From The Archives: Baslow

Baslow, and Baslow Nether End in particular, is a popular place for me to start and end walks. It's situated at the northern entrance to Chatsworth Park and it's the obvious place to finish a walk along the tops of the dramatic Eastern Edges. It's easy to reach from Sheffield, with two buses an hour and the journey only takes 45 minutes. There are public toilets at Nether End, and in my opinion the Café on the Green serves the best Bakewell pudding in the Peak District.

The photograph I've selected was taken next to one of the old quarries just above Baslow. I love Highland cattle; they are so docile...and love to be photographed, always posing for the camera.

Scawsby, Cusworth Hall, Sprotbrough, and Conisbrough

I had planned to end the walk at Mexborough, but I decided to cut it short at Conisbrough because my camera battery went flat; I'm a bit mad about this because when I checked this morning there was no 'low battery' indicator showing. A major part of a walk for me is taking photographs, so I lose a lot of the enjoyment if I'm not able to do this; there are a lot of interesting things to photograph walking along the river from Conisbrough to Mexborough; old railway structures and canal locks; I'll have to shoot them the next time.

I got off the bus at 'Teeside Close at Scawsby. 'Teeside' isn't close to anywhere at all though because it doesn't exist; there is no 'River Tee' anywhere in the country...the name of the street is a spelling mistake. It used to make me feel quite angry seeing something like this, knowing that I would never a mistake like this, having a keen interest in, and detailed knowledge of,  both geography and the English language. I like to think I would have made an excellent proofreader, editor, copywriter, or technical writer, but it never happened because of my Asperger's syndrome...and the lack of opportunities that I've had. I just felt sad this morning as I was taking the photograph; if you're reading my blog in the United Kingdom there's a good chance that through your taxes you're helping to pay my benefits and pay for my support package from social services; maybe you're the one who ought to be getting mad.

It's only a walk of a couple of minutes to the gatehouse at Cusworth Hall.

I approached the house along the driveway and took some photographs of both the front and the back of the house, although I'm not sure which is which.

It started raining as I was walking across the fields to Sprotbrough; although there were a few sunny intervals during the rest of the walk, it rained as often as it didn't - not quite as the weather forecast predicted.

As I was approaching 'The Square' I noticed that a group of cyclists had gone inside the wine bar, somewhere I've not patronised myself before when on a walk; but if cyclists are going in, I thought that I might as well give it a try. It's lovely inside; very unusual decor, tabletops made out of hundreds of corks from different varieties of wine from all over the world, and empty wine bottles used as lampshades on the walls...very romantic for an evening meal I should imagine. I ordered a pot of tea and a slice of very heavy and sticky chocolate cake which was delicious. I did end up having a bit of an accident though, a very loud accident involving the lid of the teapot and loose leaf tea being hurled into my face and hair.

I scurried out of  the wine bar and crossed the road to take some photographs of the church.

I then went down the hill towards the river, and as I was crossing over the bridge I noticed that the Wyre Lady was getting ready to start a Christmas party cruise up the river to Mexborough, and back.

It started raining again as I approached the fish pass, or 'fish ladder' as I tend to call it. I took a photograph of the newly installed piece of sculpture.

It took me quite a few minutes to reach somewhere suitable to shelter from the rain, a partially blocked up tunnel going beneath the railway. I ate my sandwiches here as I waited for it to stop raining. 

Within only a few minutes of it stopping raining it turned out to be quite bright and I thought I'd get some decent photographs, but when I tried to take a short piece of video of the Wyre Lady returning along the river I got a 'low battery' error message. I managed to take another three or four photographs after this point and then the camera went dead....so I decided to go for the quickest way to get to the road the comes out of Conisbrough and catch one of the frequent buses back into town.

From The Archives: Bradwell

Bradwell is the village where my favourite ice cream company is based, interestingly the company's called Bradwell's. Their lemon curd flavoured ice cream is delicious.

The village itself isn't particularly attractive, but it is surrounded by some lovely countryside, and is easy for me to reach - so I quite often will start or finish a walk here. There are all the basic facilities in the village, toilets, shops...and of course, the ice cream parlour.

The photograph I've selected shows the start of one of the footpaths that leads up to the hills above the village; it's a steep climb in places.

Peak District vs North York Moors

Something that I've known for a long time is that the area of the Peak District National Park and that of the North York Moors National Park is almost the same, 555 square miles, compared to 554.

This is certainly something the two areas have in common. I can't really think of anything else though; certainly the landscape, geography and culture is quite different - I suppose they both have, to a degree, a shared industrial heritage though.

The major differences: The North York Moors includes a section of coastline; more people live in, and visit, the Peak District; public transport access is much better in the Peak District; there is well-dressing and Hallamshire carolling in the Peak District...they might have similar cultural events in the North York Moors, but I don't know.

I've walked in both national parks...but obviously know the Peak District much better.

Some Unusual Place Names

Yesterday there was a comment posted to the blog from a lady in America remarking how much she loves the place names that I feature. This has given me an idea; write a post about place names - I've got nothing any better to do today, the weather's miserable and because of the course of antibiotics that I'm taking I'm feeling quite drowsy most of the time, and so wouldn't be out walking even if the weather was nice.

This is only a short list of the more striking or unusual place names I can remember at the moment:

Cakes of Bread: A rock formation on Derwent Edge - they really do look like cakes of bread...from every angle.

Chrome Hill: Unfortunately it's not made of chrome, or even looks anything like it. In this case 'Chrome' is derived from the Celtic word for 'crooked.' it's quite a distinctive hill though; I haven't visited it yet, it's difficult for me to reach. I saw it in the far distance when I was walking a few months ago in upper Dovedale with Chris, my friend from Leeds.

Coach and Horses: Another rock formation, also on Derwent Edge. It's supposed to look like a coach and horses from one particular angle. I've obviously not viewed the rocks from that angle yet because whenever I've seen them they look like nothing in particular at all.

Cutthroat Bridge; A popular location for me to start a walk from due to it being on a bus route. I think it got its name because of a gruesome event in the eighteenth century when a stagecoach was attacked by highwaymen. More recently, in the 1980s, a partially decapitated body was found in the boot of a car here.

Glutton: A village, or hamlet, over on the western side of the Peak District. I've never been there and know nothing about the place.

Gusset: Another village, or hamlet, over on the western side of the Peak District. I've not been there either and also know nothing about the place.

Hangman Stone: This isn't in the Peak District, it's a local spot quite near to Doncaster, I usually stop here to eat my sandwiches when I'm passing. The reason for its gruesome name isn't as obvious as you might think; local folklore says that the name refers to what happened to a sheep rustler. He'd killed the sheep and tied its legs together and than placed it on his shoulders to carry it home. When he reached the stone he sat down, still with the dead sheep hanging round his neck. He was tired and fell asleep, as he slouched the position of the sheep's carcass moved and strangled him.

High Low: Several locations in the Peak District share this name. In the Peak District a 'low' is actually a hill, so 'High Low' means 'high hill.'

Madwoman's Stones: Another rock formation, this time on Kinder Scout. I don't know how it got the name.

Penistone: The name of this small time frequently generates a smile or giggle when seen on a page or screen.

Ringing Roger: Another rock formation on Kinder Scout. I think it makes a whistling noise when it's windy.

Surprise View: This is one of the classic Peak District views, looking up the Hope Valley from above Hathersage. So named by Queen Victoria who was travelling by coach and was tired of crossing the bleak moorlands, but was surprised by the stunning view she saw when she reached here.