For this route, we looked at the end point according to the LCW which drops you off at a fuel depot in the middle of nowhere. As we had decided to be clever and leave a car at the end point, we decided to add a bit of leg 6 so we could leave the car somewhere safe. This was well and good until we found that the nearest town to park was Methley, a mile or so into the next leg, so this part, already 5.5 miles long, has become the longest walk we had done so far.
Having finished with a depressing walk through Garforth at the end of leg 4, we quickly left the town behind, coming off the main road and under a rail pass
into possibly the most beautiful part of the walk so far (pictures will be added posthumously to this blog!). The path is an old disused railway line that passes through tall banks of bluebells. Off to the sides are intriguing paths and loops through the trees and at various points the ground falls away for views down into little valleys and across fields.
The path eventually comes to a crossroads and you can tell the popularity of that stretch by the number of runners, cyclists and dog walkers who went past us in both directions. We turned right and the scenery continued to impress as the path curled round a small wooded area with high hedges making you feel truly out of the city.
We then came to a working farm, with the usual feeling of awe at the enormous building and excitement that comes from seeing it all in action, but these feelings were soon blown away by my dream house. It's a true English cottage, complete with climbing wisteria, a covered archway and beautifully manicured lawns. The pictures will do it more justice, but the thought of sitting in the big stone kitchen with light streaming through the latticed window made me want to make an offer right there. One can only dream.
The path then becomes a little tricky to follow, but goes between a series of fields and hedges tall than me, giving the whole walk an adventurous air. At this point, we started discussing a star rating system for the walks, with this one getting the full 5 stars. It will be hard to do this properly until we've seen all 12 legs, but we wanted to highlight just how good this part of the walk was.
We stopped for a coffee and a melted chocolate bar at the Mount Pleasant Picnic Site, a quiet field with views out over Leeds and some lovely tall grass for Jake to play in. I would happily walk this section repeatedly, especially with the weather as good as it was.
From there, the instructions and the route began to decline. We spent a little while getting lost near a main road and eventually resorted to Google Maps to work out how we could make the two parts of the walk meet up. We eventually found out where the route should have brought us out, and were very glad that we'd taken the long route. It was completely impassable with brambles and nettles almost at face height!
We followed the road down in Little Preston and followed the metalled road for over half a mile which feels like a long time when you're used to walking on footpaths. We followed Old Coach Road through some pretty overhanging trees and picked up the River Aire just after Swillington Bridge. It's a strange feeling to cross the river at that point, knowing that we won't cross back over for another 6 legs when the river is much smaller and windier.
I was looking forward to walking alongside the river but the path is quite far from the water and fairly open meaning that you lose the feeling of a river walk and made it feel more like a canal. When we reached the fuel depot, I realised that I could have left the car quite happily, but also sort of glad that we didn't. In retrospect, it would have been a good idea as it was a long slog into Methley.
Total distance = 6.5 miles
Total time = 3 hours 30 mins
Cumulative distance = 26 miles
Cumulative time = 13 hours 15 mins
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