Cutthroat Bridge To Hope.

I got off the bus and walked alongside the road for a couple of minutes until I reached the stile for the access land on Bamford Moor. For the first half a mile or so the route was a track, but I soon broke off to the right, walking over dead bracken, down into Jarvis Clough. This was easy today, but at the height of summer when the bracken is taller than me, this won't be the case. 

I jumped across the beck and climbed up the other side of Jarvis Clough. As I reached the top I caught my first glimpse of the water in Ladybower Reservoir: further on, the views were lovely.

At just about the most inaccessible point of today's walk I came across this notice:

I'm not sure what someone with a dog is supposed to do when they read this; kill their dog maybe? I didn't see any canine carcasses though.

The path then gradually descended towards the road. I first had to pass by a phalanx of tree monsters guarding the approaches to a magical forest inhabited by grotesque goblins from a Central European fairytale.

I have never seen so many twisted and contorted trees in the same place; every one of them was like this.

A few minutes later I reached the road, right at the side of the commemorative monument, and then continued down to the foot of the dam wall, crossing over the River Derwent on the road bridge. I then climbed up past the old railway, walking through woodland and meadows: my friend Justin disturbed me as I was lying on the grass enjoying the sunshine, phoning me to tell me about a change of plan for our regular pub meeting in town next week.

The last couple of miles was a steady downhill walk across fields. Both of the cafés in Hope were full; there were no empty seats inside or outside, so I popped in to one of the tea rooms for a quick pot of tea and a Bakewell tart before catching the bus back to Sheffield.

It was quite a brief walk today; the best of the weather had passed by one o'clock, as forecast, my knee was hurting me a bit, and I was tired after a late night last night, meeting up with friends in Leeds.