Remembering Eddie

 Wednesday 24th September 2025.            Remembering Eddie 

Today brings our annual return to Golden Acre Park, a favourite haunt of our dear departed friend Eddie, he spent many hours here taking in the aspects of the wild bird life population that set up home here in close proximity to the lakes and woodland areas. 

It would be 9 of the Lads that participate in our journey today, those being Keith, John, Derek, Dave, Brian , Colin, Don, Mark and Russ who slowly made their way through the park and on to one of the Bird Hides ,once here we will take more than a few minutes, individually and collectively in remembering Eddie and the antics he got up to whilst venturing out with us.

 

Dave has put together a photo slide show that we were able to look at and reminisce about, adding to the poignant moment we were sharing etc.

 Slowly we moved on a little further through the woodland before making a return journey back towards the on-site cafe and purchase a drink and snack, along with this, other various conversations took place about future events as per usual . We eventually said farewell to Golden Acre Park at about 2pm and then made our respective journeys homeward bound.

I think we all appreciated this visit.

Cheers Everyone 

The Worsborough Wonderers

 Wednesday 17th September 2025.       The Worsborough Wonderers

It was off to pastures new for the Lads today with an adventure that would take them to the location of Worsborough, a sprawling village on the outskirts of Barnsley. Their means of getting there would be by both rail and bus journeys etc. Those taking part would be John, Brian, Colin and Mark travelling from Leeds with Derek, Dave and Glenn joining them at Wakefield arriving at Barnsley about 11:15.

From Barnsley they will take a short bus ride to their intended destination that of the Worsborough Mill, a relic from a past life that now sits adjacent to the reservoir that was constructed to supply water to the nearby Dearn and Dove Canal. Nature trails have been now established around the reservoir perimeter so the Lads are taking advantage of these and hopefully won’t get lost as they venture along.

Overnight rain as not dampened their spirits so it was best foot forward yet again and take in what this particular location as to offer, before not too long they came across a few interesting things giving the opportunity to take a photograph or two etc.

The pathway is leading them through woodland with a stream running close by, they eventually cross over this stream by a wooden bridge before heading off into a more larger forested area, the underfoot conditions are a little muddy in various parts but are not causing any problems as the lads ventured on, after almost an hour of walking they decided to take a rest and gather their thoughts asking a local resident if they are heading in the right direction for the return journey towards the mill, we may have travelled a little bit further than our planned route suggested, a few more hundred yards would lead us to a cart track that would enable us to rejoin the reservoir perimeter pathway at some point, by now the sun as broken through the clouds and feels rather warm to us as we shed a few layers of clothing enabling a more comfortable approach to the rest of our journey towards the on site cafe adjacent to the old mill complex.

 

Some 30 minutes later and we are sat inside the cafe and enjoying our lunchtime meals and as per usual the conversation turns to future plans etc. 

It’s soon time to bid a hasty farewell to the cafe and it’s surroundings and head for the nearby bus stop, at this point a little confusion ensues with two of our group heading for the wrong bus stop which is further down the road therefore missing our intended bus back to Barnsley, we did eventually all meet up at the railway station in order to catch the 15:14 train heading for Wakefield and Leeds

Upon reflection today’s adventure was most pleasurable and delightful even with the odd mishaps.

Cheers Everyone.

Skipton Story

 Wednesday 10th September 2025.          Skipton Story

Today would see six of the Lads travel to the North Yorkshire town of Skipton, their intention is to take a scenic route through the Legendary Castle Woods. It will be John, Dave, Brian, Colin, Glenn and Mark that participate in this adventure, all meeting up at about 11:15 at the railway station in the town.

The Lads were expecting rain at some point in their journey, but fortune favours the brave, so it is said. Now it was best foot forward up to the canal towpath and follow it for a short distance towards the towns hub, their first intention was to search out the famous pie shop and purchase each one’s choices etc.

 

From this point it was over the road and connect up with the pathway leading up to the Castle Woods, on our way spotting various forms of what Mother Nature as to offer us, birds, butterflies and a babbling stream, all in the shadows of the Castle Ramparts. Moments later and we were into the woodland and exploring what it had to offer etc, a couple of wicker structures in the form of a medieval huntress and a forest stag, photo opportunities taken at these locations.

 

Along our way we found a suitable place to rest for a while and consume our pie shop purchases whilst attempting to feed a few ducks that were swimming around in a nearby lake. Onwards now and further into the woods we ventured before beginning our return journey around its perimeter footpath  leading us back towards the castle grounds, by this time we had covered almost 3 plus miles of walking , half a mile further and we were back in the town centre and in search of an ice cream parlour and take a well deserved break from walking.

 

As we sat here in the parlour we began to discuss future adventures and try and put some sort of plans together,  as per usual with some modicum of success achieved. Now with the clock heading towards 2:20 it was off to the railway station in order to catch our returning trains homeward bound etc.

Upon reflection today’s outing proved to be a successful one for all concerned 

Cheers Everyone.

Birthday Bash

 Wednesday 3rd September 2025.                Birthday Bash

Today would see 9 of the Lads converge at a location known as Stanley Ferry, a canal side spot close to the city of Wakefield., so not too far for some of the group to travel, whilst for others it was a train and bus ride etc.

A rendezvous time of 11:20 had been arranged, so it would be John, Colin, Brian, Mark, Keith, Derek, Glenn, Dave and birthday boy Russ that would take part in today’s adventure, which would weather permitting, include a short canal side walk followed afterwards with a lunchtime meal in the nearby hostelry celebrating Russ’s birthday of course 

By 11:30 and formal greetings exchanged our adventure began, not long into our walk and Russ decided to give us all a local history lesson about this particular area, he spent most of his youth here in Stanley. So his knowledge was boundless to say the least, he briefly explained the workings of this section of the canal and pointed out the accessibility it gave to nearby industries, mainly coal mining and quarrying etc, some features of these are still visible, muck stacks and very deep lakes.

From the canal side our walk now took us through nearby woodland and eventually to an open meadow which in previous days had been part of a local farm, only ruins of its existence remain now.

At some point during this particular stretch of our walk we somehow managed to get separated into two groups, one taking the left track and the others taking the right at a particular junction, however we did manage to relocate each other at a crossing bridge by the canal, from here we followed the towpath back towards our lunchtime destination the Stanley Ferry Pub.This is where we enjoyed our choice of meals while discussing future adventures and outings, we eventually got round to singing the customary birthday song along with a few other customers joining in Cheers Russ.

We had been fortunate that the predicted heavy rain showers had not reached this location yet, so our short walk was able to be extended somewhat,  much to our pleasure, I think we all throughly enjoyed ourselves today. It was just as we were saying farewell to Stanley Ferry that the heavens open and down came the rain at a few minutes past 2pm.  by this time we were in our cars and almost on the bus on our ways home.

A Big thanks to all especially Russ

Cheers Everyone 

Goit Stock Gamble

 Wednesday 20th August 2025.               Goit Stock Gamble

The gamble was, whether or not we would catch the little Green Bus, that would whisk us from the town of Bingley up towards Wilsden and beyond. Time is of the essence for this adventure, with only a few minutes leeway between our train arriving in Bingley and the said bus leaving the train station. It would be just 5 of the Lads taking part in this challenge so to speak, Derek, Dave, Brian coming from Leeds and Mark heading from Menston, John was already at Bingley and there to spur us on, little did he imagine what a tight schedule ensued, ie, Derek had missed the so called early train to Bingley and the one he was on was some 10 /12 minutes delayed , would he arrive in time, or would it be “plan B” fortunately for us the little Green Bus was behind schedule as well and with a little persuasion from John the driver eventually waited for us all to climb on board, Relief to us all. 

We now sat back in our seats, caught our breath and began to smile at each other,then before not too long we were off the bus and at the beginning of our intended walk here on the outermost reaches of Wilsden.  It was just about 11 o’clock now and feeling a little cool a far cry from last week’s adventure, nevertheless we were soon in to our stride and heading along the country lanes heading for Goit Stock Woods etc.

John said he had previous knowledge of this section of the walk, but soon found himself scratching his head and wondering which pathway we should take, eventually common sense kicked in and he asked someone. We were soon pointed in the right direction and over our first stile of which there were many that had to be negotiated along this particular route, a little taxing at times but well worth the effort, peaceful countryside views to one side and woodlands on the other. This pathway continued for another mile or so before we came to the main road and a nearby bus stop enabling us to catch a returning ride back  to Bingley.

It was about ten past one as we entered the cafe we had chosen here in Bingley, the Loft was it’s name, we have eaten here before on a couple of occasions and were well pleased with the outcome this time as well, great choice of food served with very accommodating staff, most pleasing to say the least. We spent a good hour in this establishment chatting about various upcoming events and adventures we anticipate partaking in, a visit to Stanley Ferry, possibly a walk at Otley and another at Worsborough. All good stuff and more.

Cheers Everyone.