Totley, Holmesfield, Mickley, Dronfield Woodhouse, Bradway, Beauchief Abbey, and Abbeydale

I caught the Bakewell bus to the Cross Scythes pub at Totley and headed southeast along the Sheffield Country Walk. After a mile the route turns to the left towards Mickley, however the path wasn't there and it looks like it hasn't been there for a long time. On both my paper Ordnance Survey map, and online, it shows the route going along the edge of Holmesfield Park Wood to the south of Woodthorpe Hall. At the time I thought the Sheffield Country Walk had been re-routed along this section or had been replaced by the Sheffield Round Walk, but I've just checked online and it still exists...but there was no signage at Totley or at the location I'm referring to.

So, I had to continue heading south through the wood to Holmesfield, walk through the village and up the road to Mickley, skirting the edge of Dronfield Woodhouse.

 

I was hoping to resume my original route at Mickley, now no longer along the route of the Sheffielld Country Walk though but I was feeling a bit tired and so chose to keep heading towards Bradway and the shortest route to Beauchief Abbey and the bus stop at Abbeydale. After passing a parade of shops at Bradway the route was rather pleasant going through a wood and the parkland which is used as a golf course.

Monk Bridge Viaduct Garden, Leeds

I've been to Leeds today to meet up with friends and have a meal together. I decided to arrive in Leeds early and visit a part of the city I'd recently read about, the Monk Bridge Viaduct Garden. It's only about a five minute walk from the railway station. Before reaching the viaduct there's small museum, the Lift Hoist Museum, which didn't open until ten o'clock and so I had to go exploring first and then return a bit later.

Access up onto the viaduct is via a lift or a spiral staircase. I chose the lift.

I found the modern highrise buildings to be more interesting than the garden. There was a variety of outdoor puzzles and games though to make it more interesting during the nice weather.

On my way back to the city centre I popped into the museum to shelter from the rain for a few minutes.

Northern Flash Sale

I was hoping to be able to have a couple of cheap days out. The webpage says 'from £2' but most of the days that price seems to be limited to specific services in the middle of the day. My choice of destinations was to be Hull and Bridlington; Northern Trains serve many more places from Doncaster though.

The woman at the ticket office wasn't very helpful.

Hawks Nest, Scrooby, and Blyth

I travelled to Hawks Nest, the first location in north Nottinghamshire, and needed to get off at a different stop because the Worksop bus goes a different route. This worked out for the best though because I was able to visit a small area of Access Land next to the River Ryton called Gibbet Hill. It was a lovely spot to sit in the sun and eat my sandwiches.

 

The area of Access Land continues at the other side of the Great North Road with better access to the river. There's a bug hotel and some other stuff in this area.

 

As I approached Scrooby there were some free apples for the taking and so I took one, I have to say it was one of the sweetest apples I've ever tasted.

I walked through the village and then headed south along the Great North Road until I reached a track that goes towards Serlby Golf Course. I then turned left at one of the entrances and continued to the road which goes to Blyth. Along this stretch I met a woman whose two dogs ran into a field to dig up some sugarbeet to eat - I've never seen that before.

Blyth is a pretty village; I would have liked to stay longer to take more photographs but the bus back to Doncaster was due in a few minutes, and then it would be two hours for the next one.

Wharncliffe Side, Ewden Village, and Brightholmlee

I caught the Stocksbridge bus to a location about a mile north of Wharncliffe Side where the service road for More Hall Reservoir starts.  As I got off the bus I tripped up over a raised white line road marking; fortunately I only stumbled and didn't fall. The road continues along the northern bank of the reservoir towards Broomhead Reservoir. For the entire length there was the sound of conkers falling from trees, I've never seen so many before.

Once I'd reached the second reservoir I took a bridleway heading up to a road. The road was uphill, and so was the next footpath going up to Walker Edge, where a road goes along the top.

I was now heading back eastwards and was looking for my next footpath. I knew where I was and so didn't look at the map, I wasn't sure though if the path would involve more climbing; I calculate I'd already done 400ft in a short distance and didn't fancy any more. I reached the path and it looked like a climb of a further 200ft and so I just carried on going down the road towards Brightholmlee and then Wharncliffe Side where I caught the bus back to Sheffield on the main road.

Edensor, Calton Lees, Rowsley, and Bakewell

Today's walk started at Edensor. After taking advantage of the lovely weather to photograph as many as possible of the pretty cottages in the village I walked over to the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, from where I had stunning views of Chatsworth House.

I continued on to Calton Lees, where there are some more pretty cottages.

I headed south to Rowsley, cutting through the graveyard and the churchyard and then headed up the hill towards the track that goes over to Bakewell.