Ollerton, Hardwick Village, Clumber Park and Worksop

There were very few trains running again today and so I've been travelling on the buses in Nottinghamshire.

After arriving at Worksop, I caught the bus to Ollerton and then walked back to Worksop passing through Clumber Park.

The church at Ollerton doesn't feature on the blog because I couldn't find any suitable angles to photograph it from. 

After spending a few minutes exploring I headed north along the western bank of the River Maun.  After a couple of miles I needed to walk along the road for a short section until I joined the Robin Hood Way. At this point there were hundreds of caravans and a lot of dogwalkers attending the 'Fake Festival' nearby. 

A bit further on I arrived at a location known as 'Robin Hood's Cave.'

I continued heading north until I reached Hardwick Village at the eastern end of Clumber Park.

Last year this ford at Hardwick was also closed to pedestrians because the wooden walkway has collapsed, but I managed to walk through the water. I didn't do that today though; a few days ago there was torrential rain in the Worksop area and the River Poulter was a lot higher, and angrier.

I stopped for a drink of tea at the refreshments concession down by the lake and then did a short detour into Hardwick Village, the estate village for Clumber Park.

I finished the walk by taking the most direct route through the park back to Worksop, the bus station is quite close to the priory and its gatehouse.

Budby, Church Warsop, Cuckney, Holbeck Woodhouse, Holbeck, and Creswell

I looked at the weather forecast for today and staying east of the Peak District seemed to be a good idea. I don't know what the weather was further west but in North Nottinghamshire, where I went, it was quite sunny for most of the time...just a couple of short showers, a very light one which I hardly noticed because I was walking through woodland, and a very heavy one, from which I took refuge in a bus shelter at Cuckney prior to going in to the church.

So I went on the bus to Worksop and then caught the Sherwood Arrow service to Budney.

I headed south and then west walking mainly along forestry tracks until I reached Church Warsop. Several of the photographs I took of the church were out of focus, this is something I've been noticing recently with the camera - I don't know why this is happening because everything is set to automatic, focus, exposure, and brightness.

[A perfectly good photograph ruined]

[Now back to much better results just a few seconds later and a few feet away]

Cuckney, a mile and a half to the north, is in a lovely setting.

I went in  Jac's Cafe for a mug of tea and a toasted teacake. The prices there are very reasonable although the service was a bit slow...and their large all day breakfasts looked very impressive for only £3.65.

I think it's the River Poulter that flows through the village; it's a small river but I noticed several large fish in it.

A flower show was taking place at the church, so I went inside.

As I was walking just north of Cuckney I noticed that a lot of flowering ragwort plants growing at the side of the footpath had been pulled up, a lot of work for someone. I know that the plant is poisonous if eaten by horses, and maybe some other animals...and a bit further on there were some horses in an adjacent field.

Here's a photograph I took of some ragwort in bloom; I think it's a beautiful wildflower - I didn't pull it up...it's not for me to decide.

I arrived at one of the estate roads going through Welbeck Park, and the first of several lodges I saw on my walk today [I actually saw even more belonging to the local ducal estates as I was travelling south on the bus from Worksop.]

Here are two more I photographed.

I passed through Holbeck Woodhouse and then Holbeck. The lychgate at the parish church is locked and so I couldn't even get any decent shots of the building; I could have easily climbed over the low retaining wall...but didn't.

The final section of the walk was mainly along fields used for hay or silage. The footpath took me down to the western entrance to Creswell Crags; I didn't go any further in to explore, I just took a few pictures from where I was.

The buses at Creswell are quite complicated if you've not used them before. I wasn't sure which stop to use to catch the service back to Worksop. There was a young woman waiting for a bus at the other side of the road and so I asked her - she told me I could stand either side, it doesn't matter. I didn't really understand but fortunately almost immediately a bus with 'Worksop' on its destination blind came in the direction for which she was waiting...so I stopped it and got on. The bus travelled right to the far end of Creswell then turned around and came back to the exact spot where I got on before continuing on its way to Worksop. So...basically, I could have caught the bus at any bus stop, on either side of the road.

I walked straight on to the Doncaster bus at Worksop. The ride home was interesting. At several stops in the residential area to the north of the town about a dozen people got on who were going to the evening meeting at Doncaster Races. There was a lot of cleavage on display...and some eye-catching fascinators.

Retford, Babworth, Bothamsall, Elkesley, and Eaton

I had originally planned to go walking in the Selby area because it was forecast to be cloudy in the Peak District but stay sunny for most of the day further north and east. However, when I reached the bus station at Doncaster this morning I discovered that the early bus to Selby no longer runs; I quickly scanned the destination screens and saw that a bus to Reftord was ready to depart - so I ran to catch it. So...the weather today would have been better than the Peak District, but not as good as Selby; it clouded over by mid-day.

The bus travelled into Retford via both the secondary school and the college. The college is on Worksop Road, and since my first intended village to visit was in that direction this is where I got off and then continued walking along the road for about a mile until I reached Babworth. The location of the church here is quite magical; atop a small hill, surrounded by woodland, and at the end of a winding lane lined with snowdrops and daffodils. The timing of my visit wasn't ideal though because the daffodils weren't in bloom yet and the snowdrops were past their best.

Babworth Church is well-known for its historical association with the Pilgrim Fathers.

I headed south along country roads and a bridleway across the fields to reach Bothamsall; as I was walking along here I noticed the last few small isolated patches of the snow that fell earlier in the week.

En route I stopped to eat my sandwiches next to the footbridge over the River Poulter; this spot wasn't as idyllic as it might have been because it was quite near to a noisy quarry. It was a bit of a suntrap though, and sheltered from the wind.

I was impressed with the church at Bothamsall, and the houses in the immediate area.

As I was heading towards Elkesley I kept seeing aircraft which were taking off from the nearby airfield, Gamston Airport.

The church at Elkesley was my least favourite of the day, but it's still pleasant enough to look at...I suppose the cloudy conditions by this time didn't help though.

On the map that I'd printed out I'd marked the route to Gamston, the next village I was going to visit. [I keep a stash of maps in my rucksack for all contingencies] I'd forgotten about the Great North Road though, a busy dual carriageway. I couldn't work out a safe way to cross it and so had to retrace my steps through the village and walk back along the road that I'd walked along a couple of hours earlier. I always consider this to be a planning failure on my account.

A few minutes after leaving Elkesley I had to stop and sit on the vergeside to remove a small sharp stone from my boot. A passing motorist saw me hobble and then go down and stopped to ask me if I needed any assistance. I felt rather embarrassed and was somewhat apologetic - but this experience did restore a bit of my long lost faith in humanity. Next time I must remember to wait until there's no-one driving past.

I got some closer up views of aeroplanes both taking off and landing as I walked along the road to Eaton.

I'm not at all sure about this. I don't drive and so therefore I might be completely wrong...but I should think that the last thing you need to be doing as you approach a blind corner when entering a village is to be taking your eyes off the road to look at your speedometer.

I didn't take any photographs of the church at Eaton - there was scaffolding erected and the builders were busy on site...I think access to the churchyard was blocked off anyhow.

I doubled back a couple of hundred yards and took the footpath leading northwards back to Retford. Justin, my friend, was in town for a few hours and so we arranged to meet up in the Wetherspoon's pub, the Dominie Cross. The woman standing next to me at the bar as I was ordering our drinks turned towards me and said that she was addicted to rhubarb gin. I didn't even know that such a drink, or such an addiction, actually existed...you learn something new every day.

Justin and myself travelled back to Doncaster together on the  penultimate bus departure...there's no evening service.