Spofforth Castle, Knaresborough Riverside, and Wetherby

Another day out with Siobhan, my support worker, spent mainly sitting down drinking cool drinks and eating ice cream. 

En route to Knaresborough we stopped at Spofforth so I could spend a few minutes exploring the castle ruins.

When we reached Knaresborough we stayed mainly in the Riverside area at the bottom of the gorge. When we visited the town last year we just looked around the shops, staying in the the town centre. I subsequently found out that Siobhan hadn't previously been down by the river so I'm hoping today has been somewhat of a pleasant surprise for her - I certainly think the area is lovely on a hot sunny day.

Siobhan stayed in one of the tearooms down by the river as I climbed up to the castle to take some photos.

We stopped at Wetherby on the way home and went for a short walk down by the river and spent much more time sitting in a nearby shady picnic area. I've only included one image taken at Wetherby because there were a lot of children playing in the water.

Brodsworth Community Woodland

I had planned to go to Edensor Open Gardens in the Peak District today but since the weather forecast is for thundery showers I decided not to. Instead I stayed local and completed a short walk before the bad weather arrived, travelling a few miles on the bus to Woodlands and then walking through the park towards Brodsworth Community Woodland and climbing to the summit of the landscaped colliery spoilheap. 

Cusworth Hall Museum and Country Park...and a walk along the river.

I managed to do the walk today that I couldn't do yesterday because of my sore knee. My knee was fine today, no problems at all; yesterday I ws assuming it must be cartilage problems but someone on FaceBook said it might be a reaction to the new blood pressure tablets I'm now taking.

Anyhow...back to the walk. I caught the bus and travelled less than two miles to the shops on York Road and soon found the TransPennine Trail which leads to the path that goes to Cusworth Hall.

 

I popped into the tearooms for a pot of tea and then went inside the museum. It's several years since I last went inside but there wasn't much new to see.

I continued across the fields to Sprotbrough, but not the beautiful part of the village down by the river and canal at Lower Sprotbrough, but just Melton Road, the main route into the town centre. I walked along here for a few minutes and then took the lane that goes down to Newton, a tiny hamlet down by the river, and walked along the river back to the town centre.

Towards the end of the walk there was a problem, the footpath was closed...and it was poorly signposted. I had to take a short diversion which meant walking right alongside the perimeter wall of the prison - I'm sure the security cameras were following my every move.

Cartilage Pain, I Think

I set off to do a short local walk this morning to see how I'm reacting to the new tablets I've been prescribed for high blood pressure; I think they make me a bit drowsy. Well, I didn't get to find out because after only a couple of hundred yards after getting off the bus I felt a sharp pain in my right knee and was struggling to walk. I had to abandon the walk and cross over the road and catch a bus going back into town. I've not had pain all the time, but it keeps flaring up. I fear this is going to be another long term problem that will be limiting my walking capabilities.

Health Update

I've recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure and vitamin B12 deficiency. The latter is easily fixed by taking high dose tablets which I can get from the discount shop in town - the high blood pressure is more of a challenge though, I've been prescribed some tablets and I need to look out for any serious side-effects developing. So, for the next fortnight I'm taking things easy and not planning any long walks until I next see the nurse at the surgery. I'm feeling alright at the moment though, maybe just a bit tired at times.

Finningley, Austerfield, and Bawtry

The weather was quite nice this morning and so I went for a local walk, catching the bus to Finningley and walking over to Austerfield and then continuing on to Bawtry.

The bus does a loop around Finningley and then waits for a few minutes at a stop not too far away from where I wanted to be before it starts its journey back to Doncaster. So I got off rather than wait and headed for the church and then the route of the walk I'd planned.

I soon found my footpath, there's a sign that's set a bit back from the road and can be difficult to see, but there were plenty of dogwalkers for me to follow. The path goes across an area that looks like a grassy common, through a wood and then right next to a disused quarry that's used as a motocross racing track- further on there's an active sand quarry.

I don't remember the active quarry workings being there the last time I was here a few years ago; I'm assuming the footpath must have been diverted because I got lost but soon found my way back to the Thorne road just a few yards away from where I expected to be. I walked along the road for a while and then picked up the next footpath. There was a notice from last year stating the path would be closed for a few weeks but it was expected that the work that needed doing would be completed by September 2024. I assumed there'd be no problem; I checked my map and it showed the path going across the field but it now seemed to be going off to the right along the edge of the field. After a few hundred yards the well-defined path disappeared and I was faced with a recently ploughed field, which wasn't too difficult to walk on because I could follow the tractor tracks, but when I reached an overgrown ditch I knew that this wasn't the way. I looped back hoping to find the path over to the left, but I didn't and so I went all the way back to road and walked down to the next footpath which is actually a bridleway which utilises the driveway leading to Bawtry Golf Club.

It was easy going to Austerfield. Although Austerfield is now in Doncaster it used to be in Nottinghamshire and so therefore the ecclesiastical parish is in the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham.

Something I've never seen before; a house wrapped up in blankets.

I finished the walk by taking a path that goes to Bawtry, leading right to the welcome sign.

 

Bubnell, Hassop, and Edensor

I travelled to the bus-stop for Bubnell and headed westwards over to Hassop, using a footpath across the fields and then a country road. I then took the path to Pilsley but didn't enter the village, I stayed to the west and continued on to Handley Lane, another country road, and then went down the bridleway to Edensor to catch the bus back to Sheffield.

I believe Edensor to be easily the prettiest village in the Peak District; every cottage is well worth taking the time to photograph it. I only photgraphed a few today because I wanted to reach the bus-stop in time though.