The West Yorkshire Heritage Trail (WYHT) is a brand new, long circular, heritage-themed trail. It starts officially in Saltaire, at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Salts Mill, though it may be started anywhere. As it is a circular, you have officially completed it when you arrive back in to Saltaire again.
It goes through every district of West Yorkshire. There are five in total – starting in Bradford, then Leeds, Wakefield, Kirklees, Calderdale and then back into Bradford again. No other marked trail in West Yorkshire does this. It is unique because of its inclusive coverage.
It is also the only trail where you can get a guide to historical remains spanning across at least 4,000 years. All of the heritage sites are publicly accessible. This guide weaves a selection of them into one route. As such, it provides one version of the history of West Yorkshire, but it is not the only story, and there are many other sites out there I could not include. To see a list of the sites by historical time period, please click here
It is a route designed in twelve stages. The reason for this is because ideally you would split it up into one section per month, achievable in a year. All sections are accessible by public transport as well. I have not included accommodation and refreshment options – there are too many to list. One final piece of advice: the maps and written descriptions will definitely help you to trace the route on the ground, but it might be a useful idea to look at a 1:25 000 scale ordnance survey map or simply use Google StreetView when trying to work out a tricky section before you travel. I did this many times when I was planning the route and it definitely made life a lot easier. I have walked each section at least four times, and some more than forty. It’s the best I can offer though I am sure there are even better variations waiting to be discovered.
Some acknowledgements – to the ‘Wednesday Walkers Regulars’ (Rach, Rob, Susan, Sally and Danny) at C+K Careers who joined me on some of the Kirklees and Calderdale stretches of this route, a heartfelt thank you!
For the initial inspiration of the route, I read ‘The West Yorkshire Way’ by N. Parrott, 1993.
Check the route out below – pick a section and try it out! Email me, let me know if it needs tweaking.
Section One: Saltaire to Ilkley (12km) 4hrs.
Section Two: Ilkley to Otley Chevin – 12 km (4 hrs)
Section Three: Otley Chevin to East Keswick (18km) 5 hours
Section Four: East Keswick to Garforth (18km) 6hrs
Section Five: Garforth to Wakefield (20km) 6-7hrs
Section Six: Wakefield to Mirfield (18km) 5hrs.
Section Seven: Mirfield to Huddersfield (15km) 5 hrs.
Section Eight: Huddersfield to Holmfirth (20km) 6hrs
Section Nine: Holmfirth to Marsden (20km) 6-7hrs
Section Ten: Marsden to Hebden Bridge (25km) 8-9hrs
leadforaliving.co.uk 