The big pathwatch 2!

It was a glorious morning, sunny and warm enough to set off out before 9.00 am in just a T shirt.

So we decided to do our second big pathwatch square.

This time it was centred around the bottom of our village and the Goit Stock/Harden Beck valley.
As before it only covered parts of routes within the square mile but we walked alongside the beck to the end of the caravan park up Goit Stock Lane and then climbed up to the top of the woods ( quite a steep path so often avoided) and then along the edge of the fields back to the village.

The route crosses the road several times so I was able to report that there was a lack of safe crossings and photograph the awful steep and normally muddy path that drops down to Wilsden Beck between recently erected barbed wire fences! Nothing to get hold of when you slither down the slope.

At the bottom of Sandybanks we paused at this building. I must haves passed it lots of times but never really looked at it before. We chatted to the owner who hasn't been in it for long and he confirmed that it was an old school house built in 1680. A number of buildings around our village and in the neighbouring ones (including my childhood home) date from this era.

He explained that the extension to the left was added in the 1980's and has been made to match very well. Until recently it has been a holiday let. The path we were on here is part of the Bradford Millennium Way and he said he had heard that prior to it's establishment a path went right through the property. The then owner having initially been annoyed by the walkers passing his house decided to cash in on them and set up some tables in his garden and started serving afternoon teas! Wish it had still been there!

Refusing to follow the path down the narrow main road without pavements (another photo) we made our way to the route through Crowther's farm and up Leech Lane where our paths ended after 3.33 miles. We called at our son's house before returning home in time for coffee, 4.25 miles in total!

A selection of paths put together to make a fun walk with lots of people to chat to en route. Think we'll definitely do another!


We have rain again now like yesterday. We had a rainbow last night at dusk (about 8.30pm), it had been awful all afternoon but there was a little bit of red sky creating a rainbow in an almost dark sky. Quite unusual I think. See my extra.