Captain's Log

Penistone Line Trails

The railway line running between Barnsley and Huddersfield is known as the Penistone Line. Apart from passing through Penistone, it also stops at a number of villages, one of which is Denby Dale. A walking group in that village has designed 10 walking trails that connect some of the stations along the Penistone Line. This provides the opportunity to carry out a linear walk and use the train to get back to where you started (or wherever you want to go). Signs at the stations display information about these walks, but there’s also detailed information online too. I decided to try out one of these walks today; the one known as Pen-Den. The official walk starts at Penistone railway station and finishes at Denby Dale. I decided to walk it in reverse though, heading from Denby Dale to Penistone. 

Denby Dale

It was only a 7 minute train journey from Penistone to Denby Dale. It would take me about 2 hours to make the return journey on foot. The train did have the advantage over me in that it used a tunnel to make short work of the intervening hills. Denby Dale is nestled in a picturesque valley. The trains make short work of this too by traversing it using a spectacular 21 arch stone viaduct. It is 300m long and 34m high. The first viaduct was made of timber, but was deemed unsafe in 1874 and a stone one created as a replacement. Construction started on the 20th September 1877 and finished on the 20th September 1879. Only if HS2 could be constructed so quickly…and last for over 150 years. It certainly is an impressive construction although it was difficult to get a clear view of it as I made my way through the village and headed up the hillside southwards. There always seemed to be some building or tree in the way.  

Denby Dale is of course famous for its meat pies. The first pie was baked in 1788 to celebrate the recovery of King George III from mental illness. It seems an odd way to celebrate such an occasion to me, but as a life long vegetarian, I’m not a meat pie fan anyway. Subsequent pies have been baked to celebrate the victory at the Battle of Waterloo (1815), repeal of the Corn Laws (1846) and Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee (1887). Inevitably, the world’s  largest pie ever baked (40 feet long, 9 feet wide and 3 feet deep) was baked here in 1988. It weighed over 9 tonnes. A heavier one (with the same dimensions, but weighing 12 tonnes) was baked in 2000 (the Millenium Pie). An information board told me that the 1887 Denby Dale Pie went off before it could be eaten. The pie maker (Mr Greggs, apparently) used the train to get away from the town before he could be made accountable. I bet Queen Victoria wasn’t amused. 

Upper Denby

I followed a pleasant woodland trail uphill and then country lanes to Upper Denby. This village was a twee place too. The Denby Village ‘Little Library' was a glass fronted wooden cabinet positioned next to the main road through the village. I had a look inside to see if anything took my fancy. Nothing did. It was all thrillers, chick-lit and crime novels. At least the place did have a library.    

The trail progressed along good tracks through pretty countryside. Cattle had been safely confined to fields on the other side of stone walls and so I was feeling rather chipper. That was until I approached Ingbirchworth and had to cross a field crowded with the beasts. Most were sitting down, but the ones remaining standing gave me the eye as I walked amongst them to reach the stile on the other side of the field.

Ingbirchworth

I dashed across the busy A629 and headed for the southernmost  collection of buildings that form the village of Ingbirchworth. A new wooden bench had been placed in its centre since the last time I’d passed this way. A carved inscription on the rear said that the bench commemorated King Charles III Coronation in 2023. Well, at least they didn’t bake a huge rancid pie to commemorate it. It did make me think though - was it really 3 years since bug-a-lugs got his chest rubbed with anointing oils? Crikey, time was moving fast; it only seems like yesterday. 

I was a good boy and wasn’t tempted by the sign that offered ice creams at the caravan and camping site. Despite it being October, it was hot enough for one though. Looking over to the east I could see that the Scout Dike Reservoir was nearly empty, despite the recent rain. At times, it had been a very hot summer. Horses, cattle and sheep populated the fields as I made my way southwards. One large field had a solitary Alpaca lazing in the long grass. I wondered what it was thinking…maybe it was daydreaming about the rich grass of the Andes back home. 

Thurlstone

The footpath joined the single track Folly Lane. A small excavator pulled out of the entrance of Folly Farm and started making slow progress down the road on its caterpillar tracks. There aren’t many mechanised vehicles in the world that are slower than me, but this was one of them. The road was too narrow for me to get past it and so I followed with a slow stroll, breathing in its copious diesel fumes. The farmer could have stopped, to let me pass, but we all know that time is money to farmers. After our procession reached the junction with Norwood Lane, the excavator made a slow turn into it and I continued along Folly Lane at my normal pace.    

Thurlstone is a collection of houses and buildings that were historically 18th and 19th century handloom weavers’ cottages. The families used to live on the lower floors and run their industrial handlooms in the workshops upstairs. I weaved my way through the narrow streets avoiding the speeding Parcelforce van and Tescos delivery lorry. I turned off at The Green and made my way down to the River Don. Crossing the river and Manchester Road (A628), I climbed the mysteriously named Rud Broom Lane. Well, it was mysterious until I Googled it and found that it derived its name from an open agricultural field system. Rud probably derived from the Old English rudu, meaning red, which probably indicated the colour of the soil. Broom derived from the Old English brom, meaning the gorse or broom that grows on uncultivated landscapes and heathlands. So now I know!  

Penistone

It was only a short climb before I joined the Trans Pennine Trail. I turned left and headed towards Penistone. It really was a lovely, sunny day now and there were plenty of runners, cyclists, dog walkers and pram pushers along the trail. I did think about going into town to get something for my lunch, but a chance encounter with a woman carrying out a nappy change on a youngster dulled my appetite somewhat. I soon found myself back at Penistone Railway Station.     

It had been a short, but enjoyable walk. The paths had been good and the views extensive. I was so impressed that on completion I was already thinking about doing another one of these Penistone Line walks.