Thurgoland Boundary Walk

I’ve managed to walk the 9 mile Thurgoland Boundary Walk today, which felt like quite an achievement as I’ve not done any longer walks for a while. (I was very tired by the end, especially as the longest hill came towards the end of the walk.  Hill being a relative term you understand).  I set off with our Parish Council paths person as we needed to pre-walk the route before the actual event which takes place on Monday.  We didn’t have to go far before we got to our first problem area where the horses have churned up a field entrance including the track between two fields.  So we talked about a short re-route along the road which has it’s problems as there are likely to be a 100+ people taking part.  It’s not a very busy road but at times people drive down hill at a fair lick!  We also encountered a temporary obstacle on a field entrance which was difficult to move.  (Not acceptable on a Public Right of Way.). We tried knocking on the door of the bungalow at the top of the hill but no one was home.  We need to set another member of the Parish Council on to solve this problem as he lived close by at one time.  Not much time to solve this one though!  Unfortunately my companion was suffering footwear problems and we said goodbye at The Travellers where she waited to be picked up.  I meanwhile carried on.  There’s a lovely stretch of the walk along the banks of the River Don which is where I spotted the Greater Stitchwort. There were also bluebells emerging but these weren’t quite as far out as the ones in the wood - see extra. But my stars of the walk were the butterflies that have emerged into the sun: Orange Tip males, Peacocks and a solitary Comma.