Tideswell, Miller's Dale, Taddington, Monsal Head, and Ashford-in-the-Water

Today's walk was the route I'd planned to do on Sunday which I had to change because of the two hours delay on the train. Apart from the bus from Ashford-in-the-Water to Bakewell that was ten minutes there were no other problems on public transport.

I used the toilets at Tideswell and then took the most direct route out the village, up onto the fields and then along various lanes to reach Miller's Dale. 

After passing under the twin viaducts at Miller's Dale and walking along the road for a few minutes I found my next bridleway, which went uphill towards Taddington. I briefly chatted with a small group of cavers along this section who were checking and preparing their equipment; I looked and there is a cavern shown at this location on the map. I walked through Taddington and then took the footpath going down to the car park at Lees Bottom on the A6 trunk road.

I crossed over the road; there's a bus stop here and so I just checked what time the bus arrives at Ashford, before continuing along the footpath at the side of the river until I reached Monsal Head. I managed to get my best photograph of the weir in Monsal Dale so far.

I climbed up to Monsal Head without stopping; I was a bit out of breath when I reached the top...but that's not too bad - I quickly recovered and continued on to Ashford-in-the-Water. By the time I got there the weather had turned quite nasty; a heavy hail shower and a cold, piercing wind; it had been mostly sunny with an occasional short, light shower of sleet or snow up until this point. The weather got even worse though as the Sheffield bus reached the highest point on its route at Owler Bar, we were caught up in a heavy snow shower...and the snow was starting to settle on the ground.

A mother and son couple [I think] who had got on at Baslow travelled all the way to Totley before realising that the bus wasn't going to Bakewell. and they obviously got off as soon as they were aware of their mistake. The son, who appeared to be charge, didn't seem to understand that they needed to cross the road in order to catch a bus back to Bakewell going in the other direction...he seemed rather distressed, and his mother confused. Yet another example of how having to scan free travel passes rather than state your destination is causing problems for some vulnerable elderly and disabled people.

Blacka Moor, Robin Hood, and Baslow.

As the bus was climbing up towards Fox House this morning I was surprised at how much snow still remained from last week. I didn't travel all the way to Fox House though, I got off at Blacka Moor and walked along the footpath through woodland which parallels the road, being just the other side of a high wall. After only a few minutes I noticed two memorial plaques; one commemorating the centenary of the South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire area of the Cyclists' Touring Club in 1978, and the other which had been placed a few yards further on by the Sheffield and South Pennines Topographical Society a year earlier.

I soon left the wood and then took the track which initially runs alongside the western boundary of the wood, but then crosses open countryside. I could see the highest point of the moor, and so headed for it, having a bit of fun on the way in a deep snowdrift which had survived in a sheltered hollow.

This location probably wasn't the highest land in the immediate area because I reached the Trig Point on Totley Moor.

By now I was walking along a substantial track which eventually led down to the road at a gas pumping station of some sort, just a few hundred yards west of Owler Bar.

I crossed the road and followed the path which cuts across the north-eastern corner of Big Moor; the chimneys and roof of the house associated with the old reservoir soon came into view. As I passed the building I observed that it looked as though it was occupied: although its location is extremely isolated, it does have a good metalled road leading to it.

I passed by the house and continued following the track southwards, occasionally crossing the Bar Brook using well-built stone bridges. Along this section I spotted a man who looked like he was picking berries; I can't imagine what they might be at this time of year...he was certainly regularly bending down though and placing something into a small transparent plastic bag.

Maybe half an hour later I arrived at the Baslow road, crossed over it and continued along a well-defined path across access land. This led me to a stretch of country road which I had walked along only two weeks earlier, I think. After only a few yards I noticed some bamboo canes stuck in the ground next to a roadside wall; I went closer to investigate and discovered that several fruiting or flowering bushes had been deliberately planted, and staked.

Another few minutes and I was at a crossroads and climbed over a stile (or possibly walked through a gate - I can't remember) onto more access land and took a path which was leading towards Birchen Edge. I soon caught up with, and passed , a couple who were being very careful in picking their routes across the boggy ground. I surmised that they didn't want to get too muddy because they were probably going to visit the Robin Hood Inn.

I reached the base of the Edge and soon found a way to scramble to the top and obtain my first view of Nelson's Monument, and a few yards away, the Three Ships: prominent boulders inscribed with the names of three of Nelson's most famous ships, Victory, Defiance, and Royal Soverin.

It was a quite difficult descent down to the main Chesterfield road, passing by the Robin Hood Inn and being wary of the traffic on my steady walk down into Baslow, where I had time to enjoy a hot Cornish pasty before catching the bus.

Blacka Moor, Totley, Holmesfield Common, Horseleygate, and Baslow.

I got off the bus just before the National Park boundary sign and walked down through Blacka Plantation. I had soon escaped from the noise of the quite busy road and was among dappled light, birdsong and the sound of a babbling brook on a pleasantly warm and windless day in early Spring.

Once I'd cleared this wooded stretch I was walking along undulating tracks and country lanes with panoramic views eastwards towards Totley and various other suburbs of Sheffield.

I actually walked past some outlying farms and houses which are probably part of Totley, possibly a location marked as 'Totley Bents' on the map.

A few minutes later I reached the road that goes to Owler Bar, walked along it for a while and then soon took the footpath which goes around the back of the bus terminus/turnaround  and through Gillfield Wood, I think it's called. Along this section I noticed a couple of benches with names carved into them, and the lettering 'Community 10,000' - it probably refers to a community arts project of some sort; although I can't find any mention of it online.

I ended up walking further east than I had intended; my path wasn't clearly marked, and I arrived at a small car park reserved for wheelchair users at one of the entrances to Holmesfield Park Wood. I soon spotted the fingerpost sign for a footpath which went along the edge of the wood all the way to Holmesfield Common.

I then took the country lane which leads to the hamlet of Horseleygate, taking a bit of a detour down into a small valley and back up through a very tidy mobile homes site in order to avoid walking along a stretch of metalled road.

I then took a short, steep footpath down to the Millthorpe road, crossed it,  and continued down into a very pleasant grassy dale where many yellow, buttercup-like flowers were in bloom.

A short dead-straight stretch of a track called Car Road was next, and then a footpath alongside a stream, gradually walking uphill until I reached bracken moorland and the road quite near to the car park for Shillito Wood.

I walked along the road which leads to the main Baslow road, took a path across more open moorland, crossed another country lane and walked along the track which passes by Wellington's Monument and eventually becomes Bar Road which descends steeply down into Baslow Nether End; where I bought the best ice cream I've tasted in  many years - lemon curd flavour...and I could certainly taste the sharpness of the lemon. It was produced by a local company: Bradwell's of Bradwell.