Aaron's Trod - 11th October 2014


Aaron's Trod - Saturday October 11th

We all met at the main car park in Thorne on a very misty morning. We had 11 walkers, 10 were members and 1 visitor.

It was Roy Turners birthday and Roy provided a small shot of port and wine to celebrate it with us and this was enjoyed by all.

Aaron led the walk and told us a little about Thorne (his own town) and showed us the site of the ancient keep (Peel Hill). We continued through the town and saw the old Kensington cinema that had been converted into a residence and appeared on the television program Grand Designs.

We continued on to the River Don and Aaron pointed out the flood defences that had been put in place by Cornelius Vermuyden our clubs namesake, to protect Thorne and drain the surrounding wetlands. We continued on walking the flood defences over the River Don via a metal Bailey bridge, to follow the Thorne Round Walk along ancient green lanes to come to the parish of Fishlake and its very grand church. We had 10 minutes here where we had our sandwiches and some had pork pies as they found the butchers shop was open.

We then continued on the flood defences, through fields and on tracks (we have to give a special mention here to Doncaster Council (the public right of way officer to be exact) when Aaron rec’d the walk, there were 2 footpaths that required a bit of maintenance, he e-mailed and the paths were cleared in time for our walk)) eventually we reached the village of Sykehouse for our pub stop at the Old George Inn, a large pub with a swimming pool, outside seating, large children’s play area and a field the size of a football pitch at the rear. After a welcome hour at the pub we continued on our way back to Thorne.

We passed through a number of fields to get back to the New Junction Canal, one had a field with horses in, when Aaron picked up a wire that went around the field he found out why the horses avoided it. *

We continued on the New Junction canal to Kirk Bramwith and its magnificent church stain glassed windows, along the Keadby canal to Stainforth and then onto Thorne.

It seemed to take a long time and Tom was sure Aaron had missed Thorne and we were on the outskirts of Selby as he seemed to recognize a house! But Aaron said he was Thorne born and bred and assured him we were entering Thorne. We continued on into Thorne and back to our start point. It was an excellent walk made more enjoyable with Aaron’s local knowledge, well done Aaron.

* And boy did he disco dance!