On our first walk from Sowerby Bridge we tool the the west side canal walk from Brighouse to Bradley but the towpath got progressively more impassible, partly due to the summer foliage, but ultimately due to the towpath area in blue being collapsed in multiple places. Eventually, we had to climb up the slope of a toppled fence into the Fearnley Mill Drive Industrial Estate.
 |
| The section marked has multiple towpath collapses |
On subsequent walks in the other direction, we did not fancy climbing back down the same toppled fence sloping towards a very narrow (and possibly now missing) towpath, so we took the urban route from Fearnley Mill Drive taking the A62 north to the A644 north west to the M62 (over or under) and heading to Brighouse Marina via Armytage Road. It was very noisy, and the footpath on the A644 was so narrow in parts that crossing it twice was required. All very unsatisfactory.
Other routes could be explored, but halfway through a 20+ mile walk is not the setting to explore, so we took some time out to examine alternate exit points from the west side path to Fearnley Mill Drive.
The maps indicated some possible farm tracks from the canal to Lower Quarry Road so we set out to investigate those.
The Path from Fearnley Mill Drive
We went into the industrial estate to see whether there was formal access to the towpath, that we had missed before. At the area marked in red on the map there was easy over the fence access to good stable towpath if it were possible to even get that far south which was doubtful.
 |
| The towpath is collapsed at multiple points between the top of the map and the red mark |
I spoke with someone working in the industrial estate who confirmed that the towpath was collapsed at multiple points and had been so for years, and that the only safe way to get access to Brighouse along the towpath was (as we suspected) via Lower Quarry Lane and some farm tracks.
The Path from Brighouse
We investigated all of the paths marked blue. Coming south it seems best to leave the towpath immediately after passing under the Bradley Viaduct as shown below.
 |
| Bridge 21 Bradley Viaduct. Take the footpath right to Lower Quarry Road immediately after passing under this bridge |
We walked the whole area to explore all the possibilities. While there is also a path across on the other side, it does not look to continue very far towards Brighouse.
 |
| View towards the canal and Bradley Viaduct from the footpath. Note the footpath on the other side |
For those who prefer to stay by the water for as long as possible, it is possible to cross a little stream (which will take some care) and continue along the towpath a little further, and then cut through a field along a well-worn track and under a railway bridge, also leading to Lower Quarry Road.
 |
| The well worn track coming from the left to towards the bridge and Lower Quarry Road |
 |
| The bridge to Lower Quarry Road |
Whether you leave to towpath immediately after the passing under the viaduct, you can cross the railway at a level cross or continue around the curve of the field track and cross under the bridge.
 |
| A view of the level crossing looking forward to the canal |
We did also continue as far down the towpath as possible until we reached a point where we didn't care to continue any further. We had already had to step over some small collapse of the path, and this corner looked a good place to drown. Note on the right - the fencing to the industrial estate, and the slope down towards a narrow towpath.
 |
| This point was considered to be the end of the passable towpath, |
Conclusion
Our conclusion was that (coming south) it was best to leave the canal immediately after the Bradley Viaduct but follow the path around to pass under the railway (rather than at the level crossing) and avoid the stream and reduce time spent on the Lower Quarry Road.
We met a local dog walker who confirmed how to pronounce Slaithwaite (which I've sadly since forgotten) and also confirmed that the path to Brighouse is passable all the way from the Bradley Viaduct, except that canal must abandoned coming into Brighouse (which we knew from our very first walk)
 |
| Leaving the canal at Baleborough's Bridge (Huntingdon Road) to take Armytage Road to Brighouse Basin |
No comments:
Post a Comment