Saturday, December 28, 2019

Hathersage Booths, Offerton, Abney, Eyam, Stoney Middleton, Calver, Bubnell, and Baslow

I was stuck on the train on the approach to Sheffield Station for nearly an hour this morning; I missed my intended bus and had to catch the one that departed sixty minutes later.

The bus was on time and I travelled to Hathersage Booths as planned. I took the footpath leading down to the river, and the Derwent Valley Heritage Way. It's quite a steep descent, but there are usually some nice views of the eastern end of the Hope Valley; not today though, it was quite misty.

However, about thirty minutes later I was able to take these photographs as I was heading towards the hamlet of Offerton.




[I'm assuming that 'simulated game shooting' isn't the same as clay pigeon shooting.]



I climbed up to, and then crossed Offerton Moor.

At Abney I was hoping to take some photographs of the fairly recent landslip but there was no access...even for walkers - and the local authority has made sure there was no access, it looked like a military barricade and roadblock.





I was still able to use the footpath over to the left, going down into Bretton Cloough. I then climbed up the other side of the clough and walked along a bridleway, and then the road, to Highcliffe, located above Eyam. 

I chose to continue using the road to get to Eyam. Because I was an hour late after the delay on the train I didn't have time to pop into the tearooms.

I used Mill Lane, a byway open to all traffic [BOAT], to reach Stoney Middleton. You wouldn't want to be driving a vehicle this way though because Mill Lane is narrow, steep in places, has deep ruts, plenty of puddles and is very slippery because of the mud.




This message doesn't apply to me, because I can't drive.



I took some photographs of the church as I passed, and I'm not sure how much of the detail you'll be able to make out on the information panel about the so-called 'Roman Baths.'







I took the footpath that took me part of the way to Calver, I needed to use the road for the rest of the way though. I walked through the village and got down onto another part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way and stayed with it until I reached Bubnell and then crossed over the bridge into Baslow. 

I don't think I've been inside Baslow Church, and I didn't try to get inside today - I just took a few pictures as I passed on my way to the bus stop at Baslow Nether End.



There was still a problem with the signalling when I reached Sheffield Station; many trains were still being cancelled or delayed. I went to get the Newcastle train, but the departures screen soon informed me it was cancelled. It was the same with the next train I was waiting for, the Scarborough train. Finally a train going to Doncaster wasn't cancelled, the Cleethorpes train - it was a few minutes late though. We all got on and then the train waited at the platform for a few minutes until those of us in the three rear carriages were told we had to get off, walk along the platform, and find room in the first three carriages - some sort of safety issue we were informed.

Eventually the train departed, only for us to be held up ever longer at Meadowhall. It wasn't a good day for the railways; listening to people chatting, and grumbling, as we travelled to Doncaster it seems like it's been a nationwide problem lasting all day.

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