walks – Path Watch

The Path Watch Effect

Whist clearly this blog is not in the same league as the “Lynx Effect” Path Watch is clearly having some effect. Our aim of improving the humble ramblers lot in the Holme Valley slowly progresses. Signs going up, some obstructions removed and although there are Some Quality Control Issues. the examples below are positive.

HOL 144-20 drainage (1 of 1) — January 2018 above & January 2019 below.

Kirklees rectified the problem fairly swiftly. There is now some very good mole scuba diving gear on ebay.

HOL 145-10 (1 of 1) — January 2018 above and October 2018 below. A step or two in the right direction.

hol 147-50 drainage issue (1 of 1) — January 2018 above and January 2019 below. Another drainage problem solved.

The thing is most of the issues being picked up are fairly minor and easily fixable without going to any great expense. But left untended my generation may be the last to know these quiet corners of the local countryside.

Miles Without Stiles.

What passes for a stile here in Kirklees

The Peak District National Park has been recognised for its work in improving access for all with an award from Accessible Derbyshire.

The local path network in the Holme Valley and wider Kirklees is littered with poorly maintained and unauthorised stiles like the one shown above near Emley. If there was an award for miles with stiles the Kirklees area would be a front runner.

HOL 116 Structure (1 of 1)

Many of these stiles and other structures have no right to be there having been added, modified or left to decay since the Definitive Map recording rights and limitations came into being.

It is, or at least should be, a very straightforward matter to either get them removed,repaired or properly specified and authorised. However this being you know where it’s like pushing water uphill trying to get our local highway authority to engage with the matter.

The end result of this indifference is far less places to walk and enjoy the countryside if you have any kind of physical condition limiting your mobility, sight or even if you’re just getting on a bit.

Stone Stile (1 of 1)

White Roads

Cartworth4 (1 of 1) — Cartworth Moor Road

A characteristic of the Holme Valley is the extensive network of “white Roads”. Often if you’re not a local you might not know they exist and that there is public access along many of them. Although the OS are showing many more these days with little green blobs on their maps they do miss quite a few.

I always found the term “white Roads” rather poetic and mysterious but in fact the term is pretty mundane as it refers to how they are/were depicted on OS maps. A white road between two boundaries or pecked lines but with no indication as to whether it is public or private and hence the sense of mystery.

Cartworth Moor Road is one such white road which pulls up out of Holmfirth to head straight for the moors. It’s much used by locals and has many public paths and several other white roads running off it to form a wonderful network of circular walks of varying lengths.

I walked it’s length today in driving snow showers all the way to the moorland edge before escaping the wind and dropping back into the valley by little used paths to follow the River Holme back to Holmfirth.