I have lived in West Yorkshire since the end of 2008. With having the Yorkshire Dales and The Peak District nearby I had planned to explore this area as much as I could, unlike I did in Hampshire!

I started to search the net for walking groups nearer to Leeds, I found a couple but for various reasons they didn’t appeal to me! I then came across The Morley Walking Group, which had various activities, cycling and walking both with various levels of difficulty, they have short, medium and long walks, they also have evening and tea shop walks! I contacted them to check if I could come along on one of their walks, which the reply was “yes please do come along”.

While I was in the process of looking for a more local walking group, I used a route card I had been given, to get myself out! This route card was for a walk from Grassington, along the banks of the river Wharfe. 

 

I must mention at this point that I had started to have a problem with my right knee, it wasn’t painful but just had the habit of, it felt like it was clicking back into place, this didn’t happen all the time, mainly when I had been knelt down or had my legs curled up on the sofa, so walking wasn’t a problem.

My first walk with the group was around the area of Swinsty Reservoir, we met up in the car park of Morrisons in Morley, they operate a car share scheme so we don’t have a mass of cars turning up at the location of the walk (the passengers pay the driver a set amount for that days walk depending on how far away the walk is). So I joined a couple in their car and we set off more or less in convoy (directions are given to each driver in the form of a slip of paper)!

I went on another couple of walks with Morley Walking Group, then my knee started to get worse, I would be OK for say a couple of weeks then just the wrong movement and I could be in agony for at the very least a couple of days! After seeing my doctor, then a physiotherapist, I was still in agony! I got sent to see specialist who said I would need to have keyhole surgery to see what the problem was and if possible sort it out. So on November 3rd 2012, I was admitted to hospital at 07:15, by 17:00 I was back home! It turns out I had a “significant bucket handle tare to the cartilage”. I had to go back for physio for about 8 visits. My knee is now OK, although I sometimes find it can still be painful if I have to kneel down! I have started to go on walks but only short walks to begin with as I am still a bit wary about my knee! 

 

I have found another local walking group to me, Walkabout Alwoodley Parish Walking Group; they only do a couple or so walks a month! I went on a short local walk with them. This walk was very enjoyable and everyone who came along seemed very friendly, but the thing that stuck in my mind was the whole walk seemed to be a rush! This walk started at the park in King Lane, near to the shops at the bottom of The Avenue. The walk would take us into Adel Woods, past the seven arches aqueduct, then past the remains of Scotland Mill, following the track down to the Ring Road, under the underpass, following the path that runs parallel with the ring road until you reach Parkside Road, then go left, you then come to a fork in the road. At this point go through the kissing gate on your right. Following this track into the woods, you eventually come to a footbridge over Adel beck, with a weir below the bridge. We then headed up the steep slope into the public gardens of The Hollies. With this being not far from where I live,  I have been back to the weir a number of times to practise my long exposure photography. I have also been to The Hollies a number of times just for a change of scenery and the get a bit of exercise.

After this I have been on a couple of walks by myself along more or less the same route taken by the Walkabout group, but mainly just to take some photos and generally play with my camera! Only this time I could take as long as I wanted! The 1st of these walks was in about 3 inches of snow; the 2nd was a few weeks later. This time I only did a very small part of the original route as I saw a track going off to the right and decided to investigate! 

I did a walk on 19/05/2013 with the Morley walking group for the 1st time since before my knee op, this walk was in the area of Mytholmroyd around 6 miles.

I did another lone walk on 16/06/2013, a walk of around 5.5 miles (8.8km). I had originally planned to do a walk with The Morley Walking Club, but I hadn’t sorted my gear out and also woke up too late to make the meet up in Morley. I was instead treated to a Father’s Day Full English Breakfast at a local café. Later that morning I was thumbing through an AA pack of walking cards (20 Walks in West Yorkshire) I had bought a few weeks ago and found 2 walks I fancied doing, as they were not too far away and also the length of the walk wasn’t too long. Starting from Golden Acre Park Bramhope (Leeds)

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On the southern edge of Golden Acre Park is Adel Dam Nature Reserve, this is run by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (YWT). It is free to enter, as you pass through the gate, there is a wooden shelter, with information about the site, and sightings, some times this shelter is staffed by friendly YWT staff. They are very helpful and very cheerful, even on rainy days.

There are two hides on this reserve, the first one you come across is the Marsh hide (this is the one I go to the most, as you are closer to the action), and the next hide is the Lake hide (this looks across a lake, so a decent zoom lens is required).