Silkstone Waggonway
Location - Pot House Hamlet, Silkstone, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S75 4JU
Distance (around) - can take a long or short walk, depending on you ability
Terrain - Variable, at points dusty and with stones, other areas were more firm
Points to note -
Parking available, free for all (see Pot House Hamlet)
Toilets including accessible available
A nice cafe which allows dogs downstairs
There is a dog shop
Be careful of cars coming and going some can be out of sight until late
This walk is in and around Pot House Hamlet, and can be a full distance of 3 1/2 mile, however due to the nature of it being an old Waggon Way it is not fully accessible. More information about the full distance walk can be found here.
The section we walked was around a mile long and was a route formed for the old Waggonway, running parallel to Silkstone Beck (albeit hidden at most parts by foliage), which was used to transport coal during 1700’s.
Starting from Pot House Hamlet we crossed the road, over the bridge and went down between the residential houses and a field to start the walk. The path is wide enough to go two abreast easily, but the surface of the ground is very unstable and made of dirt and dust, this does change throughout to be stoney at points, my scooter was able to manage well, but it does take a bit of forward thinking whilst travelling along to not get a little stuck. We essentially walked in a straight line, following the old path, at points you do come across the humps and bumps of the track, including a sign and old waggon, which does have an accompanying bench, this was intriguing to come back and read up on (see link above). If you do venture the gravel it really is a nice walk, there are some lovely views across the fields and even some sheep and cows can be seen grazing, it was lovely in the spring with the trees coming to life with the landscape changing from being enclosed by hedges and trees to walking past open fields, I don’t think it would be a suitable walk for the winter as the ground would become a mud bath pretty easily. Betty was happy enough on her extended lead, sniffing and pottering her way along, we did come across a few other walkers, and dog walkers, but all were friendly and happy to share the paths. There were a few bikes in the area, so we were on our guard a little bit, but it was a nice, slow, peaceful walk in the most parts. We weren’t sure how long the walk would last, we hadn’t done too much pre-planning so after what felt like a reasonable time we turned round and walked the same way we came, all in all it was probably an hour walk.
Other than the surface, which my scooter was ok with, it was just a little bumpy, it was a nice steady spring day walk and we would definitely go back, during the summer months.
Tip - park in Pot House Hamlet and get an ice cream on the way back.
