Cross Lane

I followed the public footpath up towards the row of houses that form the village of Hill Side. Although snow on the path had been flattened by previous walkers, it was still quite deep at the sides, and some of it was finding its way over the tops of my boots. I kicked myself for neglecting to put my gaiters on. As I got higher I started to lose the surrounding undergrowth and trees and the views opened up over to the Royd Moor wind farm.  There wasn't much breeze and the smaller turbines were still, whereas the large ones made a half-hearted attempt at rotating. I reached the single track road at Hill Side and then had a decision to make. My original plan was to continue the ascent up to Hartcliff Hill, but my newly wet feet had dampened my enthusiasm for this somewhat. Although the snow was deep on the road, cars had been along and created a couple of flattened tracks. I decided to leave Hartcliff Hill for another day and to follow the road for the next section of the walk. I turned on to Cross Lane and enjoyed an elevated view over snowy fields towards Penistone. Now that I'd escaped from the trees it was really quite warm in the sun. Cross Lane diligently follows the contour of the hillside and is easy walking. I turned downhill at Brock Holes Lane and watched some horses in a nearby field. Their owner had strapped some sacks of food to the fence and the horses were busy dipping their heads into them. 

Back To The TPT 

I turned on to Joan Royd Lane. You may think somebody called Joan Royd lived down here, but royd is an Old English word (formerly rod) for a clearing; for example where trees have been felled to allow arable farming. There is a mixture of woodland and fields in this area, although the landscape has probably changed significantly since the lane first got its name. I was now back on the outskirts of Penistone and at the end of the lane I joined a farm track continuing eastwards. I was back into deeper snow again and was grateful to the intrepid walkers that had created the flattened path before me. Some field hopping brought me to New House Farm. I'd been here on my previous walk (see Hunshelf Gorse Maze Runner).  I followed the same path over to the Castle Dam reservoir. This had iced over and some gulls were nestled on its icy surface. They must have anti-freeze in their blood. On the far side of the reservoir I could see that somebody had built an igloo, although it looked empty. Maybe its owners had gone off to drill a hole in the lake of the reservoir to do some fishing. Some more field hopping brought me back to the TPT.

Ramps And Turntables

I started heading towards Penistone railway station. Further along the track I followed a sign that pointed towards a tank ramp. During WWII the ramp was used to dismount tanks from trains. These were used for training exercises at nearby Langsett. There used to be an information board about it, but I couldn't find it today. Maybe it had been covered by a drift of snow. I remembered it saying that at one point Dennis Healey was assigned here as part of this dismounting process. Those of a certain age will remember Dennis Healey as a Labour Chancellor Of The Exchequer (1974-1979). Apart from being competent with numbers, he was a pretty good photographer too, as well as having eyebrows that required a hedge strimmer to trim. Further along the TPT I came to a massive circular depression in the ground. This is the remains of the old Penistone railway turntable. An information board says that the Victorian turntable was actually still in use up until the 1980s. Depressingly, that makes me feel very old. It says that the turntable was so well balanced that two men could rotate a locamotive weighing more than a 100 tons. It didn't say whether these two men had been competitors in the World's Strongest Man competition. Until relatively recently the site had been overgrown, but a local group have cleared the site and it can be seen in its full glory. It was only a short stop from here back to the Penistone Station.  At Penistone Station, I sniffed the air and I'm pretty sure I could smell the remnants of the perfume that the women was wearing earlier in the day.

Maybe I didn't reach the dizzy heights of Hartcliff Hill, but it still turned out to be an excellent walk. There's some more snow forecast for tonight so it might be a gaiter day tomorrow.