A walk from Leeds-Bradford Airport via Horsforth Station to Headingley

Out through customs, and a couple of minutes later you’re standing in a field with half a dozen skittish Friesian heifers and a peaceful Hereford bull.

The magic begins: the stile (what's this type called?) from Scotland Lane onto the footpath at the beginning of the walk from Yeadon Airport to Leeds.

The magic begins: the stile (what's this type called?) from Scotland Lane onto the footpath at the beginning of the walk from Yeadon Airport to Leeds. Image: Stephen Craven.

Walk data

Walking distance9.5 km / 5.9 miles
Walking time1.9 hr

Other walks, & more on the way: I've been walking to and from airports for longer than Will Self and the route base will gradually materialise here.

Background & itinerary

  1. Turn right out of arrivals and follow the footpath straight through the mid-stay parking to cross the road to the car hire agencies. Fork right past the portakabin and walk 10m left along the perimeter hedge to find the nick that enables you to exit the carpark mysteriously.
  2. Only turn right along the road outside if you want to have a look at the 19th century mansion which once housed Springfield Convalescent Home, and now provides offices to inter alia a medical equipment manufacturer called Xiros.
  3. Instead, turn left and exit the airport complex onto Whitehouse Lane. Turn right and after 50m turn right onto Scotland Lane. Shamefully your politicians haven’t made the airport pay for a footpath along this extremely dangerous stretch, so proceed with great caution on the right for 180m, where you will spot a stone stile on the left hand side of the road. Do not let this lady distract you:
  4. Leap the stile and follow the footpath SSE-ish along field boundaries until you arrive at the road leading down to Oaks Farm on the left. These fields may contain sheep and (young) cattle, sometimes with a bull, but I have never had problems.
  5. Follow the road 60m up to the right till you get to a stile in the LH fence. Cross it into a copse, and follow the footpath along on the high ground through fields until you arrive at Dean Grange Farm.
  6. An alternative route here has you follow the track to the left down into the valley, past what remains of the Nether Spring Bleach Works. I assume this route gives you a view of the southern portal of the Bramhope Tunnel, so one day I will investigate.
  7. Instead, follow the high ground and proceed straight ahead on the footpath, past a large pile of woodchip on your left and then an old sandpit on your right. Travelling parallel to the railway, walk 400m to arrive at Owlet Farm, part of an old settlement still known by some as Scotland – I’m guessing Scotland Beck had some kind of manufacturing installation.
  8. Staying on the high ground, walk another 300m along the footpath and exit onto the road which to the left leads to Ling Bob Farm and a horse-infested alternative path. Follow the road instead to the right along the road for 30m, and then turn left onto a straight track which follows the perimeter wall of Beech House, previously known as Belle Vue. Cross the house’s access road and walk another 100m until on your left you encounter what memory says is a kissing gate.
  9. Enter the field and cross it SE to a stile, where your path is joined by that from Ling Bob. Follow the footpath S and downhill over three more stiles to exit onto Sussex Avenue.
  10. Walk through 50m of verge parking, and turn left into an alley. At the bottom this rejoins the footpath – obliterated by Sussex Avenue – and takes you past an old soap and tallow works to Horsforth Station. The only remaining Victorian building here now forms part of the Woodlands DIY store, but you can still catch trains to Leeds and Harrogate.
  11. Here my favoured route is to cross the railway bridge, turn right on Haigh Wood Road, right on Silk Mill Gardens, and then follow the trackside footpath through the woods to the ring road. However, if it is dark you may prefer to turn right out of the station and then first left down Troy Road, past industrial remnants including Troy Mills, which also takes you to the ring road.
  12. I then walk east along the ring road and turn right down Spen Gardens, following the perimeter of Lawnswood School, to get to the Otley Road. There I extract my Super Mario costume from a bush and merge with the Otley Run throng on my way home:

    Just a little shack, roof all turning black
    Still it is a palace fair to me
    Songbirds always singing around my kitchen door
    In my little home in Headingley.

I had a wonderful surprise on this walk last Sunday. I started out from the airport, and a car immediately stopped and a woman stuck her head out: “Do you want a lift?” I thought she must know me through the music or the allotment or something, but no, and she wasn’t mad. A very pleasant ride to Horsforth was accepted.

Similar posts

Back soon


Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *