A walk round Harewood Estate and Harewood House

Harewood House

Still trying to break in my Merrell Mid Moab boots (and to get some fresh air on possibly the most pleasant day of the year yet) we went for a wander around Harewood Estate. Sadly due to work commitments we never made it to the Lake District to do some walking and bag some Wainwrights so local it was. We parked the car in Harewood on the A659 and walked east out of Harewood. This is probably the most unpleasant part of the walk as you end up walking along hte grass verge of the main road with the traiffic passing.

Countryside near Harewood House

Just short of a mile head due south passed a farm (ensure it's not the first turning to the cemetary as this leads to a dead end). You then continue across the field with the impressive Hollin Hall on your left hand side. Passing the fishing pond you leave the field and ascend with a woodland on your right.

Harewood House Countryside

The footpath continues in a straight line until you get to a t-junction where you join the Leeds Country Way in either direction. We went right heading in the direction of Hrewood Estate. Through a gate and down the hill we arrived on Wike Lane. Again walking on the grass verge but with far less traffic it isn't long before we arrived at Harewood estate. For the main part the part of the walk we'd completed so far wasnt the most staggering, between the main roads, through the farm and passed Hollin Hall were very plaesant but time on the roads do detract from it somewhat.

Leeds Country Way Sign

Once into Harewood Estate though the scenery is quite stunning with Harewood House revealing its magnificence fairly swiftly in the distance on the right hand side in the distance and boy is it impressive. The path however carries straight on and into some woodland, the path is clearly obvious here. You head through a gate and soon later over a bridge with a nice water feature to the left. Once over the bridge you continue alond the Leeds Country Way to the left. There is only one path which isn't prohibited which keeps things simple until you're hit with a crossroad. Here the Leeds Country Way heads off to the left, we took the route downhill to the right. Again once you're on this path it winds it's way around and you can see the fishing pond in the distance to your right.

Harewood Estate

This path becomes more of a track as it heads into the Harewood buildings. We managed to see a red kite here which was pretty impressive. We then continued back to the main road and back to the car.

Walkmeter had it down as 7 miles but that was taking into account the wrong turn we took to the cemetary at the very start of the walk. A pretty nice meander though, a leg stretch we'll be doing again.

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The Leeds Country Way Hiking Trail

The Leeds Country Way Map

So I had my anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed in November and have been undergoing physiotherapy since then. It's been pretty intense but ultimately you get out what you put in and the more of a slog I put in now the better the results will be in the long run. As all physiotherapists will tell you the actual operation is only half the battle, the rest is down to the patient and the exercise. 

Living on the outskirts of Leeds I decided to have a look at an ordnance survey map of Leeds to see what there was locally instead of driving the hour or so to the Yorkshire Dales, the North Yorkshire Moors, the Lake District or the Peak District. It would probably be easier on my joints too on the flat rather then up hill and down dale. Whilst it would unquestionably be preferred to walk in Yorkshire Dales, the North Yorkshire Moors, the Lake District or the Peak District the 2 - 3 hour round trip makes it a bit impractical. So looking at the map I stumbled (visually, not literally) on the Leeds Country Way which is a 62 mile route around the outskirts of the city. 

So as part of my physiotherapy I started along the Leeds Country Way from Woodlesford, heading towards Methley with not the best results. I started off along the Leeds Liverpool canal and whilst it was pleasant, it was a touch less than inspiring. It's fairly well marked and this section was all very flat, naturally as it was along the canal side for the main part. I think we did about 6 miles as a circular route. So to surmise, this part of the Leeds Country Way was fairly uninspiring and sadly was too close to suburbia to avoid litter. That said I'll persevere with it as the rest may turn out to be quite different.