Ashford in the Water, Bakewell, and Edensor

Before I started today's walk I had forty minutes to spare in Bakewell and so took some photographs before going to the bus stop on Buxton Road to catch the bus to Ashford in the Water.

I explored the village, although this really isn't the best word to use since I know Ashford well.

I headed out along the road that goes to the north; after a few hundred yards there's a path that goes to Churchdale Hall and Churchdale Farm; the last time I tried to take this route I couldn't find the path and ended going up to Thornbridge Hall. Yesterday I looked at the images on Google Streetview so that I'd be prepared and know exactly where to look for it. When I got there I noticed that a new footpath sign has been erected.

I then walked along the Monsal Trail for about half a mile before finding the path that leads to Bakewell. At Bakewell I didn't go to the town centre, I walked up to the old railway station and then continued going uphill using the road and then taking the track down into Edensor. Edensor is a beautiful village but I didn't have much time today to take photographs.

Warmsworth, Don Gorge, and Conisbrough

I went down into the Don Gorge today to do a bit of exploring, there's always plenty to see; caves, abandoned quarries, old limekilns, a viaduct, a weir, a fish ladder, the river, tunnels, and a waterfall. I wasn't able to do much exploring though because I had to be careful where I put my feet because of the flooding and also be on the lookout for fallen trees.

I caught the Sheffield bus to to Warmsworth, walked down the road that leads to Sprotbrough and took the path that goes alongside the railway line. Access down into the gorge is by these steps.

I soon realised there might be problems when I saw how high the river still was. I was able to get by the flooding, but I slipped a couple of times, nothing serious at all but I ended wet and muddy.

A man stopped me to ask for directions and about the conditions down by the river. He whipped out his smartphone and started using his Ordnance Survey mapping app; I found it to be practically useless, it kept zooming in and out and randomly rotating the image on the screen.

 

Because I was wet and muddy I decided not to continue on to Conisbrough Castle and then catch the bus in the town centre near the shops, instead I made my way up to the main road and caught the bus back to Doncaster.

Hull and Hessle

A trip to Hull with my support worker today, somewhere I've not visited for quite a few years. The weather was lovely most of the time, it just drizzled a bit whilst we were inside the art gallery. If we saw a shop in the main shopping area that we wanted to go in we did and I bought a jacket from a charity shop and a sausage and tomato pie from a butcher's shop, a type of pie I've never seen before but I did see them for sale in another shop...they must be popular in Hull.

Something I noticed, of course all the telephone boxes are cream coloured because Hull owns its own telecommuications company...and all the phone boxes are still in operation.

We started by having problems at the multi-storey carpark; the first payment machine didn't work and the second one was a different type and myself and Siobhan were really struggling until a young woman came over and helped us. It had a slot to put money in but it wasn't accepting cash and so we had to pay by card.

We encountered another problem when we needed to use the toilets in the shopping centre; we saw this sign and assumed it meant that the toilets were upstairs and the steps or lift were over to the right...we were wrong, they were actually straight ahead a bit and over to the right.

We then made our way down to the Old Town.

We couldn't go inside the Minster, it was closed for a private function.

We arrived at the Museum Quarter, fortunately all museums in Hull are free admission. We only briefly went inside the Hull and East Riding Museum; it seems to be mainly designed for children. We spent much longer inside the Streetlife Museum.

 

We got to the waterfront and went in a pub for a meal.

When we returned to the City Centre we went inside the Ferens Art Gallery. I enjoyed seeing the Dutch Old Masters again, although I thought there were a lot more the last time I was there. In one of the other galleries there was a display of work by young artists, I particularly liked this one and so took a photograph of it.

On the way back to Doncaster we stopped at Hessle and had a quick look round the shops - I got something for my tea.

Surprise View, Hathersage Booths, Hathersage, The Bird Cafe, and Bamford

Another walk in the Hope Valley today, this time using a footpath I definitely haven't used before, it doesn't really go anywhere though...unless you're prepared to use the stepping stones across the River Derwent.

I caught the Castleton bus to Surprise View, the first bus stop in Derbyshire, and made my way along the top of Millstone Edge, heading northwards. The path then crosses moorland down to a minor road, which I crossed to take a path which leads down into Hathersage.

A couple of young women who were exercising their horses had roped off part of a field and blocked the footpath. It was easy enough to climb over; I was prepared for an altercation, but nothing happened.

I actually took a different path than I had originally planned, one that went down to Hathersage Booths rather than coming out at the church in the village...I did this to keep as far away from the horses as possible.

[It's not often you get to use an automatic gate opener on a public footpath, this one's on the private drive that leads to Scraperlow, a large house.]

I walked down the hill to Hathersage and then through the village until I reached the footpath I mentioned at the beginning of this report; it now crosses the railway over a footbridge which needed to be constructed since the addition of the passing loop for freight trains. 

I was expecting there to be three tracks; I could see the third one in the distance though, just beyond the next bridge.

The next path goes down to the riverbank and follows it for half a mile upstream to the stepping stones, where I had the option of turning right and re-joining the main Hope Valley road. I took this option and and then walked for a few hundred yards to the bird cafe, somewhere I'd not visited before. I was a bit disappointed with the bird cafe, there weren't a lot a cakes to choose from and they were rather expensive, and so I didn't bother and just ordered a pot of tea. I didn't really get to see any birds either, a few came up to the utilitarian bird feeder atteched to the window where my table was but they only stayed for a couple or seconds and so I couldn't photograph them.

I left the cafe and continued walking westward along the main Hope Valley road to the bus turnaround at Bamford Station where I knew there would soon be two buses to going to Sheffield by different routes.

I got off the bus at The Moor in Sheffield and went to the indoor market to get some fish and cakes, but not any fishcakes. I'm trying to get a different variety of fish every time I go there and today I bought something that the fishmonger's sign was red sea bass but when I checked its Latin name online that's not one of its names, which are beaked redfish, deepwater redfin, ocean perch, Atlantic redfish, Norway haddock, red perch, or golden redfish.

Finally, I had a bit of time to spare and so had a quick look at the Christmas market.