Hickleton, Bilham, Hooton Pagnell Village Fete, Pickburn, and Woodlands

There's a limited bus service to Hooton Pagnell six days a week, but it doesn't run on Sundays...so I caught the X19 bus to Hickleton and then from there walked along the road to Hooton Pagnell.

To begin with though I'd  spend a few minutes in Hickleton taking photographs.

I arrived at Hooton Pagnell at ten past ten; things had only just got started and so I hadn't missed any of the entertainment.

The first musical event I attended was the Doncaster Ukulele Group; I also got the opportunity to see the Frumptarn Guggenband, the jazz quartet, the Doncaster Concert Band, the Tudor minstrels, the Wath Morris Dancers, and one of the two solo singers.

I took this photograph at the start of the ukulele group's first performance, later on in the afternoon there were many more people there, and several dogs, one of which was joining in, nonchalantly barking perfectly in time to the tune when the group was performing 'Proud Mary.'  I can't remember what the next song was but the dog didn't like it, it just kept on continuously yapping. Next up was 'Rocking All Over The World' by Status Quo and the dog absolutely loved this tune and took over as the lead singer, enthusiastically barking in tune and in rhythm...it even seemed to have several different barks of  differing tone and amplitude.

I kept on taking plenty of photographs as I wandered around the village.

The queues for cream teas at the church were too long and so I didn't bother.

Of course my favourite performers were the Frumptarn Guggenband from Barnsley. I was amazed when I saw them for the first time last year and so really wanted to see them at the fete again this year. Their music and style of performing is very unusual and entertaining, their garish bright purple and yellow costumes featuring skulls and god-knows-what-else are a sight to behold and the enthusiasm, jollity, and energy they display as they paraded along the main street playing a musical blend of samba, brass band music and hints of a military marching band surely must have lifted the spirits of everyone...many people, myself included, were clapping, dancing, jumping up and down and singing along to the words. The leader of the band was absolutely shattered at the end after his frantic over-the-top performance...and finally, what they did to a Taylor Swift song was astonishing.

So...here they are!

The man on the PA system said that they wouldn't look out of place in a Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) celebration in Mexico...especially since some members were wearing sombreros.

Here are the minstrels playing in the churchyard.

The queues for cream teas were still quite long with no room to sit down, and elsewhere there wasn't really much choice of ice cream.

After the guggenband had played for the final time I left the village and headed across the fields to the shops at Woodlands from where I caught a bus back to town.

A perfect day out in the nice sunny weather, even better than walking all day - I did end up walking about five miles though.

Norton, Little Smeaton, Kirk Smeaton, Wentbridge, Campsall, and Askern

I managed to fit in a local walk with my brother today. We caught the Pontefract bus and travelled to Norton.

There are a few nice buildings in the village.

We headed north across the fields, crossed over the River Went into North Yorkshire, got slightly lost because we were busy chatting and not concentrating on where we were going but still found the road that took us into Little Smeaton.

The local church is at Kirk Smeaton.

We walked along the northern edge of Brockadale, usually not going down close to the river. We passed through plenty of areas of open meadows with some lovely wildflowers in bloom.

Wentbridge church isn't very old, but it's lovely.

The village has historical connections with Robin Hood.

We returned to Kirk Smeaton using the footpath going alongside the southern bank of the River Went. This route isn't as interesting though, it's mainly through woodland.

We briefly ended up back at Norton, mainly going along the road, and then continued to Campsall where we visited the church.

Initially it looked like the church was closed, but as usual I wanted to walk round the back looking for different angles to take photographs and then we noticed that the side door was open and so we went inside. We were greeted by the organist who was just going to start a couple of hours of rehearsing...but he ended up talking to us for nearly half an hour, telling us all about the history of the church, the sad demise of the man who built the organ and who committed suicide because he couldn't live in an imperfect world, the legend that states the Robin Hood married Maid Marian in the church, the local connection to the Knights Templar and how the church wanted to sponsor a teenager and help her with her music studies. Unfortunately every time he meant to say 'mentor' and 'mentoring' he said 'tormentor' and 'tormenting.' Maybe God was working in mysterious ways today.

It was then only a short walk through the woods to Askern from where we caught the bus back to Doncaster.

Lodge Moor, Storrs, Dungworth, and Wharncliffe Side

This morning I had to start my walk from a different location to the one planned. I arrived at Sheffield later than expected because of problems with the trains at Doncaster and so subsequently missed my bus by a few minutes. So I walked up the hill to Arundel Gate and caught the bus going to Lodge Moor. Both the train and the bus that I travelled on were very crowded and I was squashed into a very tight space and so when I arrived at the bus terminus at Lodge Moor my knees, lower back and neck were sore and stiff - this took me a few minutes to walk off and get loosened up.

The most difficult terrain of today's walk was right at the start, just a few hundred yards from the blocks of high rise flats at Lodge Moor; a steep, overgrown and quite slippery descent through the woods and some stepping to cross at the bottom of the valley - fortunately someone had left a stick down by the river which I used to help with my balance.

I crossed the busy Manchester road and headed north to Dungworth  using footpaths and country roads.

I continued down to Damflask Reservoir, walking along the road that goes across the top of the dam wall.

About half way climbing up the other side of the valley I stopped to sit on a bench and check my map; a couple of teenagers rode by on their bikes and asked if I was reading the Bible, and then asked me if I was carrying a bicycle pump. Another example of the abuse I regularly receive from people; I didn't have to decide how to handle it though since they were soon gone, freewheeling down the steep hill.

I passed four [I think] of these old milestones which are located at many road junctions in Bradfield Parish - there must be dozens of them.

I cut down through the woods and briefly walked along the footpath on the southern shore of Broomhead Reservoir and then took the concessionary path which is a private access road going along the northern shore of More Hall Reservoir, it's used to reach the dam wall and some private properties. The walk finished on the main road just north of Wharncliffe Side where this road comes out, almost hidden from view as you're driving by.