Arksey, Tilts, Toll Bar, and Bentley

The railway line to Sheffield is still closed on Sundays and so I have to rely on local buses to get me out into the countryside. I caught the first service to Arksey this morning, only about a couple of miles from Doncaster town centre, but quite a bit further by road because there isn't a bridge over the river.

The last time I took some photographs of the church there was scaffolding erected, but not so now.

I left Arksey by walking along Ings Lane, a wide track for about half its length, which eventually leads to the site of the demolished power station at Thorpe Marsh. There are plenty of wildflowers along here, and an interesting trestle bridge carrying a pipeline...there are also hops growing in the hedgerows, in fact more hops than I've seen anywhere else.

I turned left at Thorpe Marsh and about a mile later did a circuit of the nature reserve. Although the power station is no longer there, there are still a lot of pylons and overhead power lines and even though it was quite breezy I could still hear the electricity buzzing and feel the static in the air.

I was listening to Test Match Special on the radio but had to turn it off so that I could phone the signalman to ask for permission to cross the busy Easy Coast Main Line at Massarella's Crossing.

I hurried over the tracks and then re-joined the cricket commentary.

Fifteen minutes later I reached the hamlet of Tilts, somewhere I'd not been before, and then it was a short walk down the road to a stretch of the Trans Pennine Trail which runs to the north of Bentley Community Woodlands. This track came out at the southern end of Toll Bar, from where I walked into Bentley and caught the bus back into town. There was a strong smell of urine in the bus shelter and so I stood several yards away until I sighted the bus coming.

Sykehouse, Topham, Pollington, West Cowick, Snaith, East Cowick, and Thorne

A reduced service on the trains today due to more industrial action and so I travelled on the bus to Sykehouse, one of the villages to the north of Doncaster.

I got off the bus before it reached the main part of the village; it waits for several minutes here and so I decided to start the walk a bit early and straight away headed down the lane to Topham. Just beyond Topham it was snowing may blossom, a wonderful experience for me - I just need for a grand Strauss waltz to be playing on the radio to make it perfect....and someone to dance with of course! I'd just tuned in to listen to the pre-amble to the cricket on Test Match Special but immediately switched it off and put my transistor radio back in my pocket. I wanted to enjoy the moment and not hear former players explaining the intricacies of reverse swing, which end Jimmy Anderson should be bowling from, and what cakes and pies would be served up for the commentary team during the luncheon break...a couple of minutes later I was lapping it all up though and looking forward to Geoffrey Boycott's theories about what's gone wrong. [Sorry about a bit of indulgence here, but I love cricket...and Test Match Special is something I very rarely miss. I listen to it on many of my walks, even if I don't usually mention it.]

I crossed over the River Went and briefly entered North Yorkshire until I reached the East Riding of Yorkshire only a few minutes later. 

Next up was the Aire and Calder Canal.

I only entered the eastern outskirts of Pollington and there was nothing to see until I approached West Cowick. At the entrance to the village there's a shooting centre where there was a festival being held today - there seemed to be a lot of people attending who were riding motorbikes with three wheels.

Snaith is pretty, but it's a very small town...no more than two dozen shops I suppose.

It was a pleasant walk along a bridleway to East Cowick and then it should have been an easy route south to Thorne. Things don't always go to plan though; where on the map it looked like there ought to be a pedestrian underpass to enable me to cross beneath the M62 motorway there was merely a dead end, resulting in an extra couple of miles being added to today's mileage tally. This has happened to me before and I wish there was a way for Ordnance Survey to indicate this on their maps.

After doing my detour along the road I walked along the canal towpath for a mile or so and then made my way back to Thorne to catch the bus using stretches of road or walking right alongside the River Don where there was a footpath.

Matlock, Winster, Birchover, Congreave, and Rowsley.

I've decided not to include any photos in today's report; not because I didn't take any, or those I took weren't any good, but because this report will be a long one. A lot happened today and I want to to get it typed up as quickly as possible whilst it's still fresh in my mind.

I got off the bus at Matlock, crossed over the bridge and walked along the Derwent Valley Heritage Way along the riverbank. Looking at the map I thought this section of the walk would be quite industrial and uninteresting, but it turned out out to be a pleasant riverside walk, with the bypass and various factories and warehouses well screened.

After about a mile I took a path which cut across a field, going towards Oaker. I didn't enter the village, instead I took a couple of paths leading across grassy fields which were well populated by cows and their calves. Once clear of the cows I turned on my radio for the cricket commentary. I was a few minutes early; however I was concerned that there might not be any cricket to listen to today...and I might have to cancel the day's walking and get home as soon as possible before public transport would be stopped and the whole country closed down. I thought that the queen had died! The programme being broadcast on Radio 4 LW sounded like a eulogy or an obituary for the monarch: I was glad when the voice of the continuity announcer introduced the start of  'Test Match Special.'  Panic over.

I continued across more fields and then along a pleasant valley, Wensley Dale I think, passing just to the south of Wensley and coming out onto the road which leads to Winster. I walked along this road for about a mile until I reached the village, and called in the shop to buy some confectionery.

I left the village by a hard-to-locate footpath which went through the churchyard, and then across a parkland area where a lot of dandelions were growing, joining the Limestone Way for about a mile before turning off for Birchover. Just before reaching this village I explored Rowtor Rocks for a few minutes: I had read that these rocks were quite impressive...well, I wasn't that impressed: there are many more interesting places in other parts of the Peak District.

I called in at one of the two pubs, the Druids' Inn, for a pot of tea and then planned to get something from the shop. I thought that there was a shop in the village the last time I visited Birchover...well, there isn't one there now: maybe there never has been recently, and I was mistaken.

I walked along the village street and took the footpath which leads through the camping site and then up onto Stanton Moor. When I reached the Nine Ladies stone circle it was very busy there; several dozen people were picnicking or playing games with their children or dogs. I felt uncomfortable as I took a couple of photographs: I felt as if somehow I was intruding.

Next I walked through a wood and down across some more grassy fields until I reached the road that leads to Congreave. This road is a steep, narrow, and winding sunken lane with few places to get out of the way of traffic. A rather large four wheel drive vehicle passed me: the driver did have the courtesy to slow right down, but I still needed to breathe in, in order to ensure that the vehicle's wing mirror didn't gouge a  hole in my belly.

It wasn't long until I reached Rowsley and had plenty of time to call in the café at the Peak Village shopping centre. I judged that I didn't have enough time for a cream tea though: however, the bus was fifteen minutes late..

At the stop after I got on, a woman and her teenage daughter who was carrying a large floral pink suitcase, got on. The daughter will feature prominently in the rest of the day's events.

When the bus reached Chatsworth House about eighty passengers boarded; most of them being Chinese students studying at the two universities in Sheffield. This is something that I've often observed; the fact that Chinese people seem to love Chatsworth - I think many of them must visit several times during their stay in the area. Despite the driver doing his best to tell them that they couldn't stand up on the upper deck, several of them did...there wasn't any room for them to stand downstairs.

It was fortunate that only two more passengers got on before we reached Sheffield.

As the bus was struggling up the hill from Grindleford, travelling no quicker than a walking pace at times, the engine started to overheat and smoke was filling the saloon: several people were coughing...and I sucked on a menthol sweet, just in case.  

Back to the mum and her teenage daughter....

The daughter had a very loud voice and I could hear almost everything she was saying. She was sitting right at the front of the bus with her mum and immediately started talking  to the driver, including her mother in the conversation. It was soon obvious to me that she was acting as a matchmaker, trying to set up a date with her mum and the driver, getting them to exchange phone numbers (she seemed to write them down on two pieces of paper.) At times her language was quite risqué when she was hinting at what her mum's preferred sexual activities were. As far as I could work out, the mum and the bus driver were going to meet for a drink at the end of his shift.

The bus reached the top of the hill at Fox House. The stop at Fox House can sometimes get quite busy with hikers and climbers returning to Sheffield; however, there was no room onboard for anyone else today. 

We turned the corner and right there in front of us was a broken down 272 bus with steam or smoke billowing out of its engine; the climb up from Hathersage is a long, steep one too. Our driver stopped and explained the situation to the other driver and his fifty of so irate passengers. Some of them weren't happy and charged towards our bus. The driver jumped back on, and fortunately the bus managed to pull away...I feared a riot if we had broken down too.

As the bus descended down into Sheffield the driver seemed to be concerned about the brakes overheating now. As we drove along Eccleshall Road, people were struggling to get out of their seats and reach the front of the bus in time to get off at their stops. The teenage girl took some initiative and took charge, becoming our 'bus captain' - making sure that the driver didn't drive off too early before everyone who wanted to, had got off. Well done to her, both for this, and for acting as cupid for her mum, she made the world a slightly better place for a an hour or so today.

Although a lot of people had got off the bus before my stop on Paternoster Road, there were still a dozen people standing in the gangway and if I'd tried to get off I think I might have had to charge into them to move them out of the way. So...I stayed sitting down until the bus reached the bus station. The walk back to the railway station isn't a long one...only about a couple of minutes.