Great Hucklow, Windmill, Old Dam, Hargatewall, Tunstead, Wormhill, and Blackwell

This is the walk I had originally planned to do on Monday, when there would have been a lot more snow.

I travelled to Great Hucklow, walked through the village and then joined the footpath which goes alongside the road to the old mining hamlet of Windmill: there are some lovely views over to the right looking towards the north...which of course would look a lot better if the sun was shining.

After leaving Windmill I needed to walk along the road for a few minutes until I reached the ruins of High Rake Mine.

I continued along the footpath until I crossed a narrow country road and then started the gentle climb up the broken ground of Tideslow Rake.

Another short section of road followed and then I took the footpath across Tideswell Moor, arriving at the outlying farms of Old Dam before crossing the busy Buxton to Ashbourne road to the east of Peak Forest.

There's a dense network of paths here and I had to consult my map a couple of times to find my way to the top of Dam Dale.

I kept walking southwards down Dam Dale and then Hay Dale and then made my way over the fields to Hargatewall. There was nothing interesting for me to see here...neither was there at the next place I visited, Tunstead. Just out of sight though is Tunstead Quarry, the largest active limestone quarry in Europe.

It was a pleasant walk heading eastwards towards Wormhill: I arrived at the southern edge of the village.

It was then a fairly gentle descent into Cheedale, mainly grassy as well...so no slippery limestone underfoot to worry about.

[I didn't go this way in the bottom of Cheedale, but the conditions didn't look too bad.]

I was walking on grass again, a bit muddy in places though, as I climbed up the other side of the dale. It was a good physical workout for me though, my heart was beating noticeably faster and I was relatively short of breath, but I didn't need to stop on the way up, and didn't need a rest at the top.

As I was walking down the lane at Blackwell towards the bus stop I saw the TransPeak bus go by - it was frustrating at the time but there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't rushing to get to the bus stop - I wasn't expecting a bus to come along...it was running fifteen minutes late: I was expecting to have to wait forty five minutes for the next bus anyhow. I found a fence to sit on which turned out to be rather uncomfortable and used the time to write up my notes for this blog post.

Foolow, Grindlow, Great Hucklow, Windmill, and Castleton

It's only been a couple of days since my last walk in the Peak District, but the weather has been good today...and I'm feeling good too. I'm really enjoying my extra stamina and increased level of fitness since I started taking the vitamin D supplement...and I've lost 9lbs and at least an inch round my waistline. I'm on fire!

As usual, when I got off the bus at Foolow there were several cars parked close to the duck pond, spoiling the view of the church and the nearby buildings. I did my best though to get some decent angles.

For the first time I managed to look inside the tiny church, a converted blacksmith's shop.

I walked across the fields to Grindlow where I sat on this bench and ate my sandwiches. It was a bit early, but it saves carrying them I guess.

It was only a short walk along the road to Great Hucklow, where I took photographs of The Manse and giant spiders scuttling across the gable end of an old farmhouse.

Just beyond the village I discovered a lovely grassy footpath which runs parallel to the road; previously I've walked along the road, which is quite narrow in places. Sometimes the path opened up to reveal larger spaces of grassland with fantastic views to the north. An information panel explained that all these areas are the remains of old mine workings.

I quickley passed through the hamlet of Windmill and then went down the lane which leads to High Rake Mine. There are quite substantial ruins here; unfortunately the underground passages are fenced off though.

Tideslow Rake is quite an interesting landscape, and is the largest in the Peak District; it's a bit of a climb to get to the top, near to the transmitter mast.

The final few miles to Castleton were along stretches of road, across high limestone grassland and tracks constructed using limestone chippings...which can be painful to walk on after a while.

I caught the three o'clock bus back to Sheffield. About thirty minutes later, as it was climbing up the hill from Hathersage, three separate alarms sounded...they were very loud. The driver got out of the bus at the top of the hill at Fox House and checked everything he could on the vehicle - the alarms were still sounding even with the engine switched off.

He tried to contact the depot by radio, but he couldn't reach them. A rather rude passenger waiting to be let on asked what the problem was; it turned out to be an overheating engine and brakes.

The driver decided to let the waiting passengers on and proceed with caution down the hill to Sheffield. The journey was slow and the engine was misfiring and backfiring as we juddered forward; this uncomfortable motion probably compensating for the fact that the brakes might not be working.

A few miles later at Whirlow, we came into radio range and the driver was able to contact the depot; the highlight of the conversation was, 'there's a flame lit up and flashing on the dashboard...I'm not sure what it means.'

Great Hucklow, Windmill, Old Dam, Beytonsdale, and Castleton.

The guard on the train this morning announced that we would be ten minutes late leaving Doncaster due to overrunning engineering works. This meant that I'd miss the 272 bus at Sheffield, and so would have to catch a later service, to a different destination. After checking my bus timetables, which were still wet after last week's soaking on the Great Ridge, I decided to catch the 65 and start my walk from Great Hucknall. Fortunately there was plenty of room, and even a table, for me to re-fold my map en route. There was plenty of time at Sheffield Midland Station to visit the toilets and pop into the Sainbury's shop there and buy something extra to eat. All I could find was a packet of Welsh cakes; I've never tried these before, in fact, until today I'd never heard of them. They looked a bit like Derby scones, which I think are delicious (never served as part of a cream tea though). Later in the day I was to find out that they didn't taste that much like Derby scones; they were much lighter and not as buttery...but did contain more currants. There were six in the pack and I ate them all; so I must have enjoyed them.

I got off the bus as planned at Great Hucknall and walked through the village, then along the road and a path that goes parallel to the road, until I reached the hamlet of Windmill. There were some pretty views along this section; spoiled somewhat by the poor visibility though. A few hundred yards beyond Windmill there's a gate which is the access to High Rake. Almost immediately there are the ruins of High Rake Mine, with a detailed information board, and a bench facing northwards to  appreciate the view of  Hucklow Edge over to the east. It was 10:45 by now and so the cricket commentary was just beginning: time for my sandwiches and a rummage in my rucksack for my radio. As I ate my sandwiches and Welsh cakes, England got off to a bad start for the day; they did easily win the test match against New Zealand by mid-afternoon though.

Here's a photograph of part of the information board at High Rake Mine; the part with the largest lettering.

I continued walking along High Rake and then crossed a narrow country lane and took the path that continued in the same direction. I was now walking along, and sometimes in the bottom of, Tideslow Rake. This is a very prominent, and impressive landscape feature, the largest in the Peak District I think. Here are two photographs I took, facing both directions, to try and show how large it is, stretching for over a mile - all dug by hand I should think.

  

When I was in the bottom of the rake I heard the sound of a loud engine and looked up to see a low-flying light aircraft; a very small one - a very flimsy single-seater.

After reaching the end of Tideslow Rake I walked along the road for a short distance and then took a path across the field, and then a single track lane, to Old Dam. I continued along this lane to reach Beytonsdale, a hamlet I hadn't visited before.

I took another path leading uphill across more fields and then reached the road, right next to Eldon Quarry. Just before reaching the quarry I saw an eviscerated frog on the grass.

I walked along the old quarry road and then along the section of the Limestone Way which leads down Cave Dale into Castleton. 

As I was approaching Castleton the weather rapidly improved, as you can tell  from this picture I took at the bottom end of Cave Dale, only about a hundred yards from Castleton's market place.

The bus was waiting in at the bus station; service number 273 which goes to Sheffield via the Ladybower Reservoir and the Upper Derwent Valley. The journey back to Sheffield was lovely, especially the section when the bus travels the entire length of the reservoir's upper arm to the visitor centre at Fairholmes. The last time I was here I was in a car with two friends from Leeds listening to Wagner on the CD player...and that was even better. 

I had time to get a cup of tea at Sheffield railway station; however I had to stand on the train, struggling with my drink as it slurped about in the plastic cup. I had a bit of an accident as the train turned sharply to the right just beyond Swinton station when what should have been a sip of scolding hot tea ended up inside my nostrils. Strangely, the hot tea didn't seem to drain back out from my nostrils though.

Tideswell, Windmill, Little Hucklow and Bradwell.

Today has been the second day of the Bakewell Show and since all the roads leading to the town would be very busy I decided to catch a bus that stayed well away; the number 65 to Buxton, and got off at Tideswell.

Tideswell is such a pretty little town at this time of the year; there are flowers everywhere, hanging baskets, containers and troughs decorating nearly every building.

I wandered around the streets and alleyways for about twenty minutes and then set off down a country lane in a northerly direction. I soon arrived at the Baslow to Chapel-en-le-Frith road. The road was very busy and so I hurried along the next section of the walk until I reached the footpath that leads towards Tideslow Rake - this is the best example of this type of landscape feature I've seen so far. A rake is a man-made linear feature in the landscape; a series of old surface mine workings following the line of a mineral seam or vein; excavations down to the bare rock and grass-covered spoil heaps.

A bit further on there's a less obvious rake, High Rake, with fabulous views to the north and east though; all the way to Lose Hill, Win Hill and the Hope Valley.

I then arrived at Windmill, a hamlet I've not visited before, and then walked across grassy fields to Little Hucklow.

Next I walked to the north across fields again and then along the road in Bradwell Dale. The views towards Bradwell Edge are impressive here, and I enjoyed watching several paragliders launching themselves into the air off the edge, and then spiralling upwards as they caught the thermals.

(This photograph was actually taken looking in the other direction though.)

Since it's now the school holidays the 15:09 bus from Bradwell goes all the way to Sheffield - I arrived in the village just in time to catch it.