A Short and Gentle ride around South Yorkshire

I will not bore you with a turn by turn account. Suffice to say that Grayham, Eddy, Eric, Irene, Gary and I set off on a somewhat grey morning for a relatively gentle ride around South Yorkshire.  Just as it was commencing to rain we made our first stop at the Old Moor bird sanctuary for a coffee. On leaving, the rain had ceased and we were treated to brilliant sunshine for the remainder of the day.

Following a new (to us) track into Bolton upon Dearne was tricky, particularly for the three eBikers, due to wheel spin in the very muddy conditions. Disgorging on to tarmac with no satnav meant that we were unsure of our location and had to ask for directions to Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe is an unprepossessing spot along the old A635 halfway between Barnsley and Doncaster, but thankfully for most people it is now bypassed. On a previous visit we saw a motor cyclist without helmet doing wheelies whilst a police car passed by totally unconcerned! – That gives you a measure of the place. However it possesses an excellent bakery – open on Sundays (“Make sure you lock your bikes” we were told) where a bacon muffin and tea cost £2.50 (less than the price of a coffee at Old Moor) and no need for seconds. Now that the pits have gone Goldthorpe’s only claim to fame is that it was the childhood home of Brian Blessed.

Seated on a bench we ate our food and afterwards followed an old railway and other tracks on to Darfield where we had hoped to visit the bijou Maurice Dobson Museum often championed by Radio 3 poet, Bard of Barnsley and professional Yorkshireman Ian McMillan who has always lived around the corner. It was closed! Sunday opening had changed to Saturday.  So, no tea and teacakes today. Nothing left for it but to beat it straight back to Worsbrough along the Trans Pennine Trail, where John had been nursing his new hip waiting all day for Irene’s return. We were back early, but it had been a pleasant sociable ride. I always enjoy visits to South Yorkshire.

There is a plethora of reclaimed tracks and trails now that the pits have gone and so quite unwittingly Arthur Scargill did much for cyclists. The pit villages are still there but in between there is nothing but rolling countryside. However, there are many other villages which are unspoilt, quaint and have attractive churches that predate the industrial revolution by many years. Go there!

John Kemp