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.

Barnby Dun, Thorpe in Balne, Almholme, and Arksey

The church and the nearby buildings at Barnby Dun are quite attractive, but that isn't the case for the rest of the village - it's not particularly unattractive, there's just a lot of bland new housing.

I left the village by walking over the lift bridge over the canal and took the road which leads to Thorpe in Balne, passing over the river and a level crossing, and walking by the derelict site of the recently demolished Thorpe Marsh Power Station.

I didn't reach my first footpath until I had passed through Thorpe in Balne; there was far too much roadwalking for my liking today. This  path went down a pleasant wooded track and then straight across a field, directly under an electricity pylon to meet the East Coast Mainline railway line, where there was a pedestrian crossing.

My map is a few years old and doesn't show the new North Doncaster Chord railway line. So...I wasn't sure if there would be a crossing - well there was, but it was a few hundred yards to the north at Haywood Junction where the chord joins the Askern Branch Line.

A few minutes later I picked up the original course of the footpath again just before reaching Owston Grange.

For some reason the next section of my walk was along a slightly overgrown concrete roadway through Owston Wood which is now used by the TransPennine Trail; I was studying the landscape as I was walking and have just had a more detailed look at the map but I can't work out why this should be - maybe at one time it was a private road leading to the grange.

I crossed over the same railway that I encountered earlier, just after leaving Barnby Dun, and then passed through a short tunnel under an abandoned railway line. There are a lot of railway lines in this area...it can get very confusing working out which is which.

I then needed to walk along a rather muddy and overgrown path until I reached my next crossing, over the east Coast Coast Mainline again, at a location called Masserella's Crossing. I needed to get permission from the signalman first though - I just opened the steel box and picked up the phone.

The approach to Thorpe Marsh Nature Reserve from the west is lovely; lowland pasture and mature woodland. It's not as attractive as you approach the road at Norwood Gate though.

I got drenched by a heavy shower as I walked down the road and then across the fields to Almholme, before re-joining the road to Arksey where I'd got plenty of time to take some photographs and pop in to the Old School Tearooms for a pot of tea and an apple crumble pie with ice cream. It's a lovely spot  and the price was very reasonable. I was confused though by the combined teapot and cup, less so by the combination fork, spoon, and knife which I ate my dessert with.