An interesting walk, this, passing high above the Aire Valley and then dropping down into the valley bottom, with some superb views and a close encounter with the popular village of Baildon.

It's a walk, too, that you can interrupt with a return journey via public transport from several points if you so wish. I'm indebted for the suggestion of the route to a splendid little leaflet Four Guided Walks In And Around Saltaire, published by Bradford Council.

Starting point was Saltaire, although it could just as easily have been Shipley if that's where your public transport takes you, following the canal towpath to Sir Titus's village from there.

Crossing the canal and the river and cutting across the end of Roberts Park at around 8.40am, I found myself walking up Thompson Lane with Salts School pupils heading in the opposite direction. Soon, though, I turned off and followed the grassy paths that zigzagged up towards Baildon Crags.

This is a surprising place usually seen only from a distance. The cottages of Baildon Green are below, and beyond them the great bulk of Salts Mill while ahead is the green valley and beyond it Wrose Hill and Thackley.

To the left, soon, are the cliff faces of the crag as you walk along Baildon Bank before climbing steep steps into the heart of the village.

It's a splendid place is Baildon, tucked away on the edge of the moor. Small wonder so many people want to live there. It's unfortunate that by doing so and nibbling away at the greenery that surrounds it they're making it a slightly less splendid place. But isn't that the way of the world?

I left Baildon past its fine parish church and the excellent Hallcliffe Community Gardens, which are a tribute to all those various community organisations involved in their creation and maintenance, before striking off down Ladderbanks Lane - a road at first, passing some fine houses on the left, then a lane and finally a bridleway as it descended to a gate which led into the field where, at the bottom, was Tong Park Dam.

We were now in what for me is territory filled with magical nostalgia. We used to spend a lot of time in this little green valley as a family when my sister and I were children, picnicking beside the dam or alongside the cricket field, which must be one of the prettiest in the country with its backdrop of Spring Wood.

It's changed considerably less than I have in the intervening half century or so.

I walked up past the war memorial in its railinged enclosure and for ten minutes or so, while the rainstorm that had been threatening for some time did its worst, sheltered under the tall trees by some newish houses which have been built on the site of what was once a children's home near Hollin Head.

It was at that home that I met Sooty, somewhere back in the middle of the 1950s. Oh yes I did! I have a photograph to prove it.

And it was during a fireworks display at that home, organised by the Round Table of which my father was a member, that I witnessed a remarkable display of pyrotechnics when the first rocket was set off from a table beneath which all the rest of the fireworks were being stored in boxes. A jet of downward sparks lit the lot. What a show! Brief, dangerous, but spectacular!

It gave me plenty to remember when the rain eased and I walk down to Roundwood Road and across the leafy valley between Baildon and Thackley to join the canal towpath and return at a pleasant, pondering stroll back to the start.

Step by Step

  1. Walk down Victoria Road, Saltaire, and cross canal then turn left down ramp and right to cross river footbridge into Roberts Park and continue ahead. Go right to exit at gate immediately before lodge then turn left and walk up to road. Cross over and go up Thompson Lane passing children's playground then school on left.
  2. Continue to pass last building on left on Thompson Lane (it's end-on to road) then immediately go left on path up grassy bank. At fork (soon reached) take right-hand branch up slope to eventually come to wider crossing path. Go left with this uphill for a few paces then right on to narrower climbing path.
  3. Stick with this to rocky plateau. Just past railings on left, where path divides, keep ahead with factory below on right. Continue on main path to arrive at a grassy plateau. Keep ahead across this with cliff on left. At division of paths go left again on level ground and when plateau ends, with railings on left, keep straight ahead to come to steps going steeply left.
  4. Climb steps and at top go right on ridge-edge path with house gardens on left. Keep ahead to emerge at Wrose View. Turn left and walk up Bank Walk into Westgate. Go right here and walk down to roundabout in middle of Baildon.
  5. Dogleg right then left over crossing and cut across corner of car park into Hallcliffe. Turn right and walk up road with Ian Clough Hall on right and Conservative Club on left. Continue past church on right and Community Gardens on left to descend to junction of roads.
  6. Keep ahead across Heygate Lane into Ladderbanks Lane. Continue along this. When it narrows and becomes a bridleway keep going to descend with it steeply to gate.
  7. Through this, turn right and follow wall on right, with Tong Park Dam down on left, to pass war memorial and swing round behind it to follow track up past converted farm on right to gate. Over stile beside gate, keep ahead along lane beneath tall trees to where track meets a road (Hollin Head). Go right down this to meet Langley Lane and go left to descend to Roundwood Road. Go left and walk down to meet Otley Road.
  8. Cross this busy road with care and go up track directly opposite bottom of Roundwood Road to descend to cross river and continue uphill to canal towpath. Turn right here and walk on to pass through Shipley and return to Saltaire.
Fact File

  • Set-off point: Victoria Road, Saltaire, or Shipley (following canal to Saltaire)
  • Time for 5-mile walk: around two-and-a-half hours
  • Going: easy/moderate (a couple of steep uphill pulls)
  • Map: OS Explorer 288 Bradford & Huddersfield
  • Parking: street parking and pay-and-display car parks in Saltaire and Shipley
  • Refreshments: in Shipley, Saltaire and Baildon
  • Toilets: in Saltaire (Victoria Road car park)
  • Public transport: plenty of buses and trains to Saltaire and Shipley