A visit to Middleton Woods

 Wednesday 17th January 2024.                   A visit to Middleton Woods

As the title suggests ,today’s outing for the Lads would be a journey to a locality known as Middleton Park Woods an area steeped in history and knowledgeable facts, but today their visit is just a pleasurable one. Some points of history were noted as the group of six trudge around the expanse of woodland.

It would be Colin, John , Brian, Derek , Dave and Mark that would gather outside what is known locally as Tommy Wass’s , now a public house but in days gone by it was a farmers homestead  inhabited by yes you guessed Tommy Wass.

A time of 11am was agreed, so each of the lads making their own way to the meeting point. It was a pleasant sunny morning with quite a chilly feel, overnight temperatures below freezing had left the underfoot conditions treacherous, so it was steady has you go Lads. From the nearby bus stop it was just a short but slippery uphill journey via Gipsy Lane to a rear entrance into the Park, Colin , Brian and John adding their own personal memories of this location from their early years growing up here.

Our uphill journey continued for a while before we found ourselves in a Woodland setting and eventually came across a more permanent footpath or roadway with a few signposts scattered along the way depicting various areas of the woodland you could visit, our intention was to advance towards the small lake and the nearby Cafe and information centre which we eventually did having met an acquaintance of Colin on our way.

It was about 12:20 when we found ourselves seated in the cafe and beginning to enjoy our drinks and various sandwiches etc. With upcoming adventures the main topic of discussion has we sat and rested our bodies for a while longer. Some 40 minutes later we left the warmth of the cafe and continued our uphill journey towards the main entrance to the park and on towards a nearby bus stop, hopefully taking us back in the direction of Tommy Wass’s , But this was to be not so, instead we took the 12A bus on a more leisurely and lengthy journey around the area of Belle Isle finishing up outside the Corn Exchange in the centre of Leeds. It was from here that we now continued our respective routes homeward bound.

Upon reflection today’s outing was most pleasurable and full of fun and excitement.

Cheers Everyone.