Saturday, November 10, 2018

Castleton, Old Dam, and Beytonsdale

Northern Trains is still running a limited service every Saturday until the end of the year due to an ongoing strike; all other services are running normally though. For the last few Saturdays I haven't risked travelling to Sheffield on the train because I thought I might have to wait for quite a while - not particularly a problem when setting off, but not nice on the return journey if my muscles are stiffening up as I'm waiting for a train on the platform at Sheffield...it's bad enough having to sit in a confined space on the bus...at least I can stand up or walk up and down on the train.

A train departing for Sheffield was already on the platform when I arrived at Doncaster Station this morning; it started moving before I could run up the steps two at a time though so I had half an hour to wait for the next one: I only had a couple of minutes to wait coming back home. Both my trains today were operated by Northern Trains and on the second train there were three ticket inspectors - maybe it's a new tactic being tried by staff in their industrial dispute.

The church bells in Castleton were ringing for nine o'clock as I passed by.


I headed straight for Cavedale, where the Limestone Way starts. 



Although it was sunny, because Cavedale is deep and narrow, it was still in the shade this early in the morning, but Peveril Castle on the top of the crag wasn't.







Further up the dale as I walked past a blocked up entrance to one of the old mines I could hear the noise of machinery in operation, maybe a pump or a ventilation fan...I've not noticed that before.

Not far from the top of Cavedale I had a chat with a couple of mountainbikers who had decided to push their bikes, rather than ride down.

I left the Limestone Way and took a path which runs at the side of Oxlow Rake until I reached Old Dam. I turned right and walked along the road leading to Perryfoot and took the second path leading back northwards, just beyond Beytonsdale.

I then turned right again along the old quarry road, with good views looking down into the quarry - by now it was cloudy and not very good for taking photographs.



It was an easy walk across the grasslands all the way back to Castleton, apart from the final few yards which consist of a very steep slippery descent which I partially did on my backside...I didn't stumble or slip, I decided this was the easiest, quickest, and safest way to get down the hill.

It had been drizzling for awhile when I got down into the village, a bus was due and so I got on it. This gave me plenty of time to do some shopping in town and then phone up the box office at Leeds Grand Theatre and book some tickets when I got home.



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