A Circular Walk on the Leeds Country Way from Woodlesford

Still training for the Oxfam Trailtrekker, myself and my brother went and trudged part of the Leeds Country Way from the middle of Woodlesford.

We started off heading towards the canal where I'd walked previously on one of my worst Leeds Country Way experiences. We walked down the canal again passed the boat moorings and meandered down to Mickletown.

We left the canal here and where previously we'd taken a right, we went left and followed the road down to Methley.

Once into Methley we went straight over the first mini roundabout and right at the T Junction. Not long later we went under a railway bridge and turned left walking alongside the village cricket pitch which is all very English countryside and is picturesque.

Now heading again for the countryside we took a right after the cricket pitch and walked passed the pub on our left. Always tempting but 8am is not time for a pint. There's a path to the left here that takes the path across fields here.

The hiking trail was pretty obvious and comes out at a main road. After a few hundred yards there is a kind of skewed cross roads. We took the road that went straight on (ie not left or right). This weaves down a country road until a gate to the right took us alongside a woodland. We hugged this woodland for a while until it disappeared. Soon later there is a disguised (well not really that disguised just that we missed it) entrance to a path which is a coup,e of boulders representing a makeshift style.

Again this hiking trail is obvious and leads you towards the A642 which you have to cross and go down the road passing Royds language school. This roads kicks back to the right however it is the track to the left we took heading towards Swithens Farm and farm shop.

We stuck on this track until we reached Swithens Farm and we walked straight through the farm, still on the Leeds Country Way. Whilst we didn't go into the shop it was more like a farm supermarket than a farm shop - it was huge.

Just through the farm itself you come to the farm car park. You head through the car park and on the left hand side the LCW path is signed away down the hill. After hugging the hedgerow down the hill you cross a style to your right which leads you through a horse paddock and into the village of Carlton.

Emerging on the main road we went left and passed the Unicorn pub on our right and followed the road round to Shayfield Lane on the right.

At the end of Shayfield Lane the road turns into a field but the path across the field is fairly well trodden and is easy to follow. This takes you all the way to Robin Hood and an obvious disused railway track.

The hiking trail took us along this railway track which was fairly pleasant and it took us all the way to Rothwell. Here we emerged at a church and went along the left hand side of the church and carried straight on to the T Junction where we went left.

At Haigh Road, which is the main road we went right then immediately left which took us straight through Mannheim car auctions. We emerged on Leeds Road. Crossing Leeds Road we went slightly left and took the path that ran along the back of the houses. This comes out on the road that runs down to Rothwell Country Park and the canal.

A mile and a halves meander down the canal and we arrived back at the bridge. From here it was a few hundred yards back to the starting point in Woodlesford.

This was partly the same route that I found unpleasant previously however this day was great and we managed to find a circular route which is even better, the route took us just over 4 hours and was 13.44 miles long - there's a map of the route below.

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