Alone Beneath The Sky: Streethouse to Barnsley 10/10/15

13.9 miles, via Sharlston Common, New Crofton, Havercroft, Shafton, Cudworth, Lundwood, Stairfoot & Oakwell.

Another misty morning ands another ride out to the awkwardly located Wakefield - Pontefract line, but a change over at Kirkgate station at least give me plenty of time to take in the revival work that has gone on there over the last few years, quite a transformation for the better, I must say, to think that I was calling for its demolition in 2012. Anyway to Streethouse at 9.40am, another new station, and another settlement in the heart of the district's coal country and another one to be barely seen below the fog, but impressions suggest it's pretty modestly sized, parked between the old Snydale and Sharlston Main collieries. The day is set for a railway walk, but once again we find ourselves along way from the start line, so course is set into the fog, down Whinney Lane and out across the contemporary rails, not far from the old platforms of Sharlston station, and a field boundary keeps us on track in the direction of Sharlston Common, with its houses arrayed along the A645 and opposite the memorial winding wheel, with The Green providing the road across the excessively wild common land. The survival of this and the old village to the south seem remarkable, when so much of the surrounding land had been scoured by mining over the last two centuries, and these days it looks as pleasant a country retreat as any, West Lane leading us on the A638 and the bypassed hamlet of Windmill Hill (maybe?). Field walk beyond, still in heavy mist, but the way over to New Crofton is nicely clear but the village seems to have been growing eastwards since my map was published, and a building site has obscured the way forwards for a stretch, demanding the use of a detour that was thankfully laid out for us. I couldn't say this new development appeals to me much, the older houses on Santingley Lane appealing to my taste rather more, and another trip is made in the vicinity of Crofton without meeting the village centre, passing out to the south alongside the track thankfully laid out next to the lane which eventually leads us to the day's railway walking.

Slip down into the cutting of the L&Y's Dearne Valley Junction line, one of the last of the major railway constructions in the county, active from 1905 to 1966, and whilst the most obvious path leads the Wakefield Wheel and WoW tracks in the direction of Nostell Priory, I'll double back to stand below the Santingley Lane bridge before setting course southwards, above the arable fields that have regrown over the Nostell and Wintersett open cast pits. The mist does few favours in providing bearings as to where I am exactly, but the passage of the Barnsley Coal Railway below the line is a useful reminder of location, and missing bridges seems to be the tale of the upper section of the line, with the BCR viaduct being as absent as the crossings of Back Lane and Swine Lane. At least we get a few stretches of tree lined embankments, wet with atmosphere and moisture as the mist hangs heavy, and we meet the Wakefield Way route for a while before pressing on south towards Havercroft, where the cycle path surface abandons the railway alignment and only walkers can enjoy the grassy track through the site of Ryhill Halt. The broad stretch of the trackbed beyond Cow Lane may have been infilled but the Havercroft Millennium Garden has put it to good use as a public park, the cycle track returning to provide access across to the infilled bridge on Brier Lane, and the gradually petering out to the south, as if the district kinda gave up on it. Still clear going as the Wakefield Way route is paralleled near South Hiendley, before slipping into a cutting beneath an unusual iron bridge and giving sight of the church at Felkirk and sliding into a lagoon under the Kirkgate Lane bridge, one of those occasions when strictly sticking to the alignment is not actually the best idea.

The path then continues along the edge of an infilled section pressing south and offering views towards Royston's spoil tip and chimneys through the recent growth of trees, the eye eventually being drawn the Hull & Barnsley's line sweeping in from the west, crossing this as we pass out of West Yorkshire. The South Yorkshire stretch towards Shafton isn't nearly so well maintained, offering muddy passage down a rocky cutting to an occupation bridge, and thence down to Shafton Junction where the Dearne Valley Railway split to meet the H&BR, and instead of rising out of the cutting as the path departs, I press on into the undergrowth to see if it's possible to see any remnant of the tunnel below Brierley Road, and the revelation is, No, it's not possible. Retreat and find the path up to Beech Road, and no view down to the tunnel can be gotten from above either, the line southwards totally obliterated by recent developments, and so a road walk is in order, seeing very little of Shafton, but after a lunch break on the nearest available bench, tracks are made into Cudworth, another of those towns where the influence of coal still hangs heavy. Carrying on down the Ponte - Barny road once again, the impression of the town is pretty favourable, not looking as depressed as some post colliery towns might look, the reinvention of the towns in West and South Yorkshire not leaving such horrors in their wake as occurred in South Wales and Nottinghamshire, indeed a brighter sort of day might almost have it looking appealing to me. Still, I'm here for the railway history mostly, and at the bottom of the town the North Midland mainline of 1840 - 1985 is met, it's overbridge missing to mark the end of the extent section, at least until I spot that the A628 bypass road has gouged through the embankment a short distance to the north.

Burton Road has us pressing on towards the glassworks at Monk Bretton, but before we meet the Barnsley canal walk from last year, a swing south has us meeting the Trans Pennine Trail link path that sits on the H&BR's southernmost section shadowing the perimeter of the Monk Bretton colliery site before slipping below the A628 and carrying on behind the house of Lundwood. Not the most inspiring of walks, but a good place for the local motorcycle enthusiasts to test their rides it seems, and I wonder a lot if the H&BR left any good engineering on this stretch, and the pleasing answer is yes, found out when the trio of bridges crossing the Dearne Valley are passed over, though another trip will be needed to see them from below. Alternative paths offer themselves, but I stick to the tree lined cutting which leads down to the line's terminus at Stairfoot, lost to redevelopment since closure, but the TPT links onto the MS&LR's line towards Barnsley, passing over the A633 bridge and providing yet another green track into this colliery town. An entertaining arrangement of bridges at Oaks Lane passes before the track shifts into parkland as the old line merges into the contemporary railway, and the rationalisation of the old MS&LR and Midlands lines in the vicinity is still one tale that I haven't got my head around. Push on as the trains roll by, all the way to Oakwell Lane and slip into the red-shirted throng that is on its way to Oakwell itself to see Barnsley FC do its thing, and I might have joined them I feel were feeling sporting. I'd thought I might avoid them by arriving after kick-off, but I've made good time, even when it comes to walking against the tide through the terraces over to the passage under the A61, and that's yet another trail cut into this town, all done at Interchange at 2.55pm, and next time I'm this way I promise I will actually make a trail through the town centre, there has to be one somewhere between all these green spaces!

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1970.9 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 568.7 miles
Up Country Total: 1811.2 miles
Solo Total: 1758.9 miles