I managed to fit in a visit to the gardens at Brodsworth Hall today, it's free admission as part of the National Lottery Open Week. I'd got a brief appointment in town at 10:10 and then managed to get to the bus station for the 10:35 bus which goes out to the nearby village.
The 203 bus is an infrequent service and although it was actually only thirty minutes until the next bus going back to Doncaster I decided to walk it to the bus stop at Woodlands where there are several buses an hour.
I should have been going to Ripon and Fountains Abbey with my support worker today, but instead we only went as far as Selby. A few days ago she had to visit four garages before she was able to fill up her car with premium diesel, maybe because of the war in the Middle East, I don't know, but now she's panicking and not wanting to go too far in case she needs to get fuel in an area where there might be even worse shortages.
When we got to Selby the kitchen at the George Inn pub where we usually go for a meal was closed and so we had to go to the Giant Bellflower, the Wetherspoon's pub. I'm okay with Wetherspoon's, but Siobhan isn't too keen; but I don't know any other pubs in Selby that serve food though.
One of my favourite walks in the eastern part of the Peak District today. I caught the Castleton bus and got off at Fox House; I went over to Longshaw Estate and continued heading south along the Eastern Edges to Baslow Nether End where I literally stepped straight on the bus going back to Sheffield.
I didn't see any adders, I doubt I would have though on a busy footpath. They're more likely to be found out on the moors and I wasn't going to be looking for them...I don't like snakes, especially venomous ones - although there's no mention of that fact on the notice.
The local weather forecast was better than the one for the Peak District today and so I caught the Worksop bus to Oldcotes, the first village in Nottinghamshire. I walked along a country road in a westword direction and reached a small cluster of houses which I've always assumed to be a part of Firbeck, even though they are nearly a mile away from the main village. I asked a local, and she confirmed that the area was just called 'Firbeck.'
I found the path that goes through the grounds of Firbeck Hall and then walked down the road into the village. The notices you encounter as you walk through the estate are rather threatening, although I could clearly see the yellow arrow at the bottom indicating that this is actually a footpath.
The village sign in Firbeck refers to the St. Leger horse race which is currently held at Doncaster but was first run in fields near the village...I don't think there were any grandstands though as depicted.
I then took the path heading south and uphill towards Letwell. I could have turned right immediately to the east of the village and explored Letwell but I turned left instead, taking the most direct route to Langold and the bus stop for the journey back to Doncasterr.