Bawtry, Austerfield, Robin Hood Airport, Finningley, and Blaxton

With the clocks being put back overnight I had an extra hour to get ready to catch the 10:26 bus to Bawtry, enough time to have breakfast and then prepare a couple of rooms upstairs for when the builders start work on Tuesday fixing some insulation panels on the walls. 

Bawtry is a quaint little market town but I didn't take any photographs today because there are already plenty on the blog elsewhere. I immediately walked down Station Road heading for Austerfield; just beyond the railway bridge taking a footpath that goes past the animal rescue centre. This route is a short cut to Austerfield and far more interesting than walking along the road.

Although it's in Yorkshire, the church at Austerfield, together with Bawtry Church, is actually in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham.

At the northern end of the village there's a bridleway that leads to Bawtry Golf Club, I turned off it before reaching the clubhouse and walked across a footpath going through a potato field and then took the now de-classifield and blocked off road which runs right next to the runway at Robin Hood Airport. 

About two dozen people were gathered at one of the popular viewing spots, expecting something soon to be happening. I looked over to where they were pointing their camera lenses and saw a Vulcan Bomber on the taxiway. assuming it would soon be taking off I decided to stay. Whilst I was waiting I saw a small light aircraft land, and a bit later a Flybe jet take off.

By this time I could hear the bomber's engines start; they were very noisy, much noisier than the commercial passenger jets. Another light aircraft then landed without me noticing.

After well over half an hour waiting I was feeling cold and fed up and so decided to continue with the walk. A cyclist stopped to talk to me and he told me that the Vulcan Bomber doesn't actually take off any more since it doesn't have a certificate of air worthiness; it's just moved out onto the taxiway several times a year and the engines are fired up for aviation enthusiasts. I was disappointed, but he told me I'd experienced a rare treat.

A helicopter landed at the other end of the airport as I was still walking alongside the runway - it's a long runway at Finningley...long enough for Concorde to have used it.

The church at Finningley was looking good today in the sunshine.

It was twenty minutes until a bus was due at Finningley and so I set off walking towards town; it's a boring slog along the road for long stretches and I wasn't looking forward to it. I'd only gone about half a mile when it started raining and so I gave up just after I'd passed the level crossing at Blaxton. The bus arrived on time, about fifteen minutes later.

I doubt I even did five miles today, but I did fifteen yesterday.

Maltby, Hooton Levitt, Thurcroft, Brampton en le Morthen, Hardwick, Todwick, South Anston, Lindrick Dale, Shireoaks, and Worksop

I went on the bus to Maltby today - there are still problems on the trains. I got off at the first bus stop in the town centre and walked along to the church.

I then walked along the path through the woods to Hooton Levitt; I passed through the village without taking any photographs and then took the bridleway to Newhall Grange. I found a sheltered spot to eat my sandwiches although it was still quite early, and then needed to walk along the road for half a mile.

I found the footpath which goes pretty much parallel to the road, going past an old spoilheap which is now being used for commercial refuse tipping.

I did a short detour to visit the church at Thurcroft; it's nothing remarkable - a pleasant twentieth century building dating from 1937...my dad's two years older.

I got confused after re-tracing my steps coming from the church but did eventually find my way to Brampton-en-le-Morthen; I think there's a hyphen missing from the sign though.

As I left Brampton I noticed that the missing hyphen had now been found.

I took the path which took me under, and then over the motorway, passing through a part of Hardwick I hadn't seen before and then reaching Todwick. There's a separate pelican crossing for horseriders to use to get across the very busy A57 road, right next to the regular one used by pedestrians and cyclists...I didn't need to bend down to take the photograph.

As I was approaching Todwick the driver of a car honked his horn at me and give me the 'thumbs up' sign - I'm not going to torment myself wondering why.

The church was locked but I was able to get inside the porch and take a photograph of the very nice Remembrance Day display.

It was an easy walk across the fields to South Anston. There's a lovely church there in a decent setting. I didn't go inside though because a wedding ceremony was being held.

About a quarter of a mile beyond the church I took the footpath leading to Anston Grange Farm...it's not quite the same route as shown on the map though.

I skirted the southern end of Lindrick Dale and passed through an old picturesque overgrown quarry; the path was quite difficult in places because I had to climb up some of the narrow quarry ledges. This path continued through some woods and across open fields to reach the Chesterfield Canal, which I followed for the final two or three miles to Worksop.

The M&S Foodhall  is quite near to the towpath and so I popped in. Normally in Doncaster at the time I was passing [just after four o'clock] there would be a lot of reduced price items on the shelves...but today, at Worksop, there were very few. 

A Visit To Hebden Bridge

I went in the car today with Siobhan, my support worker, to Hebden Bridge. It was a lovely sunny day, ideal for taking photographs; I didn't that many though because we spent a lot of time in shops and at the cafe. In some ways I was a bit disappointed: I'd done a bit of research online and expected the town to be a lot quirkier than it actually was...I was expecting a lot more hippies and lesbians. It was quite mainstream and middle of the road.

It's still a nice place to visit though.

Baslow, Fallinge, Beeley, and Chatsworth House

After walking fifteen miles the previous two days I needed to do a repair job on my feet last night and this morning; they've been been fine all day, the corn plasters and adhesive fabric tape did the job. 

I travelled to Baslow and walked to Chatsworth Park, climbed up the grassy hill to reach Stand Wood and then turned left at the top. When I was in the woods I could hear several stags bellowing in the parkland; they were very loud and it's a pity I couldn't see them.

This tall stile marks the boundary of the parkland, I think - fortunately I didn't have to climb right to the top of the tree.

The path continues towards Robin Hood - there are some lovely views.

Before reaching Robin Hood I turned right and took a footpath leading southwards onto East Moor. This path soon petered out and I had to find my own way through some dense bracken, which has fortunately died back this late in the year. Eventually, after about a mile, a difficult mile, also climbing through some overgrown woodland, I stumbled on to the prominent track which runs along the edge of the moor.

I came off the moor at the top of Beeley Plantation and walked down the road for half a mile until I reached the farm track going towards Fallinge. Fallinge is really just a cluster of three of four farms and their outbuildings, and a location that's marked on the map. 

I then looped back to the north and descended into Beeley. I lingered for maybe twenty minutes in the village; the church was open...but the cafe wasn't today.

I continued heading north to Chatsworth House; there are some nice public toilets there. I had nearly half an hour to wait for the bus back to Sheffield; I just sat on the bench at the bus stop and wrote out some notes for this blog post.