Barnsley

I've just got back home after attending a celebratory reception at the art gallery in Barnsley. Earlier I had a walk round the town and took some photographs - there wasn't very much to point my camera at though; the only two subjects I found were the town hall and the new college building.

Bakewell, Ashford-in-the-Water, Monsal Head, and Hassop

I was on a mission today in the Peak District. I went to Bakewell with Siobhan, my support worker, to buy some Bakewell tarts and Bakewell puddings from one or two of the three shops which all claim to use the original recipe. I'll be attending a 'bring and share' reception tomorrow at the art gallery at Barnsley and I'm sure people will appreciate a taste of the Peak District. I got a smallish Bakewell pudding; the tarts didn't look to be anything different to those I could buy in local shops...so I opted for some oat flaps and a chocolate cereal cake instead.

It was nice to have Siobhan with me today and also being able to dress up quite smartly so that we could visit some of the shops that I've not been to before, the expensive countryside fashion shops and other specialists shops. We didn't buy anything - but it's always nice to look.

We also went to the Rutland Arms Antique Centre; we accidentally ended up inside one of the hotel bedrooms though.

We then drove the short distance to Ashford-in-the-Water, a village that many people say is the prettiest in the Peak District. After having a look round we had cream teas in the Aisseford Tea Rooms.

After returning to the car we drove to Monsal Head to sit for a few minutes and enjoy one of the Peak District's classic views; looking down at the Headstone Viaduct and the River Wye. The sun was at the wrong angle for any of my photographs to look any good from where we were sitting, but this one looking over to the right is alright I suppose.

Finally, we called at Hassop on our way to Sheffield so that I could take some photographs of the Catholic church there.

Swinton, Upper Haugh, Hoober, Wentworth, Nether Haugh, Parkgate, and Dalton

I travelled on the train to Swinton this morning and then walked over to Wentworth, one of my favourite local villages.

There wasn't anything interesting  at Swinton until I got to the church, half way up the hill.

The next interesting thing to look at was the Waterloo Kiln right next to some lovely countryside. There's easy public access but the kiln's surrounded by railings and private land and I couldn't get any decent approach shots; my close-up efforts were awful.

I had to briefly re-enter the built-up area before heading off towards Wath Wood, then through the golf course and across the fields right to the edge of Upper Haugh. I had planned to go to Abdy on my way to Hoober but got confused in the woods - it would have meant less walking along the roads going that way.

At Hoober I walked through the village before taking the footpath up to Hoober Stand.

The road down to the hamlet of Lea Brook is quite steep; I left the road just before reaching the houses and walked over the fields to the Wentworth road. Before arriving at Wentworth I did a short detour to have a look at the Needle's Eye.

Wentworth is lovely when the sun is shining.

I ate my sandwiches on a bench in a quieter part of the village, briefly visited the garden centre to use the toilets and then walked through the Gun Park to Lower Haugh. The walk to Dalton from there to catch the bus back to Doncaster isn't particularly attractive, in fact it's rather ugly in places as I passed by the steelworks. I did get a few bargains from the Asda supermarket at Dalton though.

Lumsdale, Tansley, Riber, Hearthstone, Cromford, and Matlock Bath

I thought I might have been alone at Lumsdale for the first time this morning until a family joined me. I was able to quickly get away from them though and have the waterfalls, the ruins, the weirs, the walkways...and the magic of this place...all to myself for about half an hour.

I walked across the fields to Tansley and took a few photographs of the church there; it's not very old.

I then needed to walk through the village and along the main road at the bottom of the valley for a few minutes before taking the footpath up and over to Riber. There are several quite theatrically gothic looking houses here; I couldn't get a close up view of the castle though [it's a Victorian folly.]

It was only a short walk down to the hamlet of Hearthstone and then across the fields to Cromford Mill. There is some lovely rolling green countryside here, but on a quite murky day it was difficult for me to get any decent photographs.

The first thing I photographed at Cromford was the church, it too isn't very old. I arrived at just after one o'clock and there was a sign outside stating that the building is open to the public every Saturday from eleven o'clock until one o'clock. The door was open, so I ventured inside. There wasn't a lot to look at inside, but there is some quite nice painted plaster on the walls.

The mill at Cromford is a bit of a disappointment; I think they could do so much more with it.

I found a path that goes through the woods to come out at Masson Mill at the southern end of Matlock Bath. As I walked along the promenade I decided to count the number of fish and chips shops - there are nine of them.There are also nearly as many tearooms, several pubs and plenty of ice cream parlours and amusement arcades - in fact everything you'd expect to find at a coastal resort. Matlock Bath certainly lives up to its nickname of 'Derbyshire-by-the-Sea' - even though it's many miles from the sea.

I din't stay long because I wanted to catch the next TransPeak service to Bakewell...and then a bus from there to Sheffield. I had enough time to pop in to the artisan market and buy I large summer fruits scone for my tea though.

The 15:05 bus at Bakewell didn't turn up and then the next one, the 15:24 was a few minutes late. At the Golden Gates roundabout at Baslow we saw the missing earlier bus had broken down, right in the most inconvenient place where it was blocking the traffic.