I picked up the second half of the 25 mile walk where I had previously left off, on Herringthorpe Valley Road. The route goes through Valley Park, our usual stomping ground, and leaves through the woods onto Brecks Lane and up onto Bawtry Road. We headed towards Wickersley and left Morthen Road via a public footpath that took us through a riding stables and past Pinchmill Ponds.
Up the steps and across a couple of fields, and we came to Royds Moor Hill road where the footpath continued up a driveway and behind a converted barn. I always get rather uncomfortable when footpaths pass through someones property, and expect someone to run out of their house yelling at me! Luckily though, this didn't happen today and we headed across four more fields with views over to Whiston on our right.
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| Whiston |
We then left the fields and joined a cycle track where we encountered our first horse of the day. A young child on a pony was coming towards us, and I clipped Sybil's lead on and took her to one side. She sometimes squeals at horses and I was hoping this one was bombproof as I didn't want to be responsible for the child getting bucked off! Fortunately Sybil sat quietly and the horse passed without incident.
The walk then headed down into Revel Wood, which was full of bluebells growing but unfortunately not yet in flower. We left the wood through another field where Sybil decided to chase a rabbit into the neighbouring field. I shouted her back and told her off, and we carried on over the M1 motorway to the hamlet of Guilthwaite. Some of the stiles on this stretch proved to be tricky as she had to be on lead for most of it as there were horses and a couple of sheep in some of the fields, and the stiles were quite high with no gap at the bottom for her to squeeze through.
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| Stiles? No problem sir! |
We always managed though as she is very agile (and determined!). A horse in a field at Spa Farm trotted over to us, and heedless of my fears that is was going to kick Sybil it instead dropped its nose and touched her gently on her head. Leaving the farm via some more fields, we then headed over to Treeton where the path dropped down to the River Rother.
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| Welcome to Treeton |
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| Relaxing at the River Rother |
Our old friend the M1 passed over our heads this time as we walked under the bridge. Our next destination was Canklow Woods, but just short of reaching it I once again took Sybil to one side as this time a group of four horses and riders passed us on the bridleway. And once again she pretended to be a well-behaved dog with only a few excited jumps once they had safely passed. We jogged across the busy dual carriageway and headed up the steps into Canklow Woods.
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| Canklow Woods |
All we had left to do now was walk down Moorgate Road into the town centre, which we managed to do without too much difficulty. We passed through the official start/finish point of All Saints Square, and decided that we were well justified in getting the bus home.
