Edlington Pit Wood

I walked out to Edlington Pit Wood today, taking the route along the river to Warmsworth, passing through Hexthorpe Flatts park.

Just before reaching Mill Lane though I took an unofficial path that goes across a fallow field to the cemetery and then walked through the housing estate and down Lord's Head Lane.

This route took me to the old part of Warmsworth.

Taking this route was safer than walking up the hairpin bend as it comes out of the Don Gorge near to Sprotbrough - there are no causeways and a lot of overhanging branches. After I'd reached Hexthorpe Flatts park I was only walking through built up areas for a distance of less than a mile...until the return journey via the industrial areas at Balby and Hyde Park.

There were some areas of Edlington Pit Wood I didn't explore today, and I didn't go all the way up to the summit because there was a man with two or three big dogs up there - I'm still a bit wary after being attacked a few weeks ago near Bentley.

I enjoyed walking down this field full of ox-eyed daisies.

Beyond Edlington Pit Wood is the much older Edlington Wood and some patches of open ground.

I call this type of tree a 'urinal tree' - I used this one today.

I returned via Springwell Lane and the cycleway along the old railway embankment, and finished by taking a slightly different route back from the Lakeside Shopping Village...which I have to pass through, only the edge of it though; otherwise I'd be walking along a busy dual carriageway where there's no causeway or even grass verge. I don't hate out-of-town shopping centres so much that I prefer to risk getting run over.

A Walk to Cadeby Church

It started off by being not ideal for walking today, misty and cloudy, but it brightened up after lunch and ended up quite pleasant in the afternoon - I needed to get out of the house and do something positive for a few hours, so as long as it wasn't raining, it was fine. The lockdown has been getting me down again, especially some of the current developments.

I decided to visit Cadeby today and the small decommissioned church there, designed by George Gilbert Scott, the same Victorian architect who designed Doncaster Minster - I think he worked on both buildings at the same time. 

I walked to Conisbrough Viaduct, going via Hexthorpe Flatts park and the right bank of the Don. I found quite an attractive path that I'd not used before, going just to the north of Hexthorpe Flatts. It's not very far from the houses or the railway line but it's like being out in the countryside - it finished with a steep slippery descent to the riverside path.

This path goes under the motorway bridge and beyond Sprotbrough passes the location of the small lime-making community of Levitt Hagg.

I turned back a couple of times as I was exploring the network of footpaths and quarry roads in this area. I'd planned to go down into Steetley Quarry, but all of the paths were very steep - I wasn't wearing my hiking boots, only a pair of sturdy trainers which didn't have much grip on the soles though.

I crossed over Conisbrough Viaduct and then walked down the road to Cadeby; it's quite a pretty  village, but it's small and there's nothing else to photograph there apart from the church.

I continued to Sprotbrough along the road and then the footpath that goes right alongside the road. The next photograph features the furthest east to date of the signs erected by the Peak and Northern Footpaths Society.

A few hundred yards beyond this point I lost the track of the official footpath and ended up down in an old abandoned railway cutting. There was still a well-defined path - but there was this obstacle in the way. I had to decide whether to go under or over, and I chose the latter.

I entered Sprotbrough from an unexpected direction; it was quite busy at Lower Sprotbrough down by the river. There was an ice cream van and a concession selling hot drinks and snacks since the pub is still closed and boarded up like everywhere else.

When I reached the motorway bridge I took the steps going up the hillside out of the gorge and then the path that goes near to the housing estate and then across the fields eventually to Sprotbrough Lane, from where I walked along the road to the town centre and then home.