Brampton Corton Wood RFM Blue Line Walking with my brother

 Brampton Corton Wood 

RFM Blue Line 

Walking with my brother

31/10/24

After Peter and I decided, in the fog, last week that we would move to winter walks this is the first one which was actually planned for last season. The walk connects up a few walks covering the area between Hoyland, Wombwell and Wortley, Corton Wood. 

Starting at Elsecar Road in Brampton we headed past the Cottage of Content and followed the road to West Melton. We turned right onto a green path towards Wath-upon-Dearne. 

We passed a field of pretty black and white horses. We discussed the breed but it was beyond our knowledge.

Back into the woods and through a wonderful foliage tunnel the photo makes it look like an entrance into a magical world, actually it lead to Wath.

Looking back we could see the odd shape of Bramton Church with its black, square, clock tower, the fields autumn brown and the trees and bushes yellows, reds and golds...wonderful.

We headed away from Wath and crossed the winter seeded fields towards Hoober Stand. We passed a lady struggling with a very strong looking big dog but they were friendly enough. We both commented on the liklihood of these tracks being dog walker routes but suprisingly we did not pass many people at all.

We crossed the stream at Packman Road and headed up Hoober Hall Lane.

This building half way up the hill fed our curiosity. 

It looked like a very small college with the windows around the roof line suggesting lecture rooms. The entrance though seemed to be a garage door which suggested a factory. The grounds were full of what looked like bunkers and underground structures. The yard seemed to have a settling tank in it. The whole think was extremely secure with cctv and impressive fences. Our imaginations ran wild but we had no real idea as to function.

Later in the walk we would get the answer.

The views over the Dearne Valley countryside were very pretty considering the industrial history of this landscape.

The cottage just above Hoober hall (which just looks like a big farm from the road) is chocolate box pretty.

Turning off the lane onto the path up to The Street we fought our way through a massively under-used style. Believe it or not the picture above is a picture of Peter doing just that but he is very hard to make out.

This part of the route is the meeting point for other blue lines but we traversed the hill in the opposite direction.

At The Street we had autmnal views westward towards Wentworth and the hills beyond and eastwards back over the Dearne Valley. The light is almost a feature of the landscape.

We sat at the corner Lee Wood for our coffee and cake and commented on the state of the roof of the small house opposite the bench. Our knowledge straight from TV programmes indicated a wide range of issues and a wider range of financial costs. It was still fun speculating. A jaunty squirrel enlivened our view as he hopped along the wall adjoining the house.

We followed Linthwaite Lane all the way down to Elsecar. This lane was a birdwatchers paradise. The only bird I managed to photograph was an obliging kestrel. We also saw a heron fly out of a tree, a buzzard cross a field low down and over a wood and a couple of jays in the woods next to the lane. There were also numerous little brown birds.

We nearly missed the path at Elsecar as there wasn't a sign and a van was parked obscuring the path's entrance through the hedges. We headed up a muddy path towards what was obviously an old spoil heap. It is close to Elsecar and Hemmingfield but I favour the later for the pit that produced the hill.

The views from the top were hampered by the vegetation. We fought our way towards Corton Wood through a horribly overgrown path full of prickly branches and tripping brambles. Not good, where are all the dog walkers when you want them. 

Through the hedge on our right we could just make out a herd of beautiful black cows with calves whilst on our left Hoyland, Elsecar, Jump and Hemmingfield all could be seen through the new growth.

The shopping centre at Cortonwood emerged from the background, pristine white. We reached the rocks above the centre where we turned right away from the retail park.

We dropped off the man-made hills onto the very pleasant lake at Brampton. Our route took us through the modern  housing estate to Elsecar Road. There seems to be a little halloween competition in house and garden decoration which was good to see.

At the road junction we met a locally based walker who was heading in the opposite direction, he was happy to chat which was good as this had been a walk devoid of other walkers. After discussing the area, the birds and the imminent start of the shooting season I asked him about the mysterious property we had seen and it turns out it was an obsolete pumping station. 

Back to the car and away.
This had been a good walk, hilly and green. It was about a mile longer than expected but thats par for the course.