It's only a twenty minute bus ride from Bakewell to Monyash, and from there I headed towards the abandoned pub on the Buxton to Ashbourne road with an unusual name, the 'Bull-i'-th-Thorn.' There was a minibus belonging to Essex County Council parked in a lay-by nearby, it was being used to transport a group of teenagers who were undertaking their Duke Of Edinburgh Awards Scheme outward bound activities. I chatted with the driver for a few minutes...he had a very strange way of pronouncing 'Buxton.'
I then cut across the fields to the High Peak Trail and walked the final mile to its northern end at Dowlow.
I noticed a new permissive footpath that wasn't there previously; obviously it isn't shown on maps yet. It was leading off in the direction I wanted to go and so I decided to follow it - I was hoping it would take me towards Sterndale Moor...and it did. It was safer and much more pleasant than having to use the busy main road, well, it was until I encountered some cows a few minutes later.
This permissive path goes right alongside part of the quarry railway and there was a train being loaded up with crushed limestone; a bulldozer was being used...I was surprised that there were no hoppers.
A few minutes later I was ganged up on by a large herd of angry cows who were intimidating me, pushing up against me, and making very threatening noises, and so I hurried towards a gate that I could see that I could easily, and quickly, climb over. It wasn't where the path went, but it was my easiest means of escape. I only had to climb over one more gate until I reached the road just before Sterndale Moor, a miserable place consisting mainly of modern prefab houses built for the families of the quarry workers.
It was a pleasant walk along footpaths to King Sterndale, although the rain got quite heavy for a few minutes. I reached the church before the remainder of the village. The previous time I was here the weather was much better, and my photographs were much better too, but I accidentally deleted them all as I was attempting to edit them on my camera travelling back to Sheffield on the bus.
So...here are today's images.
It was a steep and slippery descent down a grassy slope and across the railway to the road at the bottom of the valley, and then a much gentler climb up Woo Dale and along country lanes to the northern suburbs of Buxton.
Buxton doesn't have a bus station, or even a central point from where all buses depart...it's very confusing. I caught the Sheffield bus opposite the railway station; just a few yards away there's this quaint little building...very photogenic.
The bus that showed up was the 65a and it took nearly two hours, dropping off local schoolchildren at every village that it could reach.
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