Guest post by Jane Zanzottera.
One surprising thing about myself as a parent is an increasing desire to experience and enjoy the simpler things in life, and to pass this onto my children. I also want to be able to give them experiences which don’t cost fortune and make the most of where we live. I cherish the fact that I can enjoy the benefits of a city whilst still being able to ‘escape’ to the open spaces. Having lived in the heart of Birmingham, where it is possible to leave one city and enter another without ever leaving the built environment , makes me appreciate this aspect of Leeds all the more. I also want my children to explore areas of Leeds (and Yorkshire) beyond the places they visit as part of their day to day experience.
It was with this as a backdrop that I turned to our bookshelf and flicked through our copy of ‘Kiddiwalks’, looking for inspiration for a Sunday morning in January. Written by the Ramblers Association, Kiddiwalks is a collection of walks around West Yorkshire suitable for families with children. Over the past few years we’ve done a few of the treks, largely successfully. (although I’ve discovered the language of how I communicate “we’re going for a walk” is key in determining how much we enjoy the walk!).
On this particular day, we picked, what is described as, an ‘airy walk’ which started off in Rawdon, skirted Yeadon and gave excellent views of the Leeds/Bradford airport. We chose to drive to Rawdon and parked the car outside the Rawdon Jubilee Hall. A short walk along Town Street, soon saw us coming off road and trekking over the hills. The weather was varied and extremely windy (I should have paid more attention to the word ‘airy) as we climbed the first hill. It was very muddy underfoot, much to the children’s delight, but probably a good idea to wear wellies/walking boots as there were some fairly soggy areas!
One of the best things about Leeds and the surround area is the fact that, within a short space of time, you can access open space, and this walk was a great example of this. Squalling rain and winds saw us with hoods up and heads down as we traversed over the hill, known as Rawdon Billing. Surprisingly there were no tantrums, perhaps helped by the lure of the flask of hot chocolate….
Quickly we descended into Yeadon, which was perhaps literally and metaphorically the low point of the walk. Unlike the rest of the route, this involved walking along the main road and crossing at a major traffic junction. Fortunately this didn’t take long and we were soon making the ascent to the top of Plane Tree Hill looking over the airport. We had a great view of the runway, but because of the wind, didn’t stick around for long.
The final leg of our trek saw sunshine emerge from the clouds as we headed downhill back to our starting point. The walk didn’t take more than a couple of hours, but we took it at an easy pace (when it wasn’t raining). We all saw part of Leeds we hadn’t seen before, and certainly not that view of the airport.It was a fun and low cost way to spend a Sunday morning. One of the things I like about these walks is that they feel so accessible, even to someone with limited map reading skills, like me!
Jane Z tries to keep the plates spinning between work and parenthood. With varying degrees of success and fuelled by caffeine. You can find her tweeting at @janezan.