Out of date pay and display machines caused confusion early doors with its demand for 3 numbers of your car registration. No reg plates have had 3 numbers  for 13 years at least! Still, at least the parking fee was only £2.

Eleven of us had made the trip to a new location for a group walk, including Peter who had not walked with the LDWA before. Reassurance that the walk was as described in Strider (19 miles and flattish) was sought by some before we set off.

Westwards through trees and field paths (and the odd industrial estate) towards Wortley.. An acute turn and now east towards Elsecar where lunch was taken. Barely  a climb in the morning.

The afternoon involved a little more ascent (not much) with good views in direction of East Yorkshire and their power stations. Suddenly, on our right the first of several folly's, Needles Eye. Rumour has it that it was built to win a bet that someone couldn't drive a cart through the eye of a needle! After a few group photos off we went towards Hoober Stand.

A short pull through some trees took us up to this unusually shaped building. 3 sided tapering towards the top, this building was built to celebrate the suppression of an 'Unnatural Uprising'. After the usual bawdy comments we surmised this referred to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745/6. 

History lesson not over, we than crossed a roman dyke (not really visible) before descending to reach a valley containing several lakes. This land belonged to the Fitzwilliam Estate and a tarmac path now led us to the highlight of the day - Wentworth Woodhouse, one of the largest stately homes in the country.

All agreed this was a change from one of our usual walks but interesting nonetheless. 19 miles and not much ascent. Back before 3pm and no rushing. Peter went home very happy having not walked more than 15 miles before.

John

Photos from Julie click here