Upton, Badsworth, East Hardwick, Wentbridge, Kirk Smeaton, and Norton

I'm really struggling with the weather forecasts at the moment; using them to decide where and when to go for a walk. Today's forecast was for 'a bit of rain' in Bakewell in the Peak District this afternoon and 'occasional rain' for here in Doncaster. I'm not sure which would be worse though, a bit of rain or occasional rain. Whichever, I'm convinced that modern weather forecasts aren't as good or useful as they used to be in the 1970s, there's far too much superfluous information provided. Since the direction of any bad weather would be coming from the south west I assumed that it would reach the Peak District first...and so opted for a local walk. I stuck with this decision even when a few hours later the forecast had been updated to 'light showers.' As it turned out whatever phrase I preferred the forecast was very inaccurate, the rain arrived at least two hours early from a different direction, the southeast...and at times it was quite heavy with a bit of sleet.

I caught the Wakefield bus and got off at Upton and walked along the road that leads to Badsworth and then took the path that starts at the back of the water tower and goes across the fields, eventually to Badsworth.

The approach to Badsworth along a tarmac'd path which leads directly to the churchyard is lovely.

As I was walking along the bridleway heading towards East Hardwick I spotted something in a nearby field that I've not seen before - several hundred canes with something white attached to each one, neatly positioned in four or five straight lines, occupying only one specific area. I don't know what this is for.

The photograph isn't very good.

A few yards further on there was something else I hadn't seen before either - a gravestone for a road that's died.

The inscription reads, 'Here Ends Ackworth Bulls Road.'

This bridleway ended at the Doncaster road just south of East Hardwick, just before this lovely milestone: there five destinations to the north, the direction I was walking...but only Doncaster in the other direction behind me.

I ate my sandwiches in the churchyard at East Hardwick; the church is a rather plain and uninteresting Victorian building and so I didn't bother taking any photographs.

I took a muddy path across a field and then walked along a couple of different roads until I reached the footpath leading up onto Went Edge [or Went Hill.]

Although it's only about two hundred feet above sea level there are some good views from along here - it was very windy and exposed though today...especially since the rain, of whatever type, had started to fall.

As I crossed over the bridge at Wentbridge I stepped out into the middle of the road to take this photograph of the blue plaque giving details about Robin Hood.

There was a good view of the church in the distance as I entered Brockadale and followed the course of the River Went to Kirk Smeaton.

I'd had enough of the rain and the cold wind when I reached Kirk Smeaton and so I walked down the road to Norton, getting there as quickly as I could; I had about fifteen minutes to wait for the bus back to Doncaster.

Wentbridge And East Hardwick Walk With Three Friends From Leeds

In choosing the location of today's walk I had to take three things into account: the pick-up point needed to be easily accessible from east Leeds and the A1 trunk road, the terrain needs to be quite flat...and I'd need to be able to get there on the bus on a Sunday morning. So...I opted for Woodlands, to the north west of Doncaster town centre.

I arranged to be at Woodlands for 11:15; as it turned out my friends arrived for 10;30 - completely misjudging the amount of travelling time they needed. It's very rare that people have to wait for me; I wasn't late though and actually arrived twenty minutes before the scheduled meeting time.

It was an tight squeeze in the car with four of us; fortunately its only a short drive to the starting point for the walk...even though we took a wrong turn and didn't end up going by the shortest route.

We arrived at Ley's Lane car park just beyond Little Smeaton just in time to grab the final parking space. For the first few minutes we saw a lot of people taking advantage of the lovely hot weather, mainly family groups and dog walkers; as we approached Wentbridge the numbers thinned out though.

The walk to Wentbridge is charming, limestone grassland at first and then alongside the River Went at the bottom of the valley.

This area has historical connections with Robin Hood.

We walked through the village and diverted down the lane to eat our sandwiches at the church; Chris, Maureen, and Jonathan sharing the only bench in the churchyard...I found a pleasant spot on some grass well away from the gravestones.

The walk along Went Edge was more than I had expected, a variety of different landscapes and far reaching views to the west, only spoiled by the heat haze.

As we were walking along the road towards East Hardwick I noticed that Maureen and Jonathan were getting further and further behind and frequently stopping for drinks. I had a word with Chris and we agreed to shorten our originally planned walk and make our way back across the fields to Wentbridge.

As we were approaching the footpath we needed at East Hardwick one of the locals came over to us and gave us what he thought was some useful advice, to look out for the large piles of manure...we could use them as landmarks so we wouldn't get lost; that's certainly a new navigation tip for me

In sight of Wentbridge we gathered together for a conference; a decision needed to be made. It was obvious to me that Maureen and Jonathan were struggling, and I do know these things because I'm a walk leader and so was assertive in making my point that I thought it would be better if they finished the walk at the Blue Bell Inn in Wentbridge and wait there as Chris and myself walked the additional distance of a mile and a half back to the car. 

Chris drove me back to Woodlands and then as far as I'm aware went back up the A1 to pick up Maureen and Jonathan.

An excellent day out along the North/West Yorkshire boundary in the districts of Selby and Wakefield. Congratulations to Maureen and Jonathan who aren't regular walkers; I calculate they did seven or maybe eight miles today.

UPDATE: I've just been contacted by Jonathan on Facebook and he informs me that the pub was closed for refurbishment...so they had to sit outside. Well, at least the weather was nice.