I joined and followed the route of the dismantled railway track. Looking at the OS map, it looks as though it was probably used by one of the limestone quarries at one time. I disturbed a large bird and I saw its huge wings flapping through the trees. Given its size, I presumed it was a buzzard. The railway track terminated in a dead end, and I double backed on a track that ran parallel, but above it. 

After a while I dropped down through the woods, towards the River Don, and eventually came out on to the tarmac track of the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT). I followed the TPT westwards. There was plenty of traffic on the River Don including barges, a group of kayakers and even somebody on a paddle board. 

Conisbrough Viaduct

As I approached the end of the valley a massive brick viaduct loomed before me. This was the Conisbrough Viaduct. At 35 metres high and 465 metres long, it is both higher and longer than the more famous Ribblehead Viaduct (32 metres high and 400 metres long). It was a railway viaduct linking the Dearne Valley coalfields and Doncaster, and was in operation between 1909 and 1966. The owners ensured that the bridge would not suffer subsidence from the nearby mining operations by purchasing the mineral rights of the land under the viaduct. Even so, it did suffer from subsidence and eventually it was retired from its railway duties. It now serves as a pathway and cycle track for the public. Wikipedia says that the viaduct was built so high in case Sheffield was turned into an inland port, although it doesn't cite any source to back this. The section over the river is a metal lattice rather than brick. There's supposed to be over 15 million bricks used in its construction and it has some nice decorative features. Unfortunately, some of it has been defaced with graffiti. Somebody from 'Edlo' (Edlingtion, a nearby suburb of Doncaster), had been rather brave and painted his name a couple of times on the very top of the bridge.

When I reached the viaduct, I got out of the way of three cyclists who seemed in a bit of rush to make their way along the TPT in the eastwards direction. The TPT runs along the side of the viaduct and I started making my way along this in order to get to the viaduct's  access point at its end. Halfway along I met another cyclist. He was on the phone and appeared flustered. 'You've not seen three cyclists, have you?', he asked me. I confirmed I had and I told him they were making their way along the TPT alongside the River Don. They were all doing the TPT from west to east, although he'd only joined the group today. The others in the group had apparently had a bad time trying to follow the trail on the far western sections. He had an intriguing trailer attached to his bike that had a large bag of gear on. I was intrigued about this, but he was flustered at being left behind and so I didn't make enquiries about it.

There is a fine view from the top of the viaduct. It is good to get above the canopy of the surrounding woodland. It is possible to see Conisbrough Castle from its lofty position. The castle was built in the 11th century and was impressive enough for Sir Walter Scott to use it for his 1819 novel, Ivanhoe. I have a vague recollection of going around it on a school trip

Sprotbrough Flash

I retraced my steps along the TPT, back towards the start. I called in at the three hides at Sprotbrough Flash to watch the wildlife for a while (see report in YWT - Sprotbrough Flash).

They were building some flood defences alongside the river bank at the Boat Inn, although the workers seemed to be taking a break and enjoying themselves in the sun when I walked by.

I'm not really a big fan of woodland walking but there was enough post industrial features on this route to keep me interested.