Low Bradfield, High Bradfield, Coldwell, Oughtibridge, Middlewood, Birley, and Grenoside

Services 61 and 62 depart for Bradfield from Arundel Gate in the city centre twice an hour. The routes alternate between a clockwise loop out to the Peak District and back, and an anti-clockwise route. This morning it was the number 62 going clockwise which arrived at the bus stop a few minutes after I got there; it got to Low Bradfield first and so that's where I got off and started the walk.

It's a nice walk uphill to High Bradfield taking the footpath across the fields.

After photographing the area near to the church I headed out north-eastwards and then due east over the fields and along a short stretch of road to Coldwell.

I was hoping to find a path going down to Worrall but I chose the wrong one and ended up at Oughtibridge, meaning that I had to walk along the busy Langsett Road for nearly a mile; unfortunately there's only one footbridge where I could cross over the River Don...and similarly only one bridge over the railway line.

It's quite a long and steep climb through the woods back up the other side of the valley but there are some extensive views of Sheffield from the ridge at the top. 

A few minutes later I had to stop to take this photograph of a perfectly positioned and proportioned ragwort.

I only just grazed Birley as I took the route of the Sheffield Country Walk to the viewpoint at Birley Stone where I decided to abandon the walk [after seven miles] because the heat was getting to me...and I'd drunk all of my orange cordial. I turned right and walked down the road to Grenoside and caught a bus from there back to the city centre.

Lodge Moor, Bamford, Thornhill, Aston, and Hope

A themed walk in the Peak District today I suppose, taking in locations with unusual names; these names being Rape Piece, Foul Hole, High Lad Ridge, Gin Piece, Robin Hood's Cave, and Hope.

I caught one of the frequent buses to the terminus at Lodge Moor and then headed off towards the west, crossing the national park boundary at Wyming Brook Farm about twenty five minutes later.

Before reaching the Peak District there's still some quite nice countryside to be enjoyed though.

It was a relatively quick and easy crossing of the moors to reach Stanage Edge about half a mile south east of Crow Chin, a prominent rock feature.

This photograph doesn't feature Crow Chin - I continued walking in a southeasterly direction until I could scramble down from the top of the cliff and head for the lower ground to the north of Hathersage.

I turned to the west and walked across fields, down country roads, green lanes, and sunken lanes until I reached Bamford where I had a pot of tea and a large slice of delicious sticky chocolate and toffee orange cake at The Angler's, the community run pub and cafe in the village [I'm not sure about the positioning of the apostrophe...or if there even was one on the sign].

Walking across the stepping stones at Bamford Mill always provides a bit of excitement.

Next up was Thornhill and then a footpath which runs just the other side of the hedge which separated me from a rather narrow sunken lane which leads to Aston.

There was a photographic exhibition and competition inside the church at Hope; I went inside and cast my votes for my favourites.

It was the annual well dressing festival at the weekend and so the displays at the wellheads were still at the roadside - no photos because they were in shade and the contrast on the images I snapped is awful...however I did get good clear pictures of these two characters.

Finally, a couple of more traditional photographs I took.

The Hidden Gardens And Courtyards Of Wirksworth 2018

I took a gamble with the trains today and travelled to Sheffield. There was another day of strikes by some staff who work for Northern Rail and some services were cancelled, but with it being Saturday today there was no rush hour crush and so things weren't too bad.

After then catching two buses I arrived at Wirksworth at 10:30, an hour and a half before the gardens opened. My arrival time would have been nearer to midday if I'd been travelling in the car with Siobhan my support worker - she couldn't make it today though because of car trouble. The original plan though would have been to go to the open gardens at Great Longstone tomorrow, far more suitable for her because the village is much flatter and there are far fewer cobbles [if any at all] to cause her painful ankle to flare up.

I had plenty of time to look round the town and get something to eat in a cafe. I took plenty of photos before I even got to the first garden.

I was the first person to visit garden number fourteen, right at the top of the hill and for the next three and a half hours I wended my way through the streets, courtyards, and back alleys of the town, setting foot in all but one garden...the one furthest down the hill - it was a bit of a walk to reach it and I didn't want to miss the bus back to Bakewell.

I really enjoyed myself today but I would have preferred if things had worked out according to plan and I would be going to Great Longstone tomorrow with Siobhan. She's very good with people, and very chatty - she encourages people to talk about themselves, their gardens and their houses and she involves me in the conversations...which is just what I need with my poor conversational skills. Somehow she also manages to persuade people to serve up all the juicy village gossip.

I was quite proud of my achievements today though, I got talking to several people...even three fellow Doncastrians.

I don't recall taking a photograph of the garden, but my prize for the house with the most unusual name goes to 'Coddiwomple Cottage' - I haven't a clue what the name means and I didn't get the chance to ask the person who lived there since he was taking to someone else at the time.