Rothoo two

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Walked from Hooton Roberts to Doncaster. A good route, though Mousehole Lane is unsurfaced, muddy and steep in places. I think it has dried a little since January as the deep mud was all easily avoidable.

From Hooton Roberts it is best to stay on the north side of Sheffield Road, which has a continuous pavement. Take care at the junction with Kilnhurst Road and when crossing to the entrance of the Thrybergh Reservoir country park. There is a cafe and toilets here (not the middle third of the route yet though). The walk round the reservoir is well surfaced popular and scenic, and I agree that it is the best thing on this route. We leave the crowds to go straight on on another surfaced path into Thrybergh, where the street route has a shop - there is also a slightly shorter footpath option here. We have to cross Hollings Road, which may need a little care, and the start of Mousehole Lane is not signposted, and is on the edge of a car park.

The lane is unsurfaced and quite muddy, and evidently very popular with motorbikes (fortunately I didn't meet any). The initial section is quite steep and might be tricky in wet or icy conditions. The burnt out car was still there, but though there was plenty of mud it was all well below the top of my boots. Another short pavement walk is followed by a surfaced track that starts by a playground. Beyond the stream crossing the surfaced? path is under a large puddle, so most walkers seem to ignore it at this point. We then go quite steeply uphill to Dalton Lane. From here we are mostly on pavements with good safe crossings of the major roads.

Highlights of this section were the spacious Broadway (East) and the crossing of Clifton Park. We also pass a couple more shops. Beyond the park we continue on pavements into the centre of Rotherham then head right through the pedestrianised streets by the Minster to reach the meeting point by the bus station. For the most part this is a pleasant and enjoyable walk.

From Sheffield you can get to the start of this route by train, bus or tram. I was pleasantly surprised by Rotherham, as both the town centre, with its magnificent, elevated minster, and the suburbs we walked through were very nice, especially Clifton Park. There are loos here if you arrive at the right time of year, when the children’s play area is open.

There is a longish walk through residential areas before you get to open country, after which wellies are good if there’s been a lot of rain. There is quite a steep bit during this section where the track is rutted and muddy, and although we didn’t see anyone, it looked as though some less than wholesome car-related activities had been carried out here. There’s a dodgy road crossing at the top of this slope, after which there’s a short walk through some residential roads, including a well-hidden footpath between the backs of houses.

After a short walk between fields, you come to Thrybergh Reservoir, which is a great location for bird spotters! This was my favourite part of the walk, in spite of the fact that we didn’t stop at the cafe. On leaving the park however, you have to cross a fast road and then walk up the narrow pavement along this road for about a mile. Your reward is to arrive at The Earl of Strafford in the hamlet of Hooton Roberts, where a very nice pub lunch can be had!.

We headed through the shopping centre of Rotherham and past the Minster, before walking through the pleasant Clifton Park. A string of off-road suburban paths, wide residential streets, and a surfaced path at Dalton eventually led us to a muddy path alongside a stream at Thrybergh, with quite a rural feel.
There was a steep and muddy climb up to the road from here, with an abandoned burnt-out car! However, the view back from the top was good.
We passed beneath a disused railway, and were soon heading towards Thrybergh Reservoir. This was the highlight of the walk, with a good path all round it, plentiful wildfowl, and a café at the end.
This was followed by the lowlight of the walk – nearly a mile of walking along the narrow pavement of a busy road, where conversation was very difficult due to traffic noise and having to walk single file. I’m so glad we didn’t walk Rothoo One, which I guess is just lots more of this. I prefer walking a bit further to avoid huge amounts of road traffic.
I’m torn between 3* and 4* for this route, but I’m going for 4* because it had a nice mixture of environments and I can’t spot any practical alternative to the road at the end.

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