Meadowhall, Butterthwaite, Thorpe Common, Wentworth, Barrow, Elsecar, and Brampton Bierlow

Today I travelled to Meadowhall. The first thing I did after getting off the train was to closely study my map to work out where I needed to go after leaving the station. I walked along a road for a few minutes, heading north, until I found a footpath which goes though Woolley Wood at the bottom of Concord Park.

This is what the countryside looked like as I was approaching the hamlet of Butterthwaite, within a couple of miles of leaving Meadowhall Station.

I walked along the road to a place that I think is called Thorpe Common; it was uphill all the way until I reached a footpath going across the fields.

The next footpath I needed to find wasn't signposted and I initially walked past it before turning back; it did, however, mean that I was able to photograph this quite pretty cottage.

It was a lovely walk across the fields to Wentworth; going down into a valley and then climbing out of it, passing by one of the estate fishing ponds on the way.  I was surprised to see some Highland cattle as I got near to Wentworth; I couldn't get any photographs though because they were sheltering from the sun under a hedge, right next to some barbed wire and brambles.

Just beyond this point I could make out two of the four Wentworth Follies on the horizon, Hoober Stand and the Mausoleum - I could also see the spire of the new church in the village. I didn't visit either of the two churches today...they're both always open though.

As I entered Wentworth I passed by the garden centre; there are toilets and refreshments there - I needed neither today but I did purchase a cold drink from the village store a few minutes later

Wentworth is one of my favourite local villages - it's very pretty. I didn't linger today though, I just walked straight down the main street and continued down the road to Barrow.

There are some almshouses at Barrow, they're difficult to photograph though because they're surrounded by an eight foot high privet hedge.

I headed north and generally downhill across rolling fields to Elsecar. I walked through the Heritage Centre; it''s free admission and quite an interesting place to visit. There are also toilets and refreshments there. I called in at Brambles Tea Room and also needed to use the public toilets - just to wash my hands after re-applying my factor 30 suntan lotion.

I finished the walk by walking along Elsecar Greenway and then the TransPennine Trail to Brampton Bierlow where I got off and waited for a bus. The bus was fifteen minutes late; it would take me all the way home to Doncaster but the journey would take 75 mins. It went into the bus bay at Swinton Railway Station and I decided to get off and catch a train. I would have arrived in Doncaster quite a few minutes before the bus if the train had been on time...but it wasn't.

Wath-upon-Dearne, West Melton, Brampton Bierlow, Elsecar, Street, Hoober, Upper Haugh, Nether Haugh, Greasbrough, and Rotherham

I can't easily get to the Peak District on public transport at the weekends at the moment; on Saturdays there's a strike on the railways which is limiting the number of services which are running to Sheffield, and on Sundays there's currently engineering work which has closed the line. So, it was another local walk today...in the rain.

I'd got no particular destination in mind when I arrived at the bus station at 7:30 this morning. I scanned the destinations screens and saw that a bus going to Wath was due and so I rushed over to board it.

Obviously the church at Wath wouldn't be open at this early hour.

I left Wath by heading westwards; some women who most likely worked at a hairdressing salon were smoking as they waited for the premises to open and must have been sharing some particularly juicy gossip because as I approached, the woman with the loudest voice stopped mid-sentence and just smiled at me, continuing her tale a few seconds later when she hoped I would be out of earshot.

I soon reached the allotments at West Melton and then found the footpath that goes along the old railway embankment. There were plenty of windfall apples along here; this is often the case alongside former railway lines as the apple cores were discarded by passengers and crew. I looked up at the trees if there might be one just ready for picking and easy to reach - I didn't spot one, but I didn't linger over the task either,

I had to walk along the road for a while before I picked up the TransPennine Trail and then the Elsecar Greenway, which is actually the towpath of the Elsecar Canal, a  short spur leading off from the now drained and filled in  Dearne and Dove Canal.

The heritage railway that's based at Elsecar Heritage Centre runs alongside, or quite near to, the canal towpath; one of the steam locomotives passed but I didn't have enough time to take my camera out of my pocket...and on its return journey I wasn't able to see it through the trees. I did eventually capture an image of it though as it set off again just as I was approaching the station.

A few minutes later I was at the heritage centre.

Even though it was only 11:15 I still had a cream tea in Brambles Tea Room and sat next to the radiator and imagined it was switched on, it was raining and quite cold outside. By the way, I wasn't the only person enjoying a scone served with fresh cream and jam.

I walked up to the Needle's Eye, one of the Wentworth Follies, walking through the woods and across fields.

I then walked down the lane to the hamlet of Street.

I could pick out two of the other follies as I walked along here, Keppel's Column and Hoober Stand.  The road ends just beyond the houses and then continues as a bridleway. 

The next place I reached was Hoober; I don't know how Mr and Mrs Hobson manage to persuade their hens to only lay eggs on certain days though.

I walked across more fields to the edge of Upper Haugh, fortunately not too muddy despite the rain, and then traipsed down the road to Nether Haugh, Greasbrough, and finally Rotherham town centre.

Despite the strike there were still some local trains running and I only had twenty minutes to wait for one back to Doncaster.