Way

About five or more years ago I stumbled across a copy of Paul Sheldon's Bradford Ringwalks (1982) in a charity shop. It sets out a circular walk of 33 miles in a four or five mile radius around the city. Around that time I'd finished the Bradford Millennium Way, so I thought this might be my next route, but I've never really got started with it. Until today.

Having set myself a target of making a two o'clock kick off at Farsley, I headed down the hill to the canal, which was my closest part of the ring walk. Taking Buck Wood Swing Bridge as my starting point, I walked east along the canal to Apperley Bridge where the route veered south along the narrow strip of green space that separates Bradford from Leeds.

The mostly wooded route from Calverley to Thornbury and Pudsey also forms part of the Leeds Country Way which is itself a 64 mile circular excursion around the outer reaches of that other city. The trail marker (pictured) features a typical Leeds owl.

Having finally reached the main Leeds/Bradford road just west of Pudsey it was another mile or so to the Throstle Nest, home of Farsley Celtic, where the Farsley women's team were hosting Bradford City in the first round of the West Riding Women's County Cup. City play a couple of leagues above Farsley and their superiority showed, particularly after a spectacular first half hat-trick from left back Shirley Murphy. The second half was a little more even, and it finished 1-4. I've put a few images from the match on twitter.