Another late start this morning and so I didn't arrive at the start of the walk at Stairfoot, a couple of miles east of Barnsley, until 10:20. I headed north along the busy road towards Cundy Cross and would then continue along the Dearne Way long distance footpath.
But first I did a short detour to Monk Bretton Priory.
After a few minutes I reached the Dearne Valley Country Park and stayed within in for a couple of miles before picking up the route of an old railway line.
In the deepest part of the railway cutting it was still flooded in places and my progress was slow; fallen leaves were making it difficult to judge the depth of water and on a couple of occasions I had to climb up onto the embankment and then edge my way forward.
A short section of this abandoned railway line isn't shown as a definite public footpath on the Ordnance Survey map yet it was obviously used by locals...and so I used it as well. I soon found out why the official footpath has been diverted though; it seems that there's an area that is almost permanently flooded, or at least boggy - this wasn't a problem though because an alternative route sticking to higher ground had been established...well established over the years.
I had to walk along a short stretch of country road and briefly entered the western outskirts of Notton before re-joining the footpath.
There was some quite nice countryside on the approach to Newmillerdam Country Park.
I then entered some woodland and was soon walking along the lakeside path; the photographs feature the boathouse..
It was more convenient for me to catch a northbound bus to Wakefield and then the train back to Doncaster than it was to catch a southbound bus to Barnsley and then another bus back home; I even let a southbound bus go.
Today has been a perfect day for walking and taking photographs, it's just a pity that I didn't have enough time to get to the Peak District.
Nice photos and a great blog
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