wooded area and began to follow the Adel beck. At first this pathway was easy to contend with but once through the ring road underpass the conditions became somewhat difficult to negotiate, eventually a sort of lunchtime seating area was found which enabled a few of us to consume our sandwiches courtesy of Greggs.

From this point it was just a short distance to one of our intended points of interest, the Seven Arches Aqua-duct a Victorian construction built to carry a water supply to the city in about 1840 , not in use anymore but as been giving a grade 2 listing status.

 

From this point we continued our journey on towards Golden Acre Park this particular stretch of the adventure proved to be a test of our endurance and not succumb to the treacherous underfoot conditions, ie wet and slippery rocks and tree roots that at any moment could spell disaster ,fortunately we managed to avoid any mishaps and eventually emerged from this particular location only to find we were somewhat short of Golden Acre Park,

 

local knowledge was now required from some kind person ie a cottage dweller who gave us 3 options, we took the one we all seemed to agree upon and soon found ourselves in the grounds of the Church in the Village of Adel, quite a lovely building with a wonderful arched doorway , leaving the church behind us we now made our way through a relatively newly constructed  housing estate and out on to the main road , at this point we were still about a mile or so from Golden Acre Park , so feeling rather exhausted we decided to take the short bus journey to the park instead of continuing with our walk, eventually we found ourselves sat at a table with drinks in our hands in the grounds of Golden Acre Park, much to the relief of everyone concerned.

This had been a tough undertaking much to our surprise, not a vast amount of distance covered but very time consuming due to the terrain in certain areas. After a short while reminiscing it was off to the nearby bus stop and take the return journey back to the city centre in order to connect with our respective homeward modes of transport.

Cheers Everyone 

Mansion House Memories

 Wednesday 21st. September 2022.            Mansion House Memories 

For today’s adventure the Lads have made the decision to return to the Mansion House, situated in Roundhay park. This venue is aptly suited for our dear friend Tim to attend without much difficulty due to his mobility issues. A suggested time of 11:30 was set for meeting up at the Mansion House so seven of the lads have made their way there either by

 

train or bus ,both or car. 

So it was Colin, Malcolm, John, Brian, Derek, Keith and Dave that were there to welcome Tim to this gathering. What a wonderful time was had by All concerned, over two hours of recollections of what happened years ago in a factory environment here in the city of Leeds, the numerous names of former employees were being banded about with almost every letter of the alphabet covered. Plenty of tea being  consumed punctuated with numerous bouts of hilarity about the many, many happenings in that said factory.

About an hour had passed when along came yet another former employee a young man named John Emmonds just happened to be passing by, maybe a little bird had told him about this gathering!.Any how he pulled up a seat and joined the merry throng. He added a few more names to the mix, all in all about 50 names must have been recalled from the distant memory. 

Q

With the time moving on at such a pace, by now it was approaching 2:15 we had to bid farewell to Tim for his wife had come to pick him up . Keith also left us at this point whilst the rest of us took a relatively short walk to a nearby bandstand, then from here we returned to the bus stop in order to catch a bus back to the city centre, once back in the city each of us made our respective arrangements for getting home.

What a truly remarkable day out, pleasant weather along with even pleasanter company made it all worthwhile. 

Cheers Everyone.

Hebden Heaven

 Wednesday 14 September 2022

Mytholmroyd to Hebdon Bridge 

Hebden Heaven

Malcolm, and I rendezvoused at Leeds Railway Station for the 10:18 to Wigan which left two minutes late. We would be alighting at Mytholmroyd at 11:09 where John was waiting for us. 

We made our way from the Railway Station down onto Burnley Road where we searched for the Canal. 

After an aborted attempt at going left we returned to the Railway Station and effectively turned right and searched for the Fire Station that a local had pointed us in the direction of with just the one Fire Engine to serve the small town. We then turned immediately right along Red Acre Lane and onto the canal towpath and down towards Hebden Bridge. 

The journey would take about 90 minutes where we stopped at various points for John to take a number of illustrious photographs and he was still revelling in his new role as Dave’s understudy. 

Dave was on holiday in the wet south as we now basked in glorious sunshine and the day now opened up from a wintery start to a wonderful summer’s day.

The walk was pleasant enough and very relaxing although not particularly long but beautiful views all around and certainly worth a visit. This was the first time any of us had actually walked along the canal from Mytholmroyd to Hebden Bridge so it was a special day for us all. 

We then left the canal and back onto Burnley Road for the stroll into the Town of Hebden and into the centre for our lunch which would be on a bench in the busy central square with Colin taking it upon himself to feed the local tame pidgeons who were there in abundance. 

After forty minutes relaxing and eating our wares from the Pie & Sandwich shop on the corner we made our way to Hebden Bridge Railway Station for the 13:32 back to Leeds via Bradford where John alighted for his bus to Bingley. 

Malcolm and I  returning to Leeds Railway Station for our respective Buses. 

Another great day out proving you sometimes don't need to travel all that far to achieve greatness and we certainly did that once again today!

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward

 Wednesday 7 September 2022

Skipton Castle Woods!

Malcolm, Derek, Brian and I rendezvoused at Leeds Railway Station for the 10:26 to Skipton which left on time.  

We arrived in Skipton at 11:09 after picking up the Tour Meister at Bingley at around 10:44. 

We made our way from the Railway Station across the road and onto the canal towpath and down to Skipton across Belmont Bridge towards Stanforth’s famous Pork Pie shop where we all bought our lunch with varying pork pies and ate them on the hoof until we reached Skipton Castle Woods where after a quick study of the map we set off for our stroll around this lovely wood which was quite busy on this lovely sunshiny day. 

We stopped at various points for John to take a number of illustrious photographs and he was revelling in his new role as Dave’s understudy. 

The walk was pleasant and relaxing although there were some steep inclines so taking it steady we soon mastered these. 

We left the Woods after a couple of hours by the top path and exited by the main road which took us down at to the far end of Skipton the way we had come in. 

We now made our way to Cooper’s returning over Belmont Bridge to relax with a coffee and either a slice of cake or Waffles with Honey and Yogurt topped with blueberries!

After forty five minutes relaxing we made our way for the 14:47 back to our respective homes, John bailing out at Bingley and the rest of us returning to Leeds Railway Station for our respective Buses or Train in Derek’s case. 

On the way back we discussed our future sortés and a trip to Ely via Peterborough seemed to tickle our fancies so watch this space with Wednesday 26 October pencilled in and looking good and just before British Summertime Ends!

Another great day out proving you sometimes don't need to travel al that far to achieve greatness and we certainly did that once again today!

-- 

Colin Hendrick Ward