Conisbrough, Denaby Ings Nature Reserve, Billingley, and Highgate

I went to the railway station this morning to see if a train going to Conisbrough was due but it was thirty minutes for the next one and so I walked to the adjacent bus station and caught a bus...which was already waiting at the stand and set off almost immediately. The short journey took nearly three times as long, but it was still a better option than just waiting on the platform. 

The bus took me right into the town centre at Conisbrough; the railway station is at the bottom of the valley, a good fifteen minutes' walk away. I bought something to snack on later and then headed for the church and the castle to take some photographs in the early morning sunlight.

I still needed to go the railway station though because that's where there's a footbridge over the river which allows access onto the TransPennine Trail - the sign explains the exact current situation.

When I reached Denaby Ings Nature Reserve I did a circuit of the lake; it's a lovely walk and I took some photographs from one of the hides; the other one was already occupied.

I'd been walking along, or parallel to, the Dearne for over five miles when I left the river just north of Broomhill and turned north and headed uphill towards the main road and then along a footpath to Billingley.

Here's a true story, a bit ghoulish though I suppose, about the village...thanks to Wikipedia for the extract from the article about the village:

'Billingley was founded in the late 15th century by a small number of Dutch cattle farmers who lived on the surrounding land. Notable among them were Leeuwen and Gerte Van Halen, of whom rock legend Eddie Van Halen is a direct descendant. The village served as a place to meet and trade farm produce, as well as exchange news and stock market tips.

Tragedy struck, however, in the aftermath of the Dutch Tulip Bubble, in which many of Billingley's wealthy speculators blamed their heavy losses on their Dutch neighbours, by now a minority in the thriving village. Among the victims of the ensuing violence were the by then long deceased Van Halens, who were unceremoniously dug up from Billingley cemetery and thrown into a peat bog. Eddie has never spoken publicly about his feelings regarding this incident, but many interpret the signature Van Halen tune "Jump" as an angry response to the treatment of his ancestors.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

I approached close to Thurnscoe but didn't enter the village; the path ran right along the bottom of some gardens though. I arrived at Highgate just before two o'clock and only had fifteen minutes to wait for the bus back to Doncaster. 

Hooton Pagnell Fete 2016

Hooton Pagnell is my favourite Doncaster village; maybe it's because it's very beautiful...but I also grew up and lived for many years in Thurnscoe, one of the neighbouring villages.

I got off the bus at Hickleton and took a few photographs.

It took me about forty minutes to walk down the road to Hooton Pagnell; this photograph of some bales of hay was taken just beyond the hamlet of Bilham.

When I arrived at Hooton Pagnell it was quite cloudy; the weather did improve though and there were long periods of sunshine later.

I had a quick look at all the stalls and then made my way to the church for mid-day, hoping to hear the carillon. When the time arrived the church tower was silent, even the bells didn't ring...maybe they also had to be removed when the carillon was sent away to be repaired. I was disappointed because on my last visit to the village I got talking to the old lady who lives in Corner Cottage and she said they were hoping to have the carillon working by the time of the Fete.

I wasn't disappointed with the strawberries and cream tea served inside the church though. I found a table outside in the sunshine and enjoyed the rest and refreshments before returning inside to look at the paintings done by members of Campsall Art Group...some were quite good - I only noticed one featuring Hooton Pagnell though - last year there were several.

I stayed in the village until about 2:15, spending quite a bit of time listening to the music; I particularly enjoyed 'Essential Jazz' and the Doncaster Concert Band - their James Bond medley attracted a large crowd.

Group Walk: Great Houghton and Clayton

The weather was slightly disappointing, but it could have been a lot worse - cloudy and quite dark all day with regular showers and some longer spells of drizzle.

The walk started at Sandhill, the lowest part of Great Houghton. Almost immediately we were walking through quite deep puddles, even though this path seemed to be well maintained.

The next section, where the path wasn't anywhere near as well-maintained, was a lot less waterlogged: we walked along the edge of a field and then climbed up through a wood to reach another supposedly well-maintained track that had many deep puddles.

This track led us back to Great Houghton, but the top end of the village this time - I stopped to take a photo of a sign on a gatepost.

We walked along the road for a few hundred yards and then joined our footpath, walking alongside the edge of a field. We all commented on the numbers of slugs we saw on the ground, and the size of some of them. There were hundreds, if not thousands...and several different varieties by the look of it; thick large black ones, slender long brown ones, and sandy coloured ones (these were the smallest - maybe they were the babies.) I even stopped to point out a small snail riding on the back of a large slug.

We reached a small area of woodland and turned to walk up the hill, stopping at a location called 'The Log' to eat our sandwiches. Normally there are extensive views to the west, but not today - we struggled to see the TV transmitter at Emley Moor, probably less than twenty miles away.

After eating our sandwiches, and a large selection of pastries and confectionery, we continued up the hill, passing a large wood...and then we ground to a sudden halt. Our way ahead would be very difficult across a field of mature rapeseed, so after a few seconds' debate we decided to walk along the field edge. This route was still quite difficult though, walking on uneven ground and having to brush against wet foliage.

For the last few hundred yards, maybe half a mile even, we hadn't been walking along the path and so I was navigating by line of sight, using  power lines as navigational aids.

We reached the road that leads to Clayton without any difficulty, but we didn't enter the village at the earliest opportunity. At this stage one of the walkers bailed out; Eddie had had enough and his feet were hurting him; he decided to walk down the road to Thurnscoe and catch the bus from there. I was confident in letting him do this on his own, he knows the area fairly well.

Bypassing the village, we walked along the back lane and entered Clayton by crossing the field that leads to 'Tea Pot Corner'. By this time, Oliver, the youngest member of our group had eagerly taken on the role of navigator and tour guide...and seemed to be enjoying every minute of it.

I noticed that a couple of the cottages at Tea Pot Corner had appropriate names, 'The Cosy' and 'La Tasse.'

We stopped to finish off our sandwiches at the war memorial next to the village pond; before setting off again we posed for a team photo taken by Oliver.

We walked along the road that goes to Thurnscoe and then took the footpath which leads across the fields back to Great Houghton. Oliver was still navigating, and with a few prompts from me, he got us safely back to Great Houghton.

On the way back we were puzzled by some strange looking sheep in an adjacent field. I suggested that they looked like they were crossed with pitbull terriers; other suggestions were cows, and bulldogs.

Oliver called them' sheepcows' - a new word in the English language I think.

Down Inside Sprotbrough Lock

Today was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I didn't want to miss. The lock gates at Sprotbrough Lock are being replaced and today was an open day organised by the Canal and River Trust...with the opportunity to actually climb down to the bottom of the lock.

I met my brother at ten o'clock. This is the first time he's featured on one of my walks for the blog; he's not very well - I think he's got some sort of undiagnosed pathological sociophobia. He still lives at home with our parents, and has very little life at all.

The lock is about 25 ft deep and some temporary scaffolding and steps had been erected so that people could get right down to the bottom. The steps were a bit rickety and I noticed that a few elderly and infirm people decided not to go down them. I was impressed at the size of the lock; I didn't realise it was so deep. The thing that really surprised me though was that thousands of barnacles were stuck to the sides of the lock.

After spending about fifteen minutes down in the lock we explored this part of Sprotbrough for a while.

It was still quite early, but we sat on a bench and ate our sandwiches; it's such a lovely spot here down by the river and canal.

We walked upstream towards Conisbrough, visiting the bird hides at Sprotbrough Flash Nature Reserve and passing close to Conisbrough Viaduct.

Once we'd climbed up from the riverbank we continued walking along old railway tracks to 'Dearne Bridge' where I turned left and walked towards Pastures Lane at Mexborough where I caught the bus back to Doncaster, and my brother turned right and walked up the hill to High Melton to catch his bus back home to Thurnscoe.

I had about twenty minutes to wait for the bus and traffic was moving at no more than walking pace past me because of roadworks. Two very sexy young women must have been bored so they waved at me and wolf-whistled. I didn't know what to do, except wave back...unfortunately I can't whistle.