Captain's Log

Penistone Line Trails

As I stepped off the train at Dodworth railway station I was greeted by a dome of blue sky. Despite the sunshine, the morning felt rather chilly. It was perfect autumn weather for a walk. Today’s efforts would be dedicated to an 8+ mile jaunt between Dodworth and Denby Dale. Its completion would be another tick on my Penistone Line Venture where I carry out walks based around the railway stations along the Penistone Line. The train had dumped me next to Dodworth’s industrial estate which was maybe not the most interesting start to a walk. I crossed the busy A628 and noticed the nearby Nineteen Hotel. As you might have guessed, the Silkstone Golf Course was just next door to it. I wonder how long it took the hotel marketing team to come up with that name. My route went through the golf course and so I headed down the entrance drive. 

Silkstone Golf Course

A public footpath bisects the golf course, but you don’t need a tin hat to make the traverse. There was enough vegetation on each side of the path to minimise the effects of any incoming. The perfect weather had brought plenty of club swingers out. Most of the punters looked at the retirement age. Golf clubs must be booming at the moment. At one point, one of a group of three had managed to hit his ball near to the footpath and was sizing up his next shot. I stopped about 15 yards away so that I didn’t disturb him. His two mates had gone about 50 yards ahead to their balls and were looking back to see if they needed to avoid the shot from this fellow. He was wielding something that looked like a 7 iron. ‘This should be interesting’ I thought, ‘his mates are in a bit of a precarious position.’ They obviously knew him better than I did, since he sliced his shot over into the rough on the left of the fairway. I was going to ask him what hole he was aiming for, but he didn’t look like the humorous type.
‘Were you pleased with that shot?’ I offered instead.
‘No’ came the terse reply and he stormed off, having to drag his mechanised trolley bag through the long grass. I wondered how much enjoyment club swingers actually get from the game. 

Cawthorne

I left the club swingers to their frustrations. This really was picturesque countryside with rolling hills and pastoral fields, dotted with woodland. At one moment I’d walk through a grassy field and the next along a woodland trail. I’d not met any walkers yet and I was busting for a pee. There was plenty of vegetation around to have one and so I started heading for an ideal spot. Just as I was about to unzip, a couple came along an intersecting trail with their dog. There must be some sort of ‘law’ that defines this, since it always seems to happen. I tied a knot and continued along the trail.    

I disturbed a Heron in a field as I approached the outskirts of Cawthorne. I’d disturb a couple of more times as I bypassed the village. It gave me a look of annoyance on its third disturbance. Cawthorne was a very twee place. Even the roughest parts of Cawthoren looked better than the poshest areas of my town. My path traversed fields to skirt around the edge of the mansions.

Cannon Hall

More field hopping took me towards Cannon Hall. Apparently a farming TV show is filmed here, although I confess that I’ve never watched it. The place also has a shop, cafe, extensive children’s adventure play area and farm animal viewing. They even have a reptile house.  The enterprise must be raking in significant cash though, since the farm buildings don’t look like the ramshackle farm buildings I see around my town. One field was a sea of orange blobs. Looking at their website, this was for the Pumpkin Patch events that ran though October. It cost £3 per pumpkin per person.  although it seems you have to pay for admission on top of that (£12.95). By my calculations, that could get quite expensive for a family with a couple of kids. I’m sure it’d be cheaper to have a 'fun day out' at Tescos and buy one there. To be fair their website does say that ‘under 2s’ get in for free, but it doesn’t say whether they have to pay for a  pumpkin or not. You obviously have to read the small print if it's something that interests you. 

On the other side of the hall I came across the motley crew of some mottled coloured sheep. Some of them came bounding up to me. I’m not sure of their breed, but they had particularly ugly faces. I’m not sure what they thought of me. Probably not a great deal, since I didn’t have any food for them. 

Deffer Wood

I picked up a wonderful woodland trail in Deffer Wood. Somebody had been out creating basic shelters using the fallen branches from the trees. You see this quite a lot in woodland areas and it did make me wonder who does it. Are they the Rambo survivalist types? 99% of them are poorly made and would probably leave you with pneumonia if you attempted to shelter in one overnight. 

I left the woods and joined a quiet country lane for a while. Now that I’d left the trees behind I could see that I was actually high up and had extensive views northwards over the fields and villages of West Yorkshire. I joined a track and came across a flatbed lorry that had been seemingly dumped. It was missing a wheel and so was obviously not going anywhere. Well, I suppose it was cheaper to dump it here, rather than scrap it. The lane became quite muddy for half a kilometre and I had to hitch up the legs of my trousers so that they didn’t get dirty. Views then opened up across fields to the remarkable Emley Moor Mast. I never really tire of seeing this incredible structure. 

Denby Dale

Pretty paths dropped me down into the town of Denby Dale. A footbridge took me across the River Dearne, although it was more of a brook than a river at this stage of its formation. The Denby Dale pensioners were out on their crown green bowling green. They seemed quite vocal and I wasn’t sure whether some sort of competition was taking place. I joined Wakefield Road and started heading into town. The railway viaduct came into view and I saw a train crossing it in the direction I wanted to travel. I’d have to wait another hour to catch another one. I went in search of a cafe for a coffee and found it in the excellent Gordon And Frank’s Coffee House. I bought a coffee and a slab of carrot cake to take away, and headed off to a picnic area, I’d noted on a previous walk, in woodland near to the railway station. As I entered the area I came across a smack-head smoking dope and listening to some drum and bass on his phone. I went in search of an alternative bench and found one out of earshot of his loudspeaker.   

It had been a tremendous day for walking. Blue skies, sunshine and a chilly air to make it the perfect temperature for walking. The route had been an interesting combination of woodland trails, field-hopping and country lanes. Maybe sometime in the future I should visit Cannon Hall and see what it has to offer. There again, the £13 admission price would pay for the rail fare for  another Penistone Line Walk as well as coffee and carrot cake at the end…that’s not taking into account whether I wanted to pay an additional £3 for a pumpkin either.