Wednesday 8th April 2026. A Walk to Nostel Prior
For today’s adventure the Lads have decided to follow a countryside pathway that will hopefully lead them on to the grounds of Nostel Prior , a picturesque setting on the outskirts of Wakefield. This pathway was spotted in previous adventures to Wintersett and Anglers Lakes.
So taking advantage of a glorious sunny and rather warm spring day it would be 7 of the gang taking part in the walk, with 1 other member joining them at Nostel, that person being John Howarth.
So for John, Colin, Brian and Mark they would meet up with Glenn, Derek and Dave at Sandal/ Agbrigg Station at around 10:40. From the station they would make their way to a nearby bus stop in order to catch a 195 bus travelling towards their intended starting point, that of the countryside pathway. This journey taking about 15 minutes or so as it passes both Walton and Crofton villages on its way.
Soon the group were off the bus and trudging on the aforementioned pathway off into the unknown etc with only a rather vague map to hand. A few hundred yards into their journey and some confusion as to which new pathway to follow, a quick consultation with some oncoming walkers solved this first encounter, the next encounter came about a mile further on, this time a workmen from the nearby brickworks pointing us eventually in the right direction, so many different ways to choose from at this point in our journey.
Up to now our adventure had provided us with the great enjoyment of just being out in the countryside taking in all the aspects of this particular journey, open fields and meadows adorned with growing crops etc, birds of prey soaring high above us, then deep dense forests full of wildflowers and bird song, wonderful, even the noise of trains coming from a trackway that we encountered on our way.
Some 30 minutes later and we could hear the sound of traffic coming from the main road off in the distance, this would be the A 638 that runs between Wakefield and Doncaster, Nostel Prior is situated alongside this rather busy roadway. We eventually exited the woodland path and now found a suitably safe place to cross this road.
Another Ten minutes and we met up with John Howarth who was waiting outside the main entrance gates, all we had to do now was located one of the cafes situated in the grounds here at Nostel Prior. A large notice board soon gave us a clue, it was the Meridian Cafe just a few more steps away. This cafe was placed in a rather nice setting with a pleasant outdoor seating arrangement giving us lads time to relax, chat and enjoy our lunchtime meals sat in the glorious sunshine.
One of our main thoughts after lunch was how do we negotiate the problem of the suspended bus stop which we had encountered on our way into Nostel Prior due to extensive road works taking place. We later learned it had been moved to an appropriate location a good mile away. We solved this matter by taking up a position about 50 yards from the original bus stop and hopefully our returning bus would reluctantly stop and collect all eight of us, this did eventually happen although the driver wasn’t too keen. This particular bus was heading back to Wakefield bus station but not going via Sandal/ Agbrigg, so a slight change in our original plan. Dave and Glenn choose their appropriate stop for their journey home,the rest of the gang going as far as Wakefield bus station then taking the short walk on to the Railway Station in order to take a train heading back to Leeds.
Upon reflection this new adventure to Nostel was very rewarding even though there had been some inevitable consequences at times.
Cheers To all concerned.
