Fox House, Upper Padley, Grindleford, Eyam, Highcliffe, and Hathersage

I got to the bus station at Sheffield as early as I could this morning and then caught the first bus going out to the Peak District, the 272 bus to Castleton, and travelled to Fox House.

I walked down Padley Gorge to Grindleford Station. As I was walking alongside the Burbage Brook I passed a tree festooned with several items of male and female underwear - well it was a good location for a picnic.

Near to the place where people park their cars there's a temporary display board illustrating all the ways a wildfire could be started...discarded underwear wasn't mentioned.

Looking over to my left towards Longshaw Lodge I could see that it's the sheepdog trials this week. 

A bit further on I finally located the 'money tree' today.

I found more abandoned clothing as I neared Upper Padley, this time a gray tee-shirt - it's not that unusual for me to see items of clothing when I'm walking - it's just that today I decided to take note of them all.

Grindleford Station is at the bottom of the path that goes down Padley Gorge, the old waiting room is now a popular café - it was early when I passed and I don't think it was open yet.

I continued down the hill to the village.

Unfortunately there's no footpath that goes from Grindleford to Eyam but much of the way is now an abandoned road, and a footpath does go for part of the way via the Riley Graves...and this was the route I chose today.

I had a pot of tea at the Eyam Tea Rooms; there were some lovely cakes and savoury pastries on display but at 10:30 it was too early for me to indulge though. I spent a bit of time looking at the map and deciding where to go next...until my attention and imagination were distracted by something I spotted on one of the nearby shelves, packets of teapigs, 'biodegradable tea temples.'

I didn't know beforehand but it was welldressing and carnival day at Eyam, although the parade wouldn't start until 2:30, long after I'd left the village.

I walked through the village and took some photographs.

I could feel the heat from the fire as I passed the sheep roast.

I climbed up to Highcliffe and then down into Bretton Clough. 

On the approach to Torr Farm there are several dozen different varieties of fruit tree which have been planted fairly recently in a row at the side of the footpath.

The way back to Hathersage took me near to Hogg Hall and some potentially explosive daffodil bulbs planted in the ground - a new way to keep trespassers off your property I suppose.

I spotted one final item of 'clothing' as I was walking on the causeway near Hathersage; a walking boot that looked almost new.

Epworth Agricultural Show 2019

Another day out with Siobhan, my support worker from Social Services. We went to the Epworth Agricultural Show, somewhere that's less than twenty miles away but almost impossible to reach on public transport.

The weather was lovely, sunny all day and the temperature reached nearly ninety degrees; I think some of the animals were struggling a bit in the heat though.

Overall I was rather disappointed with my day out; there weren't enough agriculture related attractions and activities...there were no hedging, dry stone walling, or sheep shearing demonstrations. The catering options were poor; there was nowhere to go to get a cream tea, or just a pot of tea and a slice of cake...and there was no butcher there selling game, so I couldn't get a rabbit pie, or mixed game pie.

We did eventually get our tea and cake though - at the garden centre cafe in Epworth.

Rossington, Branton, Armthorpe, and Doncaster

An easy local walk with an early finish today; I've got an early start in the morning...I'm going to the Epworth Agricultural Show with my support worker and we want to get there for when the gates open at 9:30, after already having had a hearty breakfastint the pub - I also need to do quite a bit of online research about antiques centres and equestrian shows for a couple of Siobhan's other clients.

I caught the 7:48 bus to Rossington and travelled to the old part of the village, getting off at the church.

The church at Rossington is a difficult church to photograph, there aren't any obvious angles and sightlines and I couldn't fit all of the building in shot. I saw two squirrels in the churchyard, and another one running across the road a few minutes later.

I soon found the footpath I was looking for, a snicket going down between the gardens of the nearby houses. According to the map the path was meant to continue in a straight line to open countryside but after about three hundred yards it disappeared. I reached a road where some new houses had been built, I could turn to the right or to the left, but not go straight ahead. I looked at the map and worked out that by going off to the right I'd soon reach the Great North Road and would be able to pick up my planned route.

There's an attractive milestone on the verge at the side of the road, it dates from 1859.

The path went through a wood...and a small lake which I was surprised to see because it isn't shown on the map...it is depicted on the online Ordnance Survey mapping though.

The countryside was more open in nature as I approached Hayfield Lakes, which were shown on my map.

Further on I passed the Yorkshire Wildlife Park on my way to Branton, it looked as though they were going to have a busy day.

I needed to walk through the village and along the road until I reached a footpath heading north to Armthorpe. Armthorpe is a large village with quite a few shops; I popped into Morrison's supermarket to pick up a few items and then headed for the church. The church seems to have a Scandinavian appearance to me. Before having a quick check online I would have written that the building isn't very old, but that's not true - although extensively restored in the late nineteenth century the church actually dates from the twelfth century. Despite this it's still quite attractive though and the restoration work gives it its unusual appearance.

Yet again though, I found it difficult to photograph the church. The Sunday service had just finished but I didn't go inside - I wasn't really dressed for the occasion.

I completed the walk by taking the path leading to Sandall Beat Wood - my route took me over the top of the old colliery spoilheap.

The children's playground was busy and there was an ice cream van there but the ranger station, and therefore the public toilets, in the middle of the wood were closed. I didn't need either today.

I continued past the entrance to the racecourse and then down the dual carriageway that forms part of the ring road to the street where I live. I arrived home at 1:15 - plenty of time to do everything I need to do today and then take things easy before Siobhan picks me up at 7:45 in the morning.

Meadowhall, Butterthwaite, Thorpe Common, Wentworth, Barrow, Elsecar, and Brampton Bierlow

Today I travelled to Meadowhall. The first thing I did after getting off the train was to closely study my map to work out where I needed to go after leaving the station. I walked along a road for a few minutes, heading north, until I found a footpath which goes though Woolley Wood at the bottom of Concord Park.

This is what the countryside looked like as I was approaching the hamlet of Butterthwaite, within a couple of miles of leaving Meadowhall Station.

I walked along the road to a place that I think is called Thorpe Common; it was uphill all the way until I reached a footpath going across the fields.

The next footpath I needed to find wasn't signposted and I initially walked past it before turning back; it did, however, mean that I was able to photograph this quite pretty cottage.

It was a lovely walk across the fields to Wentworth; going down into a valley and then climbing out of it, passing by one of the estate fishing ponds on the way.  I was surprised to see some Highland cattle as I got near to Wentworth; I couldn't get any photographs though because they were sheltering from the sun under a hedge, right next to some barbed wire and brambles.

Just beyond this point I could make out two of the four Wentworth Follies on the horizon, Hoober Stand and the Mausoleum - I could also see the spire of the new church in the village. I didn't visit either of the two churches today...they're both always open though.

As I entered Wentworth I passed by the garden centre; there are toilets and refreshments there - I needed neither today but I did purchase a cold drink from the village store a few minutes later

Wentworth is one of my favourite local villages - it's very pretty. I didn't linger today though, I just walked straight down the main street and continued down the road to Barrow.

There are some almshouses at Barrow, they're difficult to photograph though because they're surrounded by an eight foot high privet hedge.

I headed north and generally downhill across rolling fields to Elsecar. I walked through the Heritage Centre; it''s free admission and quite an interesting place to visit. There are also toilets and refreshments there. I called in at Brambles Tea Room and also needed to use the public toilets - just to wash my hands after re-applying my factor 30 suntan lotion.

I finished the walk by walking along Elsecar Greenway and then the TransPennine Trail to Brampton Bierlow where I got off and waited for a bus. The bus was fifteen minutes late; it would take me all the way home to Doncaster but the journey would take 75 mins. It went into the bus bay at Swinton Railway Station and I decided to get off and catch a train. I would have arrived in Doncaster quite a few minutes before the bus if the train had been on time...but it wasn't.

Fairholmes, Low Bradfield, Holdworth, Loxley, Malin Bridge, and Hillsborough

A much longer walk in the Peak District today after yesterday's short walk with two friends along Froggatt Edge. The day didn't start well though, I arrived at Doncaster Railway Station to discover that the early train to Sheffield had been cancelled...no replacement coach provided, no information on the screens, no staff to be seen anywhere... So, I had to catch the bus which takes a lot longer but I still arrived at Sheffield just in time to get on the bus going to Fairholmes.

I walked over to the dam and then continued along the track that goes alongside the eastern shore of Derwent Reservoir.

After three quarters of a mile I reached a footpath which was going up onto the moors. I travelled eastwards across the  high ground for about three miles until I arrived at the road just north of the Strines Inn.

The trig point at Back Tor was the highest point I reached on my walk today.

After walking along the road for a few minutes I took the concessionary footpath which goes through the woods alongside the northern, or western shore of Dam Dike Reservoir. There's a memorial to the victims of the 'Great Sheffield Flood' of 1864 when the dam wall collapsed, and there's also an information panel about the disaster when at least 240 people died - I didn't take any photographs though because there were several people at each location and I didn't want to be seen as conspicuously waiting for them to move away.

There was more roadwalking down into Low Bradfield and then it should have been footpaths across fields all the way to Loxley...however, I lost my path and ended up walking on the road again for most of the stretch to Holdworth. My route went over the fold of the map so I didn't bother to check where I was going.

Low Bradfield is a pretty village. There are some tearooms there which I haven't visited yet.

When I joined the footpath at Holdworth I was walking along the Sheffield Country Walk - I left it just before Worrall to take a more southerly route towards Loxley Common and then Wadsley Common.

I went through  some extensive woodland on my approach to Loxley - I'd not been that way before, and my descent into the Loxley Valley was all new to me as well. I couldn't catch a tram from the terminus at Malin Bridge because the tracks are being replaced. I had to walk a bit further to Hillsborough where trams were running to the city centre though.

My train back to Doncaster was eight minutes late departing, but at least it wasn't cancelled. It wasn't a good day for public transport today.