Ladybower Reservoir With Chris From Leeds

I woke up this morning feeling a bit rough; I had a headache caused by my stiff neck, and earache caused by a sinus infection. This happens quite regularly and so I knew that a couple of ibuprofen tablets would clear up the pain within half an hour.Whilst I was at it I also swallowed my other daily tablets, ranitidine for my acid reflux problem and two magnesium oxide tablets for the calf muscle cramp and spasms which I suffer from...and the two tablets to prevent the diarrhoea that the magnesium oxide tablets sometimes cause.

By 07:30 I was ready to start getting dressed, packing my rucksack, and grabbing a bit of something to eat.

As usual I met Chris at Fox House, from where we drove to Fearfall Wood in the Upper Derwent Valley. The photograph was taken from the grassy area just next to the car parking area.

We walked down to the water's edge and walked along the footpath for about half a mile before climbing up to the road and taking the footpath up through the woods, and then the path which eventually comes out on the Snake Path road. 

We crossed over the road and walked down the path and over the pretty bridge. I'm not sure which river flows beneath it, I think it's the Ashop, but it also could be the Alport; the two rivers meet a few hundred yards upstream.

We took the first footpath on the left and soon reached a canalised section of water which was very fast flowing...and eerily silent. As we continued along this path the river gradually got wider until it became the western arm of the reservoir. At one point we both nearly accidentally trod on a very well-camouflaged toad which was sitting in the middle of the track and in no hurry to go anywhere; that's why I could get a good close-up photograph.

There are some lovely views, with seats positioned at the best locations.

The rest of the route consisted of walking along the top of the dam wall, the footpath that goes past the toilets and car park at Heatherdene, alongside the reservoir and across the two viaducts.

Chris gave me a lift to the bus-stop at Bamford, where I only had twenty minutes to wait for the bus. When the bus had reached the bottom of Eccleshall Road in Sheffield a rather scruffy and dishevelled young man who had been sitting in the upper deck got off the bus. He had a very unusual hair-do which briefly got entangled up with one of the overhead hand grips; I'm describing it now as a 'Rasta-doughnut' style, but some other hikers on the bus were convinced that he had a cowpat precariously balanced on the top of his head.

I walked straight onto the waiting Bridlington train at the station; it left on time - but there were no lights working in the carriage.