Highgate, Goldthorpe, Hooton Pagnell, Pickburn, and Highfields

Today didn't go at all according to plan, but at least I had some quite good weather for a few hours.

There were no trains going to Sheffield this morning because of the flooding so I ran over to the bus station hoping to catch the bus to Barnsley and go walking out that way instead. Service X19 departs from Doncaster at fifteen and forty five minutes past the hour...with the one exception of 07:15 when there's no bus, just when I was expecting one. 

So...I was stuck sitting on a bench at the bus station for half an hour. To pass the time I studied my map planning somewhere to go walking to the west of Barnsley...and then I just looked for some unusual placenames on the map. The best I could find were Cold Bath Farm and California Quarry.

The 07:45 pass arrived on time but we were delayed for a few minutes leaving town as we crossed over the river at Marshgate; the road was flooded and cars couldn't pass, but our large bus could. About twenty minutes later we got stuck in traffic again, this time just after leaving Goldthorpe. We only moved about a hundred yards in fifteen minutes and so I got off the bus at Highgate and started walking from there. There were very few vehicles coming in the other direction so I assumed that the road must have been blocked at Darfield because of the River Dearne overflowing its banks.

I walked down the road back into Goldthorpe; there's an unusual concrete church there.

I then walked down the lane and climbed up to the summit of Phoenix Park.

I always enjoy visiting Hooton Pagnell; today I only walked through half of the village though before I turned down the footpath and continued across the fields to Pickburn.

There's a footbridge over the motorway so that you can reach Brodsworth Community Woodland from Pickburn.

It was quite difficult making my way around this flooded area.

There was more flooding further on, I was able to just walk through this water though - it was about eight inches deep...and very cold when it came over the top of my boots.

The walk finished at the bus stop on the Great North Road at Highfields. The bus went a different route to get to the bus station because of the flooding, which must have been worse by this time.