Attacked By A Large Dog...Followed By A Visit To Hospital

Today I planned to visit Bentley Community Woodlands and then continue on to Shaftholme and Almholme before returning back to town. I didn't get much beyond Arksy though when I had to turn back and head home...and then to hospital.

Just beyond Arksey as I was walking along a footpath I was attacked from behind by a large dog. At the time I thought it had bitten me on my left calf but it turned out just to be a nasty scratch from its sharp claws - it would have been much worse if I hadn't been wearing my thick walking trousers.

Once I'd got safely out of range and out of sight of the dog I inspected the extent of my injury and immediately decided that I'd be abandoning the walk. I looped back into Arksey village and took a few photographs as I walked down the road to Bentley. I wasn't sure if a bus was due or if I'd even be able to board it and so continued walking. When I got home I cleaned up the wound and looked for advice online. It recommended that diabetics seek immediate medical attention if blood is drawn and so I got changed into some more presentable clothes and walked up Thorne Road to the hospital. The Accident and Emergency Department wasn't very busy and so I was assessed and treated within about an hour. I needed to have a tetanus injection, have the cut cleaned and dressed and I have to wear a compression stocking to keep the dressing in place, and I've been prescribed five days of penicillin tablets. I also need to phone up the surgery tomorrow to make an appointment with the nurse to have the dressing changed on Thursday, assuming they're currently able to do that...if not, I'll have to go back to the hospital.

I still managed to take some photos though, the first three feature Doncaster Town Centre, The Mansion House and Clock Corner, and the rest were taken at Arksey.

A Circular Walk To Armthorpe

My mood has been getting quite low at time again during the last few days, I'm really frustrated that I can't travel anywhere to go walking when I'm seeing videos and photographs online of people who have been travelling to the Peak District, or the Yorkshire Wolds, or to other areas out in the countryside.

So...I'm going to endeavour to get out of the house every day if the weather's fine and put myself into a better state of mental health.

At the beginning of the walk I passed the Earl of Doncaster Hotel, I've never been inside the building but I've seen photographs of the magnificent art deco ballroom.

I didn't see any squirrels as I passed through Town Fields. On the days when I go for my early morning exercise walk  at six o'clock I usually see a few, nine being the most...I did see one later on though in the woods near Cantley.

I walked past the racecourse to Sandall Beat Wood then came out onto the road just to the west of Armthorpe. The carpark at Sandall Beat Wood was full and several dozen vehicles were parked on the grass next to the racecourse - I've never seen it so busy.

I headed north to Shaw Wood and then looped to the south going along Mere Lane until I reached the parish church at Armthorpe.

I continued towards the landscaped area where the local colliery used to be and made my way to Cantley Park and then the houses at Cantley. 

I stopped to eat my sandwiches at this lovely grassland meadow area; it's difficult to imagine that only maybe twenty years ago this was derelict and polluted industrial land.

Unlike a couple of weeks ago, this time I got out of the housing estate at Cantley without getting lost and then headed straight home.

Loversall and Woodfield Park

I walked out to Loversall this morning, not by the shortest or quickest route, but by the most interesting, going via Doncaster Lakeside and then along the abandoned railway and down Hall Bank Lane.

This obviously isn't the abandoned railway - it's the railport.

The church at Loversall is pretty and in a lovely location.

I explored the village and then headed back towards town along Rakes Lane, which is a track at first but then becomes more of a path as it approaches a series of lakes in the vicinity of the i-port. These lakes are so new that several of them are were still under construction when the most recent images for Google Earth were taken.

A mile or so further on I discovered a small nature reserve, Carr Lodge, which I didn't explore because I needed to get back home for two o'clock to confirm an appointment by telephone.

I got a bit confused working my way through the new estate at Woodfield Plantation; there were a lot of dead-ends leading to areas where construction work was still underway. I eventually did make my way to Woodfield Park though - unfortunately both the tearooms and the antiques centre are still closed by government decree...the walled garden is now open though, I think the petunias must have complained.

[I noticed this on the cycle track - It's only two metres everywhere else.]

Steetley Quarry

Today's walk was to a specific location, Steetley Quarry in the Don Gorge near Conisbrough. I headed to Hexthorpe, went a slightly different route through the park and then continued along the riverbank as on previous walks.

Before I reached Mill Lane I took the lower path through the meadows which goes down by the river - it's much more open down there and I was able to take a few photographs.

I crossed over the road and continued on the same side of the river, looking out for footpaths leading up the hillside to the left and going underneath the railway line. A couple of these just meandered through the woods before returning to the main path at the bottom but eventually I found one that not only led up to the quarry, but went all the way to the top of the quarry, from where I was able to get some good photographs. It was quite an adventure finding all the viewpoints to take photographs; there are paths everywhere going in all directions, steep drops and sheer cliffs, overhanging branches I had to duck under, and the mottled shade on the ground made it difficult for me to work out where to put my feet.

Steetley Quarry is popular with mountainbikers and motorcycle scramblers, but not today...there were two other people walking, and that was it.

I pressed on towards Conisbrough Viaduct because there was nowhere else to go and then followed the track along the abandoned railway line to Warmsworth. I used the footbridge that goes over the motorway and walked the rest of the way home along the main road that brings traffic into town from Sheffield and Rotherham...and the motorway. 

I found another pretty cottage at Warmsworth to photograph.

Doncaster Lakeside, Balby, and Warmsworth

A local lockdown walk today covering as much distance as possible using abandoned railways which have been converted into cycle routes - of course, pedestrians are also able to use them.

I headed off to the Lakeside area and then continued alongside the dual carriageway for a few hundred yards until I reached my first section of old railway, near to Potteric Carr Nature Reserve.

This brick building at the Yorkshire Water pumping station is quite ornate.

I proceeded for about an hour heading towards the area where I was on Saturday, the place where my route was blocked by the motorway.

I needed to walk through a housing estate at Balby and then along the road for a short stretch. I should have walked down to the point where I could pick up the old railway line again, walking in the opposite direction I went on Saturday, but before I got there I saw someone turn down a well-used path that wasn't marked as an official footpath on the map. It looked interesting and so I followed them - it took me through some quite pleasant countryside to Warmsworth.

The old part of Warmsworth is quite attractive.

The parish church is located on the main road in a much less attractive location. The sun  wasn't at the right angle for a really good photograph though.

Balby church however was perfectly illuminated by the sunlight, I'm not so sure about the social distancing sign  though, it looks a bit dark.

The final mile and half, walking along the main road was rather tiresome, but it didn't spoil my morning out exploring new areas quite close to home .