Summer lands, and the weather manages to actually look appropriately seasonal at long last, not that I'm full of the joys as the weekend rolls up, largely because I'm knackered after my first week of working at St James's Hospital, performing the same role as I did at the LGI but in a much busier office and at a much higher tempo that I've gotten used to, meaning I do seven hours of raw labour a day before sloping off home to crash hard, which means my weekly exile to the archive at Seacroft on Fridays feels like a useful respite after that. So we don't start as early as necessary as Saturday's trip gets underway, aiming at route that was virtually improvised in the preceding week as a few gaps and omissions were noted around the paths already walked and the excursions plotted for the future, and as the day promises to be in excess of 17 miles it makes sense to get it done while we linger at the top of the High Season, riding out to Dodworth on the fringe of greater Barnsley on a 142 Pacer unit that gets very crowded as we pass into South Yorkshire, to land at this most modest and minimalist of stations at a measure or two after 9.50am. Sunshine falls on us as we join the B6099 Station Road as it takes us northwards, over the level crossing and on along the boundary of the Fall Bank industrial estate, up towards the A628 bypass road, which we don't immediately join as a leafier road awaits, beyond the traffic island and The Fairway Hotel and Pub, following Elmhirst Lane as it skirts the Dodworth Business Park on the site of the Old Silkstone Colliery and on towards Silkstone Golf Course on the lofty edge of the Cawthorne Valley. We join a superseded green lane that pushes west, which I'd assumed was the original A628 route before the bypass was built, but judging bu its narrowness and considerable overgrowth, this route was diverted a long, long time back as the turnpike chose to avoid this steep hill edge, which allows us a quiet start to the day and teases some lofty views as we go, forwards towards Hoylandswaine's hillside and over the periphery of the Dove valley. Descend the lane to meet the road that I had been prepared to ignore, but Barnsley Road will lead us over some green gaps on my maps and cross some previously burned paths in this area so that's reason enough for me to dome this way today, pressing west as we lead into the shade of Silkstone Fall woods, before we meet the footpath-free Silkstone Bypass, which we'll follow with some wariness as that village centre doesn't really need to be seen up close again, so soon.
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Dodworth's extremely modest station.
(Be Honest, We'll Miss the 142s when They're Gone, Won't We?)
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| The way to come in the upper Dove Valley. |
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| Silkstone Fall Woods. |
Stick to the verge as we angle downhill somewhat, sneaking views to the tower of All Saints church and to the building on the lower stretch of High Street beyond the concealing banks of trees before we regain a path to walk on by the gradually redeveloping Bank House farm, which leads us to the bottom of Silkstone village, by the Waggonway memorial and its tan coloured terraces, passing over our early season route at the bottom of Cone Lane and then pressing on past the petrol station and the close of council houses before landing in greenery once more by the lodge house of Noblethorpe Park. The footway clings to its perimeter wall as we shift uphill again, getting no sign at all of the hall that lingers not all that far beyond, though we probably spied it from up the hill a half hour back, and it claims a hamlet of sorts on the map, though its association is extremely loose, and the greater point of interest is found further along as the steeply descending A628 presents us with a sand trap, or an arrester bed if we're being formal, to capture any vehicles that might have had difficulty braking on the turnpike as it comes down off Hoylandswaine's hill. Pass under the parallel paths of pylons and power lines that have been seen before on paths around this quarter, which are a useful visual locater in the area as they are obviously the ones that have passed under the Pennines via the Woodhead Tunnels, and we rise beyond, towards the Fell Lane terrace, getting a southwards view to the Dove valley and then north into the Cawthorne Valley as we land above the hamlet of Hill Top, right on the watershed of the two tributaries of the Dearne to the west of Barnsley. The road continues its rise, and the next target up the hill is going to be Hoylandswaine village, which has spread its outliers down the main roadside, but we'll detour into the village this time, as the sharply descending and footway-less bypass road looks that bit too treacherous for me, and thus we'll take the quieter path of old Barnsley Road, past the Lord Nelson and Rose & Crown Inn, with the northwards view over the cricket field to the Cawthorne valley still looking prime, with the rural and suburban houses well placed to appreciate it. On up past Hall Lane Top farm on the path previously travelled, where the road's cobbles have been concealed by a fresh layer of Tarmac, to re-join the A628 as it starts to crest and despite not being at the exact top of the hill, we enjoy the evolving perspective of being on a three way watershed as the Cawthorne and Dove valleys flow east, and the Don Valley passes to the west, which arrives prominently as we cut off a road corner to field walk through the long grass between the Cliff Plantations as our path shifts southwards.
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| Silkstone village at a remove from its bypass. |
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| The Arrester Bed, near Noblethorpe. |
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| The increasingly familiar profile of the Cawthorne valley. |
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| The bypassed Barnsley Road, Hoylandswaine. |
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| The Cliff Plantations, near Hoylandswaine. |
This lands us by the A629 High Lee Lane, the Penistone bypass, where we can take elevenses in the shade of the trees before we join the main road, above the town on the far bank of the river and with a clear view across the route that we've planned for today, across the high, level fields and hilltops to the south of the town, and the view west is one we'll watch as it evolves into fine panorama around the upper Don Valley as we press south, along what appears to be a recently laid cycleway, but not a particularly well built one as it's already being undone by sprouting thistles and dandelions. Still, it keeps us away from the traffic as we pass High Lea and White Field farms, getting a fine view down to the length of Penistone viaduct as we go, before we pass over the route of Oxspring tunnel, the south portal of which could be visible if we were bold enough to use the path through fields of cattle, but instead we'll meet the path that leads into the yard of Willow Lane Top farm, which has been bypassed by the main road, to join the Trans Pennine Trail bridleway as it steeply heads down to the River Don. It's certainly a challenging path, and of the quartet of cyclists I meet coming up, only one remains in his saddle, but all of them remind me that I'm in South Yorkshire as I'm greeted with a genial 'Ey Up!', and once the path eases of in its lower stretches, we come up to the river crossing via the deeply lovely Willow Bridge, a sharply arched structure in its own peaceful glade, just downstream from Oxspring Viaduct and giving a fine illustration of why this village has a bridge in its ubiquitous parish signage. Ascend the bridle path up the south bank of the river, though the fields to meet the side of Sheffield Road again, arriving just opposite St Aiden's church, one of the few CofE establishments that could be mistaken for an industrial unit, and retrace last week's path past the school and post office, while noting the well that might have given the village it's name before we meet the Roughbirchworth Lane corner and join it as it presses uphill westwards. Pass over the Upper Don Valley trail as it goes by, following the former MS&LR line as it continues south towards Sheffield, a route we'll save up for a future season, and then push past Oxspring's suburban fringe up towards Sycamore House farm, where haymaking is in full swing, and views are available downstream along the Don towards Thurgoland, and we can run into the loose association of farms and cottages that forms Roughbirchworth, a hamlet that seems as poorly defined as Noblethorpe, but marks our last urban settlement of note before we join Park Lane and continue on into the high fields to the south of Penistone
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| Penistone and the high plateau to come, from High Lee Lane. |
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| Willow Lane Top farm. |
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| Willow Bridge on the Don, Oxspring. |
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| Sheffield Road, Oxspring. |
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| Sycamore Farm, Roughbirchworth. |
Thus we head out onto the plateau of fields between the Don and Little Don (or Porter) valleys, an entirely rural district far beyond the suburban growth of nearby Penistone, with a lot of narrow field strips that are indicative of extreme vintage in its eastern quarters, with the farmsteads scattered across the whole landscape, it's the sort of terrain that seems common in the mind, but actually appears to be quite rare once you wander into it, angling up its gentle slope to Back Lane and passing under those power lines again as we meet Heath Hall farm. The only hamlet of note up here, Snowden Hill, passes to the south of us and we carry on up the lane towards what feel like it ought to be the plantation on Sheephouse Height, but its actually the next one along to the east, Salter Hill, which means orientation up here is harder than you might imagine, though the expanding view gives us sight to our next destinations, Hartcliffe Hill and Whitley Height, off to the west, while the view back expands, revealing that eastern panorama once more, as we rise past Salter Hill House farm and hit the 300m contour. There's little evidence of moorland altitude up here among the well managed fields, and as we meet the ridge top we join Cranberry Road and get a view south across the valley of the Little Don (or Porter) as it suddenly interrupts the landscape, revealing the Dark Peak Edge and the face of Barnside Moor, as well as stone outcrops atop its actual moorland gritstone plateau that could be as close as Pike Lowe or as far away as the fringes of Bleaklow as this is a horizon that I do not know at all. We get the north, east and south view for a while as we press west, past Throstle Nest and Cranberry farms, and crossing the infamous Mortimer Road as we land on Sheephouse Height, and get the height of the plantation and the tilt of the landscape obscuring the view south so attention turns north, pausing multiple times around-abouts the covered reservoir and Mossley House farm to scan the northern horizon with the binoculars, which slows our progress somewhat, and as we progress on, past Doubting farm and plantation, we shift to the southern side of the ridge to get the Dark Peak edge as our horizon for a while, as the road declines. Then we rise again, to reveal Midhope Reservoir on the south side of the Little Don Valley, and get another expansive view north and east, back across the plateau towards Penistone and Hoylandswaine hill, as well as even further, where we can confirm that the high buildings of Leeds and the apron of rising suburbs beyond are clearly visible from here, more than 21 miles distant, and that makes this walking world of mine feel very large and very small simultaneously.
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| Heath Hall farm. |
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| Hartcliff Hill rises atop the western end of the plateau. |
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| Cranberry Farm and Sheephouse Height. |
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| Seeking Revelations on the Northern Horizon. |
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| The Dark Peak fringe above the Little Don valley. |
So today we've learned that you will get your revelations of the north when you travel south, when the Dark Peak and its peripheral valleys are what you had thought might grasp you the most, and so another terrain shift has to focus your attention that way, as Langsett reservoir is revealed toward the head of the Little Don valley, below the Midhope Moors, and we can ponder these high moorland as we pause on a convenient staring bench, perusing the map and feeling like my walking boldness still isn't strong enough to venture over the Don-Derwent watershed to the south. At 350m up, the day reaches its summit as we've steadily risen onto Hartcliff Hill, though its tower, which sits atop it hasn't been seen within the last couple of miles of approach, and despite it being the high target for the day, there are no paths that venture over its top, which are still actively rural fields, and thus we have to pass around it, joining Hartcliff Road to go past its eponymous farm and lodge and then start downhill rather steeply as the plateau-ridge's western end, where the Little Don valley retreats from view to the south. The Langsett and Thurlstone Moors replace it on the western horizon, with the A628 rising across them towards the Woodhead pass, and the mast on, and mass of, Holme Moss join the panorama over the upper Don valley proper before we shift onto the path around Hartcliff Brow, where the bridleway indication suggests a path of note, while the ground carries a modest strip of level earth and turf around the steeply angled hillside where we pick our way around though the bracken and excess of tree cover. There are enough gaps in the coverage as we swing around to the northeast, to give us a lofty vantage point, looking over to the windfarms above the Don at Crow Edge and upon Whitley Height, before we emerge from the planation to a clearer path across the high fields, where the upper Don valley gets a reveal of quality that really couldn't be acknowledged when walking the Trans Pennine Trail along its base, which will form our northern horizon until we've some around Hartcliff Hill so far that we are facing back the way we came at the start of the day's trip. North-east we head, then, coming up above Millhouse Green, the valley's odd suburb at a step's remove and Thurlstone village, where we are aiming ourselves, with St Saviour's church sitting prominent at its west end, but there's more path to come before we get there, down the grassy track to gain a hard surface as we land in the hamlet of Hill Side, our first settlement of note in two hours of exercising around this upland mass.
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| Midhope and Langsett reservoirs, in the Little Don Valley. |
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| The Langsett and Thurlstone Moors, from Hartcliff Hill. |
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| The upper Don Valley, with Holme Moss and Crow Edge, from Hartcliff Brow. |
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| Whitley Heights and High Bank, above Milgouse Green. |
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| Hill Side hamlet. |
A place to live if you have a Grand Design with a view in mind, and nice enough on a bright warm day like this one, but not a place I'd fancy too hard in the grip of harsher seasons, isolated on the high stretch of a rather awkward road, which we follow on as it wanders along the brow of Hornthwaite hill, passing another aggregate works and quarry, and Cross Royd Head farm as we work our way downhill to eventually pass over the cutting of the former railway once again, waving a hello to the Trans Pennine Trail having previously walked it in this quarter five years ago, almost to the day. Following Rock Side Road leads us down into Thurlstone, where a notably space-age house sits among the terraces and cottages on the way down to the meeting of the A628 where we cross the Don and set off on a north-westerly trajectory, following Manchester Road up past the former pub and dye works to the corner by the war memorial and old Post office, where we cross and head up the steps that lead us onto Towngate by the enduring pub, the Crystal Palace. The village beyond is a right old mix of charming and sometimes ancient cottages and farmsteads, blackened by years of accumulated soot, and a scattering of 1970s bungalows and houses that look like they made an active effort to not blend in with their surroundings at all, which gives the whole place a very randomly developed feel as we pass through, meeting Royd Moor Road and pressing out past the village school and the suburban fringe, meeting open fields once more past Westfield House farm. We shed 150m of altitude coming down from Hartcliff Hill to cross the Don, and now we're on a path to regain 130 of those metres as we aim our way up to Royd Moor, the climb that I knew was coming but don't really want to face after nearly six hours on the trail, angling ourselves uphill at a slow and steady gradient towards the eponymous pair of farms just below the moorland contour, seeing Penistone retreat from our landscape as we go, while gradually getting a reveal to the Royd Moor and Scout Dike reservoirs that conceal themselves well in the fields to the north. The windfarm on this moorland height has really successfully hidden from view on the ascent from Thurlstone village, and it only reveals itself fully once we hit the top of High Bank Lane, a spot to bask in the views around, just as the day stops being as bright as it had been, and we'll water and scan the eastern horizon once more, to get a fix on another remote location, as we visually confirm the water tower at Goole Docks, 35 miles off to the east and still far beyond my walking field, brightly illuminated below the dark fringe of the Yorkshire Wolds in the direction of South Cave, some 50 miles away.
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| Crossing the Trans-Pennine Trail. |
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| Crossing the Don, again, in Thurlstone. |
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| Vintage Cottages in Thurlstone. |
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| Ascending to the Royd Moor farms. |
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| Above Royd Moor and Scout Dike reservoirs. |
Having completed our circuit around Penistone and its hillside over the last four hours, it's now time to strike off for the finish line, still two hours distant in West Yorkshire, and ahead of us lies Spicer House Lane, which will take us a fair chunk of the way there, while loitering above the 300m contour pretty consistently, though again not describing a moorland landscape at all, even as we press on towards the windfarms that rise on the high fields to the west of us. It's quite amazing just how different they look from the opposite side of their plots, showing up well the wisdom of choosing multiple route over a relatively compact landscape to gain all the perspective it can offer, and as we leave the day's last vantage point in these parts a look to the north-western horizon will reveal the heights of Ovenden Moor upon it, nearly 20 miles distant and again not even slightly local to where we are now. Take a last look at the Dark Peak fringe and the Crow Edge turbines as we settle onto the eastern edge of the heights and carry on among the rough-ish enclosures of Royd Moor, above the headwaters of Scout Dike and elevated above the Cawthorne valley to the east, where we can see Ingbirchworth reservoir, revealing itself below its village and amongst the moor that shares its name, which we'll transition into as the windfarms slip behind us too, and we come upon the major farmstead of this upland, Spicer House, which looks like it's a holiday let these days, and is probably big enough to house an entire wedding party that really wants to get away from it all. There's tractor traffic to avoid as side roads meet the route we're following, and their drivers don't seem to be driving as if they weren't expecting anyone else to be up here, so wits are kept sharp as we approach the last interaction with the Don catchment for the day, as the upper streams of Scout Dike are crossed, just below the dam of Broadstone reservoir, from where we rise to the watershed and get our last good look over this upland that has provided us with such entertainment over this last month. Beyond the rising fields of Castle Hill (not that one) to the east, we transition out of South Yorkshire after so many miles, and land above the Dearne valley, revealing its bowl with Upper Cumberworth on its nearby fringe, and a slight descent among the fields and plantations beyond leads us down to Rusby Wood, where a waterworks hides among the trees and the extremely junior and uppermost stretch of the River Dearne burbles its way under the road, from where we rise again over Dearne Low Common with the farmsteads of Haddingley ahead of us.
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| The Whitley Height and Common windfarms, again. |
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| Above Ingbirchworth and its reservoir. |
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| Spicer House farm (former). |
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| Below Broadstone Dam, at the head of the Scout Dike branch of the Don. |
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| The headwaters of the Dearne at Rusby Wood. |
Run up to Piper Junction and that's us back in familiar territory, as there's only one good way downhill from here, into the valley of Shepley Dike and that's down Piper Well Lane so steps are retraced again as we skirt around the high perimeter of Lane Head quarry, pausing beyond that odd cottage that sits above its edge, where we can finish lunch and ponder just how different the strata of the rocks look when illuminated by the afternoon sunshine in the west. Thence we drop below 300m and head downhill, to the A635, amongst the Highfield brewery site once more, and find a fresh path along Cross Lane among its elevated cottages and terraces to meet the A629 as it descends, confirming Lane Head as one of the locus points of this year, where paths have gathered over the last month despite it not being a particular point of interest, and we head down towards Shepley while pondering most of the views that we saw last time, though a fresh point of interest is the pair of vintage buses that pass us just ahead of the village edge. We break off the Huddersfield Road as we come upon Cliffe House, a council owned property with outdoor study facilities without and conference facilities within, that seems to doubles as the village's cultural attraction, which sits at the top of Cliffe Road, which we follow down among the suburbia that has grown around the cottages that once served the rural industries before we rise again, beyond Dungeon Well, to meet the urbane-ised Green Head farm on the side of Marsh Lane, just down from the Farmer's Boy inn. Cross to meet Jenkyn Lane, which takes us around the village's suburban western edge, to where the Kirklees Way brought us along the same periphery some five seasons ago, and the feeling of evening is starting to kick in as we meet our final push westwards, down Stone Wood Lane, which seems to be too rural and narrow for conventional traffic use, and barely has space to accommodate the walker at all as it transits the fields down towards Stone Wood, naturally. It's a steep and sudden decent down among the trees to meet the beck crossing, our only interaction with any of the watercourses in this valley, and then it's up again on an equally testing path to emerge from the other side, where we barely have enough space to make a contextual landscape location before we land in Stocksmoor village, where late 20th century suburbia seemed to land to turn the hamlet with a railway station into an actual location of sorts. Not the sort of place I'd choose to dwell, but it's station, found along Station Road, is possibly the best on the whole of the Penistone Line, still looking the part with two active platforms and rails serving both of them, where we'll roll up for a very late 5.15pm finish, only 20 minutes ahead of the train but under enough chill in the air make it feel like the End of Summer is already upon us, despite the season being barely underway.
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| Piper Junction. |
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| Cross Lane, Lane Head. |
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| Cliffe Road, Shepley. |
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| The Shepley Dike valley, from Jenkyn Lane. |
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| Stone Wood. |
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| Stocksmoor station, honestly the most noteworthy feature of the village! |
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