Has anyone walked the Waggonway from Pot House Hamlet to Barnby Basin it's a very interesting stroll for anyone that wants a stroll for a couple of hours.
Have not walked that far but I do the Silkstone Common bit from Throstlenest Saddlers to Cone Lane quite a bit
Yes, I used to do very long distances from my home in Wombwell. The wagonway was on a walk that I used to do using the Transpennine trail from Womwell via Worsborough Dale, over the M1 and up to the track above Silkstone. Turn right and follow the track down to Silkstone, where it becomes the Wagonway. I would be nice if you could follow the line of the old canal from there, but unfortunately, that is not possible, so it is a road walk until you can access the canal. Follow the canal to Oakwell and drop down left into the country park. Follow the River Dearne to Pontefract Road. Cross the Dearne on Pontefract Road and re-enter the park, following the River to Grange Lane. Cross Grange Lane and follow the river to the disused railway, which is now a paved path. Turn right and recross the Dearne, turning left on another disused railway, which is now the path to Cudworth. Do not cross the river, but turn right onto yet another disused railway and follow it until it becomes a rough path, and then a track. Climb steeply on the track to a T junction with another. Turn left, but for only 20 yards or so, and turn right on a path. Follow it as it crosses the access road to a farm. The turn right that follows was indistinct the last time I walked this way, but there is a turn left on a path that bring you to a group of houses on the Darfield to Cudworth road. Cross the road to a better path and follow it back to the River Dearne. Keep to the right bank, and follow the river to Darfield Bridge. Turn left on Doncaster Road and first right. Follow the road straight ahead. When it ends, follow the path to the disused road that used to link Broomhill to Doncaster Road. It is a short walk home from Broomhill to Wombwell via the park, a path that parallels the Dearne Link Road and the Trans Pennine Trail. You will have been following the Dearne Way since you joined the canal at Barugh, and you can continue to follow it from near Broomhill all the way to the River Don. In fact, one of my other long walks that I heartily recommend is a circular walk using paths that followed the Rivers Don and Dearne and taking advantage of railway stations at Denby Dale, Darton, Barnsley, Bolton-on Dearne, Mexbrough, Swinton, Rotherham, Meadowhall, Sheffield and Penistone.
Very good. I wonder what the approx milage would be on that walk. I one took part in a charity bike ride that took in the full Barnsley boundary that was 70+ miles.
I did the Dearne and Don Walk in 4 legs. Denby Dale to Wombwell, Wombwell to Meadowhall, Denby Dale to Penistone and Penistone to Meadowhall. You will have noted that 3 of the 4 were down hill and only part of the other was up hill. I'm no fool.
I do Oakwell to Worsborough res then onto Silkstone Common via TPT & back via Hound Hill Lane, love it.
The Worsbrough to Silkstone stretch has one of the steepest inclines in the country. Special locomotives had to be designed for hauling the coal waggons up it
I hope you did it with a certain element of style and panache !!! None of those long stride tactics Sorry RR couldn't resist Nice to see you back on here.
I love to watch the old black and white local interest films. There's a nostalgia which may not be repeated from today's lifetime. But what we call mundane and uninteresting may well be someone else's nostalgia in years ahead.
You lost me on the path to You lost me on the path to Cudworth. The next cross over the Dearne is the viaduct so where is the turn right on to the disused railway? Is it near the bricked up tunnel?
The right turn is just before the viaduct. It is level to start off with because part of the lower track was filled with the spoil removed from Stairfoot when that huge wall was removed some years ago, but after perhaps 50 metres, the path drops sharplyly to the level of an old railway that parallels the River Dearne. A little later, the path has to leave the line of the railway as it enters a cutting. The cutting has been dammed at both ends to create a long and narrow fishing pond. Interestingly, the cutting still has its original bridge that took a right of way over the old railway, and this is an alternative to the route described for a short stretch. The bridge now crosses the fishing pond.
If I have correctly understood, when you go down the incline you enter a wooded area . If that's the case it's one I walk regularly , through the wood, then into the open and passing the fishing ponds. I just don't recognise as old railway line whereas when I cross the Dearne after 2 wooded areas I rise to another track that does look like old railway and takes me back to Cudworth Bridges
The one that you mention at the end used to be the main Sheffield to Leeds line with stations at Darfield and Cudworth. I used to walk where you describe, but instead of turning left to return to Cudworth, I used to turn right and follow the line to the former railway bridge over the River Dearne. In fact I walked that way last week. However, they ruined that route when they filled in under the road bridge, so now you have a sharp climb up to the road, and a sharp descent at the other side, to get back to the track bed. The railway with the fishing pond continues to the Sheffield Leeds line south of the road bridge. It used to bridge that line, but that bridge is long gone. Sadly the descent from one line to the other is too steep to make it a viable alternative.