For Walkers...The Short Cut Dilemma

Sometimes on a long-distance walk you may notice an opportunity for a short cut. You may wrestle with your conscience about taking it, and some walkers are pedantic about following every millimetre of the exact route. But as the great Wainwright wrote of the Coast to Coast Walk 'The way you go and the time it takes matters not', so I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with taking a short cut in bad weather or in the case of injury or illness.

On my 43 day circuit of the Wild Yorkshire Way (www.wildyorkshireway.co.uk) in April/May 2019, I became aware of several short cuts, and I must admit I took a couple of them because of bad weather (or extreme thirst). However, I became aware of a really good short cut as I approached the end of my marathon walk, but sadly I noticed it too late for it to be of any use. It would have saved a lot of hard work and would have reduced my walking time by a good number of days.

When I started my walk on Monday 15th April 2019, I arrived up from the left in the picture below, at this junction of paths about half a mile from the start at Stainborough near Dodworth. I then turned right, through the gate in the foreground, and started on my circular route in an easterly direction along the Trans Pennine Trail towards the Wolds Way. On Monday 27th May 2019, I arrived at the gate in the background in the picture, after having walked about 525 miles in a circular trek around all of Yorkshire. It was a this point that I noticed the potential short cut - if I had turned left instead of right on that first day, I would have arrived at the second gate within seconds, saving 43 days and 525 miles of walking.

So don't feel bad if you take the opportunity of a short cut, but don't forget that if you take it, you may miss out on some wonderful experiences that you may never see again.

 

If that’s what grammar school did for yer, am glad am bloody ignorant.

 

I have enjoyed long distance walking since the age of 40 when I gave up playing tennis. It started out as a challenge. Could I exhaust my Working Cocker? I never managed it by the way, but it certainly gave me a long term interest. I walked the Pennine Way just about faithfully, and the Coast to Coast less so. However, my next challenge was the French GR10, a long distance walk along the Pyrennes from Atlantic to Mediterranean. I lost almost 2 stones on that one and it just about broke me. I walked every day, but there were days that I never set foot on the trail. I finished and washed my feet in the Med, before catching the train home, but I never did anything as hard again.

 

I recommend the Barnsley Boundary Walk, as a slightly less demanding challenge. A beautiful walk and a good one to do in these strange times.

 

I have done parts of it, and I agree, it is a good walk.

 

whats point? pubs shut.

 

I was on the TPT earlier today. Walked from Silkstone Common to Stainborough and back. Shame the Strafford Arms wasn't open, would have enjoyed a nice pint by the fire! Very muddy on there today too.

 

A very good point, sadly.

 

All very interesting, but I thought this was going to be a thread about crisps.

 

I don't recommend crisps on a long walk. They tend to turn into a bag of powdered crumbs during the day.

 

Damn was hoping for a discussion on whether to make a packet of crisps last longer or not

 

In my presence a packet of crisps is doomed from the start...

 

I've got to admit I've actually done that shortcut

 

did your working cocker go to France?

 

a packet of crisps as caused me some mental anguish,as a child my grandma used to take us to the park pavilion and we would get a packet of crisps and a little glass bottle of pop, we seemed to be in there ages and it was a joy,the pavilion is long boarded up as the council can no longer afford to staff it, fast forward to today I can eat a packet of crisps in an instance,pop the same ,was it being a child that made it special eating and drinking slower, my gran being there, did it taste better back then, who knows but wish I was back in the days when a bag of crisps lasted so long,maybe eating slower could be the key to enjoying life

 

You can’t make the normal bags last these days there is bugger all in them!

 

cheers NYR not just me then

 

Can I recommend the Dearne Way to you. You catch the train to Denby Dale, Walk down the steps from the station to join the River Dearne, which runs beneath the railway bridge, and turn left. The DW goes through Denby Dale and Scissett to the sculpture park at Bretton, and you do not have to pay. Follow the river beneath the M1 at Haigh, and on to Darton, where you have your first opportunity to catch a train home. The is a short road walk at Darton (towards Mapplewell), but you are soon back on paths. Cross the Dearne using a footbridge and turn left to follow it (not the official route). The river takes you to the disused canal, which you follow to Eldon St, in Barnsley (station). After crossing Old Mill Lane, you return to the disused canal, and then drop down to the Country park. You emerge on Pontefract Road, re-cross the river and walk through the parkland below Lundwood. Cross Laithes Lane and continue through the park to a disused railway that has now been paved for walkers. Turn right to recross the river and turn left towards Cudworth. Do not cross the bridge, but fork right on another stretch of disused railway. Continue to a track and climb the hill to another, turn R but then L on a path. After it crosses a farm road, it can be hard to follow, but bear in mind that you need to bear L to reach Edderthorpe Lane. The footpath continues from the other side of the road, taking walkers back to the river, which you follow to Darfield. Cross the river using the A635 and turn R on Cliffe Road. The road becomes a path which leads to the former Pontefract Road near Broomhill. Cross it to a track which you follow beneath the A6195. Continue by the side of the river and climb onto a stretch of disused railway, which runs down the far side of the RSPB sanctuary at Old Moor. The path recrosses the river to join the Trans Pennine Trail, which the Dearne Way uses almost all the way to the confluence with the River Don near Denaby. There is a final station at Bolton-on-Dearne, about 2 miles before the end. Where the TPT crosses the Dearne, keep to the right bank of the river and emerge from woods at the River Don. Sadly, the actual confluence cannot be seen for the trees. Turn R to follow the River Don/ Don Canal back towards Mexborough. At the A6023, turn L to cross the canal, and join it on its far bank. Follow the canal to Station Lane at Mexborough and turn L to access the station for your train home. The Don Walk continues from the station.

This walk can be combined with a walk beside the River Don through Swinton (station), Kilnhurst, Rotherham (station), Meadowhall (station), Sheffield (station), Wadsley Bridge, Penistone (station) and Dunford Bridge. I even joined the two walks together to form a circular walk by walking from Denby Dale to Dunford Bridge, although this is almost all on minor roads.

 

Copied and pasted, thank you!

I've already done much of that walk as it coincides with my Wild Yorkshire Way walk from Old Moor to the confluence of the Dearne into the Don. However, it would be good to do the entire length next year, thanks again.

 

Let me know if you need the route for the bit that follows the Don. As you might expect, it is very industrial until you get past Rotherham/Sheffield, but I like it in spite of that.