Newret two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Newret here.

A fairly straightforward and direct route. The southern half is very enjoyable, and the road walking is all either on pavements or fairly quiet roads, so seemed safe enough to me. No stiles, but plenty of gates and some narrow paths and rough ground that might be difficult for wheelchairs, buggies and mobility scooters.

From the New Ollerton meeting point, we head east a short distance along Forest Road, which is easiest to cross at the pelican crossing just beyond Briar Road. We then follow Briar Road, Walesby and Whinney Road out of the town. Beyond the houses Whinney Lane has no pavements but is quiet. We then head into Boughton Brake, a lovely area of woodland - our route through it is easy to follow as the paths are in wide clearings.

A short section of road walking takes us to another good path, which heads north roughly parallel to the river Maun. This starts as a good if slightly sandy path, but further on there are muddy spots and areas churned up by heavy forestry machinery. The Robin Hood Way joins us from the right, and my original plan was to follow it down to the Maun/Meden bridge. This plan was thwarted by a large flooded area across the path. Fortunately I met a couple of local dog walkers who showed my a diversion using unofficial forest paths that takes you round the east end of the flooded area, then doubles back on a good raised path to the bridge where the Bothamsall path starts.

This path starts grassy and indistinct, but becomes a wide track where it heads east, initially along the edge of the wood and then across a large field. We cross the Meden and head uphill into Bothamsall (no facilities here). We head right along Main Street then continue along Church Street, which becomes a bridleway beyond the last houses. We rejoin the Robin Hood Way as we pass a large farm, then cross fields on good tracks towards a house on the edge of another wood, which we skirt on the left. The path through the wood is fairly easy to follow as long as you note the two junctions - we go left at the first and right at the second, to find a bridge over the river Poulter and the field path up to Brough Lane. Here we go left a few steps, then leave the Robin Hood Way on an unsignposted but fairly well trodden path that takes us into Elkesley. There is a pub off route further right down High Street.

Our route takes us left out of the village on a good pavement/cycle track. The pavement continues on Coalpit Lane, which we cross just beyond the junction with Elkesley Bridge Road, which has a good pavement on the west/south side as far as the second roundabout. The pavement ends at a bus stop just beyond this roundabout, but fortunately Jockey Lane is fairly quiet and has a verge that can be used if necessary. Old London Road has clearly seen better days - it is now a quiet narrow single track road.

We leave the route just before a house on the right, following a good farm track (I got a little wet here, which was welcome on a hot afternoon, as the water sprinkler in the adjacent field was overshooting the hedge). The route into the farmyard is signposted, but the path into the trees on the far side may take a bit of spotting. We then cross a couple of arable fields and follow more field edges down to the railway, where we turn right and enter a golf course. Since we always take the paths nearest the railway there are no navigation issues here. Beyond the golf course our path follows a green strip between a housing estate and the railway, and the final section is tarmacked.

We cross Ordsall Road and turn left, then right up Northumbria Drive then left on a signposted footpath that passes through a water works between fences then enters the Sandhills green space, where we take the first path right, following it to Manvers Road. We then turn left onto West Carr Road (stay on the left side until you see the footbridge). The ramped bridge takes us over the East Coast Main Line railway and we follow Pelham Road out to the bridge over the Chesterfield Canal. We continue straight on across fields to join West Street by an Asda supermarket, then turn left up Carolgate to the meeting place in the Market Square. [Having done this final section last year, I missed it out yesterday, opting to turn right at Asda to head for the railway station.]

Most of this walk is enjoyable - my only concern is that the detour used to avoid the flooded section of the Robin Hood Way uses forest paths that are not designated rights of way, and although these are well trodden and easy to follow, there is evidence that attempts have been made to block them. A slightly longer alternative would be to follow the Robin Hood Way east and miss out Bothamsall.

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