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.