Wakefield Way #5 - Pontefract to South Elmsall 04/07/15

13.4 miles, via Carleton, East Hardwick, Thorpe Audlin, Walton Wood & Wrangbrook.

Self at Pontefract Bus Station

The trick for today is choosing a start time with the hope of getting in behind the rain that had hammered down through the night and ahead of the hot weather that was due in the late afternoon, and fitting 5 hours of walking in between the two turned out to be impossible. So the late option was taken, in the hope that the dampness and mist would clear early in the day, hopping off the bus at Pontefract Bus Station at 10.15am, a faint hiss of rain falling as I pace down the glummer half of Horse Fair, to meet Micklegate and Castle Garth, and noticing that Pontefract Castle has been shorn of many trees, giving the motte a better profile and me the worry that all those roots might have been holding it together. Onwards along North Baileygate, past All Saints parish church, ruined in the civil war and revived with a smaller church with the ruins and then to the A645 Bondgate, joining my path from February out of town to Sowgate Lane and convinced that gloomy weather seems to lodge in this quarter. The path moves away from continuing to Ferrybridge Power station, hiding in the gloom, raking a right turn by Pear Tree Farm and down the field boundary to pass beneath the inaccurately named Dearne Valley line, and out down the track to the A645 again, finding the grassy lane by the terrace opposite and heading south down Lower Taithes Lane, another country track that seems to have no contemporary use and is so overgrown that the night's rainfall has soaked the long grass so thoroughly that I have a completely saturated lower half once half way along it. Drier going on the latter half, gradually rising to Street Furlong lane, and the outer edge of Pontefract that my OS map calls Eastbourne, and another green track invites continued progress south, but the heartening feelings come on with much less undergrown beneath the feet and the morning's mist starting to burn off, the disappointment coming with the realisation that the initial miles of the day have merely been taking us on a long circuit around Pontefract.

Descend beyond the rank of trees, down the hillside that sits along this corner of the county, down to the village of Carleton, this first place that we have met that is independent of Pontefract whilst still being its most expensive quarter and commuting outlier, probably, and we won't be lingering here long as briefly a long the main street, Moor Lane leads us out past the RUFC fields and into the countryside again. Well ground tracks lead out between the fields of barley and flowerless rapeseed, heading south to pass around the Carleton Waterworks, and then uphill towards East Hardwick through a field of a crop that I cannot identify but smells distinctly savoury to my nose. Paths lead into the village, which seems to have only a couple of old-ish houses and an eccentrically styled Victorian pile in the church of St Stephen, nut otherwise the village seems to be wholly 1970s and later, and we'll pause here for lunch already, cursing my late start as the heat comes on. Bridleways lead south, briefly along the A639 (again!) before branching onto the rural Whitegate Lane, giving brief views toward Ackworth, and eventually leading between farms and on to the Ackworth Waterworks, where the track swings east to shadow the River Went, the forgotten waterway of the county in the catchment of the Don. River walking done, the field boundaries lead south towards Thorpe Audlin, between barley and rapeseed again, and the village seems to be another 1970s housing estate, with the footpath almost hiding in shame between the house as it passes through. Darning Lane leads to the more interesting part of the village where the Thorpe Old Hall and the executive redevelopments of the surrounding farmsteads have prettified the old village, and our track leads clearly away through equestrian field before getting very vague along a number of field boundaries and even the route guide struggles to describe the track on the ground. Away from the wheat and back on bridleways, the track tacks south towards the Walton Wood Ridge, passing across the alleged airfield sitting in the barley fields and uphill by Walton Wood house and a sharp haul to the wood itself, providing some shelter from the heat and a fresh vista at the top, looking towards Doncaster, with the sentinel-like microwave tower overlooking all from its prominence.

Familiar views to the east (power stations, naturally) as I descend but a new landscape ahead of me, as only trains have brought me through this low corner of West Yorkshire, and the arrival of a council estate among the fields means we must be on the edge of coal country once more, our track brushing the edge of the Wrangbrook estate, the eastern side of Upton, where people came to work before the industry moved on and left them here. Suburbia has grown here too, the track passing among the bungalows of Barnsdale Way before passing over the Wrangbrook itself and the embankment of the Hull & Barnsley mainline (one of those companies that came to the scene far too late, its lines doing mostly freight business form 1885 to 1968), and a confusing moment follows getting disorientated in the thicket that has grown around the former junction before finding Brookside Farm and the way forward. The A6201 has arrived on the scene since my map was printed and across that road the path onwards is well hidden, buried beneath far too much undergrowth with a route description that has become inaccurate, so a detour is needed along Sleep Hill Lane to get onto the track to Wrangbrook House and the path around the waterworks (the theme for the day, methinks), and then its back to field boundaries, south and then pulling westwards to put us on the correct path to the finish line. Tough going through rough growth and ill-defined tracks, the long grass and barley playing havoc with footing and leaving socks covered in sharp seedcases, rolling out onto the A638 Doncaster Road with the feeling of having hit the wall again. Drain the last of my liquid (2 litres wasn't enough today) and push on across the wheat fields, dropping across the trackbed of the H&BR's South Yorkshire extension line (1902-1963) along the way, eventually arriving on Trough Lane, and passing through Quarry farm before pressing on into South Elmsall. Hacking Lane seems to have become the place to develop a split level house or a plush bungalow in recent years, above the quadrangle of council houses, and we sneak between these, down Hemings Way and on down the footpaths to cross the railway lie just south of the railway station. Roll up to a 4pm finish, and another Metro region station is ticked off the list, far too early for the train home, but in good time to catch the bus to Wakefield, if it had bothered to turn up, so a wait is in order to ruminate on this most British of summers days, the kind when you can get both saturated and sunburned.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1760.4 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 358.2 miles
Up Country Total: 1634 miles
Solo Total: 1548.4 miles

All Saints Parish Church, Pontefract. Ruined during the three sieges of the
neighbouring castle during the English Civil War, but enuduring to this day,
despite the much newer St Giles church arriving in the town centre.

Lower Taythes Lane. A forgotten country track not used by much of anyone
anymore, with sufficient overgrowth to retain enough rain water to have me
thinking that I would have been drier if I had tried to swim the Calder.

Long Lane. Wandering around Pontefract to open the day, but happy that
the legs won't get any wetter as the Way starts its track southwards.

Carleton. Farmsteads, St Michaels church, Pontefract's Rugby Union Club
and suburban outgrowth, possibly the most scenic section of the town.

Field Walking to East Hardwick and St Stephen's church. If any botanists could identify
this plant, which gives off a distinctly savoury aroma, I'd be delighted to know what it is.

Whitegate Lane. The story of this district seems to be the number of quiet
country lanes that it contains. Hurrah for living at a humane pace!

The River Went. The last of the major West Yorkshire to feature on my wanderings,
barely acknowledged amongst its more impressively scaled neighbours.

Thorpe Hall, Thorpe Audlin. The old village may have gotten an executive makeover,
but it's still entirely preferable to the suburban nightmare of the new village, to my eyes.

Walton Wood and Microwave Tower. I may have sold this district as the
flattest in the county, but every modest hill provides enough of a challenge to my legs.
Best viewpoint in this quarter, with the tower rendering distinctive from all sides.

Wrangbrook Estate, Upton. Built for miners, it now forms an enclave of
housing that you might not expect in such a rural quarter, nowadays. Hard to
believe that this hotbed of coalmining passed only three decades ago.

Wrangbrook Junction, Hull & Barnsley Railway. Built to export coal and import goods via Hull docks,
 it was testament to the enterprising age that had every industrialist thinking their schemes could make
them very wealthy. Now a railway can be planned for more than decade and still not get built.

Filed walking to South Elmsall. Barley may look pretty but the soil beneath remains slick and the seed
cases will stick into your socks and boots and make your progress way more painful than you'd think.

South Elmsall. Mining has passed and suburbia has arrived, and if you fancy a split level
 house with and excellent view and an impractical driveway, this might be the place for you!

Next Up: The Last Leg closes the loop.