New Year's Day Walk 2023

It was lovely weather when I got up this morning so I made a fairly early start with my local walk, going over to some woodlands, open countryside, and a landscaped colliery spoilheap just beyond the racecourse. The weather didn't stay fine throughout, it rained quite heavily for about twenty minutes...which did mean that I saw a rainbow though.

Branton and Auckley

The first photograph I've included today was taken looking back towards the racecourse grandstand as I approached Sandall Beat Wood.

I walked through the wood and then used the footbridge to cross the railway. There are a lot of steps to climb because it's very high and I wonder why this might be; the railway has never been electrified. Just beyond the wood I had to turn back after nearly a quarter of a mile because the footpath veered sharply to the left and I wanted to go to the right. 

There were plenty of wildflowers in this area for me to photograph.

I made my way over to Cantley Park and found a different route to reach Nutwell Lane, visiting some areas of the park that were new to me.

I headed south towards Old Cantley but turned down the road that goes to Branton. I walked through the village and found the footpath which eventually goes across some quite nice countryside and a pedestrian crossing over the railway line, a different railway line this time. 

My route home took me through a very nice housing development at Bessacarr and along the Doncaster Greenway to the Lakeside area, and finally through an industrial area.

I Needed My Walking Boots Today

I put on my walking boots for the first time since lockdown today when I went to explore some more areas of the mounds at Lakeside, where some of the terrain is quite steep. There's a lovely little valley that goes between the two mounds, very similar in appearance to some areas in the Yorkshire Wolds I should think.

You wouldn't expect to see this in he middle of The Wolds though.

I continued to the housing estate at Bessacarr, then through Cantley before walking into Cantley Park along Ascot Avenue past the extensive area of playing fields. 

I really like this house, set back from the main road.

At the end of the tarmacked lane I turned left, heading north towards Sandall Beat Wood and then the landscaped spoilheap of Markham Main Colliery. Unlike as is the case at the sites of all of the other former collieries which now have been designated as country parks and have names, this one near to Armthorpe doesn't.

I found the footbridge that goes over the railway line and then kept as close to the railway as possible, eventually making my way back to the houses at Cantley again, Bawtry Road, and back home to my house.

My route took me to the far reaches of the racecourse, an area I hadn't been before. 

  

Looking For Bluebells

Another Doncaster walker posted a photograph of some bluebells that he'd taken on his daily exercise walk yesterday, so I got around to thinking where my nearest bluebells might be and I decided it must be Sandall Beat Wood, just beyond the racecourse. 

There might have been some in the park, but there weren't any.

It's still a bit too early in the season - I only found a few in flower and they weren't fully out; it could have been because it was early in the morning though.  

I've got bluebells growing in my garden but they won't be blooming for a few weeks yet, I think they're the Spanish variety which probably flowers later.