Walks

Walks Around Bailiff Bridge.

Unfortunately current health problems restrict the amount of walking I can do in fact it’s almost zero so these walks are from memory, so please take care and wear suitable clothing as some of these walks will have changed since I last used them, anyway this is the first one which was fairly firm and not too much of a gradient although please take care?

(Walk 1) Starting at the back of the former old Punch Bowl Hotel on Victoria Road. Start walking away from the Hotel keeping on the footpath as you cross Co-op Building and passing the Memorial Park on your right, you pass Bailiff Bridge Infants School keep heading straight on as the road bends to the left into the new housing development, you keep to the footpath which is flanked by the high fence as you pass the bottom side of Victoria Chase before crossing over the rough footpath from Bradford Road.

You now approach the twisted Beck with a small bridge as you pass over the bridge keep in a straight line with the twisting beck on your right, as you approach the second field (stand still a while as this area if full of all kinds of wildlife) moving on in a straight line while the stream disappears to your right making its way back up to Wyke, moving on you should see the garden centre to the right keeping to the top side of their boundary fence as you approach the road (A58) this is a very busy road so please take care as you cross the road and enter the field via a swinging gate turnstile you should be able to make out the footpath straight in front of you which is fairly steep and not always suitable for the disabled due to undergrowth, at the top of the field is a good time to look back at Bailiff from the North’s High Point?

As you continue your walk you walk along side of the old cricket ground (which I have been informed is sadly closed?), keep on walking and it brings you to the heart of the wonderful village of Norwood Green one of the best and nicest villages in Yorkshire, as you approach the ‘T’ Junction there are some seats for the tired amongst you or some swings and things for the energetic smaller ones, if you look to the right at the ‘T’ junction is Station Road with ‘The Pear Tree Pub’ on the right and lower down the road also on the right is the old Norwood Green Railway Station with Judy Woods on the left (I will try to cover the Judy Woods walks later), if you look to the left is the ‘Old White Beare’ and the bus turning circle with the Bowling Green and the Village Hall behind.

Anyway after you have rejuvenated following your rest we can set off back to Bailiff Bridge you can go back the same way you came or as in our case we will go back down the rough and sometimes muddy, slippery and overgrown Rookes and Till Carr Lanes, so back down the lane but instead of going to the left by the cricket ground  take the road slightly to the right of the cricket ground lane down Rookes Lane named after the village former Lord, almost at the bottom of this lane is his former residence ‘Rookes Hall’ at the bottom of the lane you come to a sort of staggered cross road with the A58 Halifax to Leeds Whitehall Road (the one we crossed earlier further down) this time we are going almost straight across in to a narrow winding lane which is a kind of continuation of Rookes Lane as it descends steeply and with bits of footpaths missing to a muddy and at times slippy which is constantly changing with the weather this is a good time to use your walking sticks, as this lane has mud is in places and very overgrown at times with water running out of the fields and through walls but is a great place for wildlife’

This is a great place to take a quite rest and take in the wildlife before reaching the bottom of the hill with some remains of the old bridge over the beck (or it was the last time I went down) now on the other side of the beck you climb up a steep hill which is now Till Carr Lane the surface gets better as you approach some rows of cottages & houses keep on up the hill passing two farms on your left with the remains of the old Lightcliffe Graveyard on your right (worth taking a brief look at, especially the old bell tower along with some very old graves) on the other side of Till Carr Lane you will see a footpath, (if it’s very wet you can continue to the end of Till Carr Lane in to Wakefield Road turning left and keep going for about a quarter of a mile down the steep hill to be back to where you started) but if it’s not too wet we will take the footpath across the end of two rows of Terrace Houses (Ripley Street) where you will see a swing gate sty at the side of the big gate on your left opposite the end of Rippley Street, through the gate and diagonally down the steep field following the outline of the footpath you come to a sty and bridge across Wyke Beck keep going straight on 200 yds then turn left onto Victoria Road leading you back where you started from. Hope you enjoyed your 2-3 mile walk and taking in the countryside and wildlife around 1-2 hours?

Please see below a sort of self constructed map although not very good and certainly not to any type of scale but I hope you can make some sort of sense of it? follow the blue track and good luck Brian.