TPT Day 4

2012 04 19 Thursday Connie Jane Cocker 3 Today Happy Birthday to Connie, my niece Kate and Tim’s younger one. Connie has been named in honour of my mum but to live up to that name will be a formidable task! No savings here as I remortgaged the house to pay the PO's charges for her birthday card. Trans Pennine Trail Day 4 Route: Wortley to Selby Distance: 54 miles Height gain: 210 ft Time: 5:32hrs Av.speed: 9mph Weather: wet, showers turning to hail Wind: NW 9mph Route features: M1, Elsecar, Wombwell, Bramoton Macdonalds, Darfield, Conisborough, Sprotborough, A1, Doncaster Morrisons, Bentley, Thorpe-in-Baine, Braithwaite, M62, Braithwaite, Hirst Courtney, Selby. Yesterday the blog wasn't complete as the phone crashed. Tonight it's threatened the same again so apologies if it does happen. There were many things that I didn't get to say, like how the fog came down over the Woodhead Pass, how wet and cold it became, how good it was to summit and get off the dangerous and exceedingly busy A57, to descend and continue descending the Upper Don Trail for a very long way at a good speed, how Michael's famous Satmap battery finally gave out after 11 hours, how very relieved we were to see the magnificent Wortley Hall as darkness was falling at 20:00 . . . . and how glad we were to get fed. Not only was the meal very good but the surroundings left us with one of the seminal moments and abiding memories of the trip. We enjoy the camaraderie of our rides and our achievements. Long may we be able to continue sharing these times together. Having said all that . . . Sod's Law came into play and when Dave woke feeling less than well he and Brian, who travel together, had to pull out. We wonder if it was the falls, there falls and out seems rather prosaic! So breakfast in the magnificent panelled dining room was a little subdued. The partial view through the wet haze gave some hope of improvement in the weather but it was raining again as we set off down the long, old carriage drive to cross the M1 and continue the march eastwards. Today’s the day we cycled past so much of Rosa’s family history. The Barnsley area was where her great grandpa Tom Utley’s family originated. Tom was Gill’s dad coincidentally born on the day Titanic set out on its maiden voyage. He would have been 100 years old Tuesday 10th April. The Utleys, and the Astills on the maternal line, arrived in the village of Elsecar in the mid 1800’s as a direct result of the industrial revolution. They were all tenants of the landowner Earl Fitzwilliam of the magnificent pile Wentworth Woodhouse. It was his coal mine enterprise that created so much local employment. In Sellars and Yateman terms Fitzwilliam was a “good Earl”! So, on the ride we have passed: the Elsecar Heritage Centre which was the mine offices and engineering workshops, a phenomenal investment by Fitzwilliam; Church Street where Tom’s parents lived, 132 Wath Road, a cottage in Reform Row where his paternal grandparents lived and the hillside now mined where his maternal grandparents were dairy farmers supplying the burgeoning mining population. The area is now massively transformed into the South Yorkshire Forest leaving little sign of its former industrial landscape. Gill and I came first here in the 60’s to see Tom’s aunt Sarah but we had no idea that we would return 30 years later when were researching her family and see it in such a different light. We felt a real connection with the area. As a tribute to the coal miners I’ve included a sound track from the Barnsley Nightingale for your delectation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9UJSZKsYwM It includes a section of support from the Grimethorpe Brass Band which is mandatory in Yorkshire! Here, after another section of muddy and difficult trails around Wentworth we used the road a little to make progress. As a result we missed part of the Elsecar Greenway which turned out to be one of the best trails so far. Probably created with regeneration or EC monies. This area was a network of collieries and railways. Over much of the route down the Dearne Valley there is evidence of this but the greenery is gradually making the evidence of its industrial past. Silver birch prevail on reclaimed spoil heaps, concrete mine shaft caps poke out. Embankments and cuttings form the lifeblood of the trail and even rails still prevail in places. New fast roads and retail parks are the downside. Even we were lured by the bright lights and warmth offered by a Macdonald's diner in a moment of weakness. Will we ever recover from the experience (when I say WE I clearly mean Michael of course. You knew? Yes!). The flipside of the coin was something like the huge Ings wetland Nature Reserve and Old Moor RSPB reserve. The rivers Don and Dearne came together without us realising near the Norman Conisborough Castle and the very modern, but SHUT Earth Centre. No proper coffee fix for Michael there then! The rivers were very brown and swollen with floodwater. Tell us about it! As we arrived at Doncaster along the river bank we had to negotiate the bikes over our own fallen tree but at least out didn't fall on us like it one did on my friend Bill in Scotland last year. Ever weakened by bad weather we succumbed to bright lights again, this time of the Morrisons store in Doncaster. Yet, we were rewarded with a quite passable meal. The only downside was having to largely disrobe our wet weather gear which was so filthy. From there on the ride became a sodden and miserable affair. The slight wind was like a veritable "Dutch wall". At only 10 mph its origin in the NE meant riding into it we were doubling its speed . . . and, it was cold. Hail and rainstorms ensured we were properly wet and chilled as we passed along the wide, exposed New Junction canal towpath. At least the well made path surface was a consolation. It should have been easier today than yesterday. It is so flat in this area where South and North Yorkshire meet Nottinghamshire at the Isle of Axholme. Where physical hills are no more than bridges over railways and drainage dykes (here endeth today's geography lesson lads!). However, at the East Coast Mainline we found a level crossing that was neither manned or unmanned but womaned. When the HST125 had whistled through at over 100 mph she emerged from her Portakabin keepers hut to open the manual gates for just little old us. As there was a big plate declaring JOAN CROFT on the hut we thought we would thank Joan for her efforts but sadly that's no more than the name of the level crossing frame! #wrysmile! Because if the pancake flat terrain we discovered the route utilising the remains of a disused WWII airfield, bumpy going over broken tarmac! We could also see for miles and the sight greeting us was the plumes of white steam drifting southwards from the Drax and Ferrybridge power stations confirming that the Yorkshire coalfield is still very much alive and open for business. The last lap took us past another level crossing at Henwick Hall and yet another lonely crossing keeper who needed to pop out and give us directions. That took us direct to the b&b on Doncaster Road something our trunk of technology would easily have done (batteries willing) but without the smile. Susan at Hazeldene met us with a very welcome smile and bike washing facilities, a hosepipe with a poor flowrate, something with which we have empathy, and overnight facilities for the bikes, a shed or hut, as Michael calls it. Looked like a shed to me! Last lap for the day, kit washing and a v e r y welcome warm shower. Before eating at the Italian by the Cathedral final phone calls were made including one to Brian who could tell us Dave would live to cycle another day, good news. Tomorrow hails Rosa's first mri scan so we hope it goes well and continue to keep our fingers crossed. You Can Never Have Too Much Poetry I thought I'd finish with a short poem by Ian Macmillan, the Bard of Barnsley, who still lives in the Yorkshire pit village of Darfield that we passed. Every day you need your breakfast And Every day you need a rhyme Start the morning with a cuppa And Every morning's poem time Poetry's essential just like porridge: Poems will make you smile, not curse So I say fine.start every morning With a fine Full English Break-verse! Next stop breakfast fuel for the final day of the TPT.