Through Britain

Day 25 Sunday 26th July 2026

This is my first time on Through Britain since 8th May but that is not for want of trying.

Twice I’ve booked the Barnsley Travelodge and twice incurred rail fares to Rotherham and back from Wakefield. The first time I had a cold and the forecast was for torrential rain. The second time the temperature was due to reach 35 degrees in a heat wave with high humidity. Both times I cancelled. This time I’ve planned it differently and the forecast is mild with the possibility of light showers.

I caught the 8.24 at Bury St. Edmunds and reached Rotherham Central around noon having changed at Peterborough and Doncaster. With some slight difficulty I found the A633 heading north. It was reassuring that I cast a shadow in front of me as this confirmed my direction. I crossed the River Don and received further reassurance from a couple of railway bridges in the expected places. Rotherham became Rawmarsh with hardly a gap between. When the road escaped the conurbation there was Victoria Park to my left as I entered a deep cutting. There were trees on steep banks on either side of the road (Warren Vale). Later I passed a private woodland protected by CCTV and I skirted round Swinton.

At Wath upon Dearne I turned into the High Street just before a roundabout. Three young girls approached on my side of the street. The leader greeted me and, after I’d muttered a response, wished me a fine day. I was now on the last lap but I stopped by a roadside shrine to a motorcyclist. There were two helmets and a photo of a middle-aged man with a long ginger beard. The messages, including that from his wife, were all standard texts bought from a shop but none the less heart-felt, I’m sure, for that.

Soon after I reached the Premier Inn at Wath uponDearne on a busy roundabout close to the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT). Dinner was available so I stayed in for the rest of the evening.

Distance today 7.5 miles; total 298.42

The Premier Inn I stayed in last night is between Wath upon Dearne and Darfield. The Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) is shown as passing by quite close behind the hotel. However, it was inaccessible as an industrial estate stood in the way. Each unit was surrounded by high metal fences as security was essential. I asked a local how to get onto the TPT. He directed me to a supermarket in Wombwell saying one could get onto it there. Not seeing any supermarket I veered off onto the B6096 and passed high above the TPT on a bridge. It was next to a Karting track but another high metal fence denied access. I turned round and proceeded a short way along the A633 which ran parallel to the TPT. A path down a slope took me onto it.

The TPT is asphalted which allows use by cyclists and electric buggies. It has a number of branches and extends over much of northern England. It’s a vital resource devised early this century. It passes through 27 local authority districts and each authority is responsible for the upkeep of the TPT in its own area. The TPT took me to Stairfoot just short of Barnsley and to the south east. The signage was unclear when the path split. One fork went into Barnsley and the other north towards Wakefield. I consulted a couple of walkers and then showed me the route to Wakefield 12 miles away.

At Mark Bretton the TPT had no apparent continuation when it reached a road. I walked through the village to a roundabout and found the continuation just beyond a railway bridge. The path ran alongside a railway but turned away from the railway when I reached a road. This took me to a section of the TPT along the towpath of the Barnsley Canal. This canal had taken coal from Barnsley from 1799. Commercial use had fallen away with the advent of railways. The last time a boat used the canal was 1953. An angling club had adopted it and there were upwards of 40 stations for anglers constructed on the canal side. Two of these were in use as I walked by. The canal continued through Royston. Segments were choked with reeds and bullrushes. Others, particularly where the anglers congregated, showed clear water.

Soon after Royston I went wrong. The canal crossed underneath the railway. The TPT came to a road. On the far side of the road a narrow path looked down on a trail which I assumed was my route. Later signs indicated that I was no longer on the TPT but following a disused railway called the Chevet Branch Line. This led to Newmillerdam so I decided to turn back to the road. The TPT continued along the canal. I passed Cold Hiendley Reservoir and entered a wooded area called Haw Park. Soon after this I passed close to Walton Hall.

Walton Hall was owned by the same family for 800 years. Charles Waterton (1782-1865) was a member of that family. He has been called by David Attenborough “the first environmentalist”. He built a nine foot high wall three miles long around the estate to exclude poachers and foxes. Within those walls he banned shooting and fishing. The estate became a haven for wildfowl. 123 species of bird were recorded on the estate. Visitors were encouraged and, one year, 18,000 people came.

The family had plantations in Guyana, a British colony in South America. He went out there for a while to manage a plantation owned by an uncle. Slave labour was used. Waterton didn’t approve of slavery but he didn’t join any abolitionist movement.

Waterton was an eccentric and deceived some visitors to the estate by pretending to be one of the estate workers. Sometimes he’d bark like a dog but it isn’t clear whether he was acting as the owner or an estate worker when he did this. He was able to scratch behind his ear with his big toe and was still climbing trees at the age of eighty.

At Walton I left the TPT and took a path beside the railway to Sandal and Agbrigg Station. From there I approached the centre of Wakefield. On the way I passed a chapel on a bridge over the River Calder. It was built shortly after the bridge which itself was built in 1352. According to a notice at the chapel there are only four such bridge chapels in England.

Distance today 17.5 miles; total 315.92