Here is a blog by our youngest contributor, so far, Eden. He was asked to write about his three favourite walks where he lives as part of his school assignment this year and got in touch to ask if it could be part of our Walkshire campaign. How could we refuse?
We hope you enjoy Walkshire through the eyes of an 8 year old, we certainly did at Welcome to Yorkshire.
My favourite three local walks by Eden, aged 8.
Hello, my name is Eden and I am from Cullingworth in West ‘Walkshire’. I am very lucky to have lots of nice walks around where I live. As part of my schoolwork this term I’m writing about three of my favourite walks and I wanted to share them with you.
The Viaduct (The Great Northern Trail)
This walk starts at Cullingworth Village Primary school, on the site of the old train station. You can see the old station sign in front of the school.
Following the path opposite the school you will walk onto the first viaduct. This crosses over a lot of houses so make sure you wave to people sat out in their back gardens. The viaduct is nice and wide so if you have a dog or want to cycle it’s a great place to go. The path then continues following the route of the old railway line between Keighley, Cullingworth and Queensbury on the outskirts of Bradford. The path is more or less flat because it used to be a railway track and needed to be level for the trains.
After about 10 mins there is a lovely tunnel that you can stand underneath to shout and listen to the echo or you can take a short cut over the top of the tunnel on the right hand side. The route continues for another 15 minutes until you reach the splendid, amazing, wonderful and cool Hewenden viaduct.
Built in the 1880’s, taking 3 years to complete, it was finished in 1883 making it 138 years old. That is very old!!! It has 17 arches and curves to the right. The views of the countryside from on top are stunning, splendid and special especially of the reservoir below. I like to imagine going back in time and travelling on the train on this railway.
At the other end of the viaduct is a hidden station and if you look closely you can see the old platforms and station house.
I love this walk because of its history and the hard work that went into building the amazing viaduct.
Goit Stock Waterfall
Goit stock is a beautiful, amazing and splendid waterfall in Cullingworth and we are lucky to live near it. The waterfall has been formed over hundreds of thousands of years and is lovely natural beauty spot. It is a short walk from where I live so we go and see it regularly. In normal times I love to take my friends to see it when they come to stay with us.
The things I like about the waterfall are the sound it makes especially after heavy rainfall. It can sound like an angry roar from a lion and is very loud. When it is quiet, I like playing in the shallow water with my friends and stone skimming. It is the perfect place to skim and I love doing that with my daddy.
After we’ve finished playing, we walk down the beck towards Harden passing through a mystical woodland full of dear, badgers and singing birds. I love checking out the various plant species with my mummy who knows the names of them all. She is so clever like that.
We then like to rest our legs at the Malt pub in Harden where they have a lovely space to play football and excellent ice cream!
Cow House Beck/Emma’s Badger Sett
My favourite place for a walk and a picnic is Cow House Beck that has thousands of flowers in the meadow making it beautiful, splendid and peaceful. I love to play in the stream here with my friends and family. In the summer I had lots of fun here running around in the field in the open air.
In the summer last year, we found an abandoned badger cub very close by. It was surprise to see it out in the daylight and it was the first time I had ever seen one. My mummy is a brilliant ecologist and was able to rescue the young cub with the help of the RSPCA. This cub was then named Emma, in honour of my mummy, but I wanted to call it Gonzo after the character in the Muppets. Thankfully, Emma was looked after and then released into a safe spot somewhere else the country.
Therefore, because of this special experience and the lovely setting of Cow House Beck this is one of my favourite places to walk too as it brings me happy thoughts every time I visit.
