Wakefield Way #6 - South Elmsall to Wintersett 11/07/15

14.8 miles, via Frickley Colliery, Howell Wood, Hemsworth Bypass, South Hiendley,
  Havercroft & Anglers Country Park

Self at South Elmsall

Hoping to beat the heat on the last leg of the Way, we make for our earliest start yet on this particular trail, and a train ride out to South Elmsall allows an earlier departure, in the remotest corner of the county, than any of my bus trips closer to home, departing the station at 8.50am, an unreasonably early time and, whadda'ya know, the heat has already got here before me. Station Road leads me down alongside the railway line to Doncaster, all the way out to the Waterworks, hopefully the last on that I'll be seeing on my travels, and a field walk then follows, meeting the Hull & Barnsley Railway's South Yorkshire Extension line again, this time providing a nice long section of trackbed to walk, along the embankment and under the shade of trees to the site of Moorhouse station, with house still extent, and then along the chord line which provided access to the site of Frickley Colliery. Operational from 1905 to 1993 and large enough to have three railway companies serving it in its heyday, its spoil heaps still loom above even after two decades of extensive landscaping and surely worthy of an explore on another occasion, but my Way for the day leads to a field boundary walk along its southern perimeter, eventually meeting a hard surfaced road that leads under the Dearne Valley line south of Moorthorpe station, and onto a rough path along the edge of more spoil heaps, suddenly feeling wary among the plant life after having found out how aggressively awful Giant Hogweed can be. Broad Lane is met for long road walk among the fields south of South Kirkby (unlike South Elmsall, it doesn't seem to have a Northern companion), eventually leading to the Bird Lane bridleway, from which a permissive path leads across the fields to Howell Wood, one of those tracks that you have to accept exists because there is nothing on the ground to indicate its location. The Howell Wood country park offers more welcome shade, the paths hanging close to its northern perimeter along the beckside and leading to the fishing lake and ice house (serving where, one wonders?), meeting the other people out to enjoy the facility as I make my way to the car park and exit beneath the thick canopy of Yew Trees.

Burnt Wood Lane leads to a sketchy road walk along the vergeless Common Road, gaining relief and a space to walk once we hit Homsley Lane, and losing the traffic altogether once we hit the Hague Lane track, green going with a good spot for elevenses to enjoy the view over the SESKU conurbation  and to greet the dogs being walked from the local kennels. The lane presses on, feeling like another forgotten lane until it gradually diminishes to a field boundary, rolling on for quite a distance, the only path in the vicinity until it drops out on the B6422, near Hague Hall, and the footway brings us uphill to the A628 roundabout and we start yet another dalliance with the Hull & Barnsley Railway. Start out on the westwards track of the bridleway that developed on the trackbed of the mainline, enjoying the cutting that led away from the site of Hemsworth station, following it until the town's bypass obliterates the formation and the walker is forced to follow the path that has been shifted to the edge of the elevated land to its north, a nice and secluded walk among the fields and the shelter of trees but I'd much rather have a mile of the old line intact. We depart the A628 at Barnsley Road, the ongoing path well hidden by overgrowth, and there's no obvious formation to see as we are above the site of Brierley Tunnel, but the cutting soon appears and a peer through the trees lining it offers the scantiest view of the west portal, though the cutting is wa-ay too steep and deep to consider venturing down for a closer look. So the path shadows it westwards, looking precipitously down all the way to Frickley Bridge Road, the formation continuing on to Cudworth and Stairfoot (never quite getting to Barnsley), whilst we swing north along the road to make for the village of South Hiendley, the first contact with a substantial settlement in a while. We don't get a straightforward trek along the main road, as the path swings its way across the two patches of rough ground that still remain with he village boundaries, the Low and High commons, with the directions of the route guide veering from bad to non-existent, but we don't get lost, thankfully, using the rough pasture as a good spot to pause for lunch and realise that the views are a lot like the ones we started with, before the ongoing route takes us through rural fields to pass the primary school and on to Tun Lane withy the actual village centre having not been seen at all.

The lane beyond Upper Hiendley Farm offers good views in various directions, back to the trails of the last two days, and forward to the first day, passing the Havercroft Business park, oddly isolated out in the fields and then following Tup Lane on through the small woodland, a track that seems to be favoured by kids on motorcycles and on horseback too. Havercroft is briefly avoided by following a cycle path down to the beckside before meeting Cow lane and rising up among the council houses in order to find the path that leads away from the end of Upper Hatfield Place, and soon enough we out into the countryside again, a rough track gradually improving as it winds its way north. Another railway path is met, the Dearne Valley junction railway, a branch of the L&Y operational from 1906 to 1966, and that briefly takes us north to Nostell Lane, where we join the road and that track will have to wait for a future exploration, moving down to the Long Dam Lane bridleway, making tracks quickly to keep ahead of the tractor that follows me down it. Pass under the last railway relic of the day, the M&SLR's 'Barnsley Coal Railway', and the green path eventually leads to the tarmacked surface of Back lane and into Wintersett, looking much smaller that it had when I started out here, and meeting the road junction the loop of the Wakefield Way is closed, but as I'm not tiring sharply like on my previous excursions, we make tracks to the official finish line at Anglers Country Park, striking off to meet it via the path across the pasture. Good to see the large numbers of people out to pace the perimeter path of the lake that now occupies the site Wintersett Opencast Colliery, a good spot for bird watching and speed cycling out on the tracks, also pleasing to see that I managed to time the conclusion of the day with the passing of the better part of the day, so we don't get glum concluding miles. The Waterton Discovery Centre provides much needed use of facilities, as well as a celebratory Cornetto, and I strike my pose by the entry sign for a 2.55pm conclusion, happy to gotten the central feature of 2015's season down without any difficulties, and the fifth and last of West Yorkshire's circular district trails finished within my fourth year of walking. Pace the lanes back to Wintersett, still counting the miles, and other days might have invited beers in the Anglers Rest, but I have My Sister's family visiting this evening, entirely coincidentally, but that provides ample opportunity for food and drink to celebrate my latest achievement!

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1775.2 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 373 miles
Up Country Total: 1648.8 miles
Solo Total: 1563.2 miles

Station Houses, South Elmsall. One of my younger colleagues wasn't even aware
of the existence of Railway Cottages and the works of the pre 1923 railways
until he read about my ramblings, this Blog does have educational value after all! 

The Hull & Barnsley South Yorkshire Extension Line, from Wrangbrook to Wath,
 it joined a crowded market for coal and goods in South Yorkshire, it's taken me
years to mentally untangle the mess of former railways in this corner of the county.

Frickley Colliery (former). Operational for 88 years and the site is now 22 years
into its post industrial age, and 1993 seems recent until I realise that I have
several colleagues who were born after the demise of this particular site.

Frickley Colliery, spoil tip. A mile or more from the main site, Even extensive landscaping
cannot disguise the post industrial profile of the grounds, these scars will last several lifetimes.

Broad Lane, keeping us away from South Kirkby, and giving us greenery after all the colliery wastes.

Howell Wood Country Park. The fishing lake and Ice house must have served
some estate or other but its existence has proved elusive to my Googling.

Hague Lane, and the view over SESKU. Combine South Elmsall, South
Kirkby and Upton and you've got a pretty substantial town, and that
would also lose Moorthorpe and North Elmsall in the mix as well!

The Hull & Barnsley Mainline, consumed by the Hemsworth Bypass. I've seen the line
at Hull and along its mid point, should I seek it near Barnsley before the season is done?

Brierley Tunnel, it's down there somewhere, really. As I'm sadly lacking the climbing and
abseiling skills of My Sister's family, I will not be venturing any closer than this, for now. 

Low Common, South Hiendley. Good to see a village that still has its historic
common land within its boundaries, not consumed by development, but the
Wakefield Way route guide and the paths on the ground do not coincide at all.

Westoff Lane, late in the day a viewpoint emerges giving a profile to about half of the trail,
this district has treated me well with the good views, modest hillside heights be damned!

Havercroft, another of those Villages that is mostly a council estate.

The Dearne Valley Railway, baby of the L&Y, another former line that is cyclepathed
all the way across Wakefield district, and I get the feeling I might have a few more
weeks of significant Railway Walking due when autumn rolls around!

Wintersett. The Loop closes and this might be one of the least substantial start/end points for any
major trail, it seems to be even smaller than on my first visit, and it still gets four buses an hour!

Back at the Official start of the Wakefield Way, with all five of West Yorkshires District trails
completed, and enjoying my celebratory ice cream, but is that Cornetto small, or far away?

Next Up: The central feature of the year completed, I'm due a break Down Country.