Low Bradfield, High Bradfield, Coldwell, Oughtibridge, Middlewood, Birley, and Grenoside

Services 61 and 62 depart for Bradfield from Arundel Gate in the city centre twice an hour. The routes alternate between a clockwise loop out to the Peak District and back, and an anti-clockwise route. This morning it was the number 62 going clockwise which arrived at the bus stop a few minutes after I got there; it got to Low Bradfield first and so that's where I got off and started the walk.

It's a nice walk uphill to High Bradfield taking the footpath across the fields.

After photographing the area near to the church I headed out north-eastwards and then due east over the fields and along a short stretch of road to Coldwell.

I was hoping to find a path going down to Worrall but I chose the wrong one and ended up at Oughtibridge, meaning that I had to walk along the busy Langsett Road for nearly a mile; unfortunately there's only one footbridge where I could cross over the River Don...and similarly only one bridge over the railway line.

It's quite a long and steep climb through the woods back up the other side of the valley but there are some extensive views of Sheffield from the ridge at the top. 

A few minutes later I had to stop to take this photograph of a perfectly positioned and proportioned ragwort.

I only just grazed Birley as I took the route of the Sheffield Country Walk to the viewpoint at Birley Stone where I decided to abandon the walk [after seven miles] because the heat was getting to me...and I'd drunk all of my orange cordial. I turned right and walked down the road to Grenoside and caught a bus from there back to the city centre.

Abbeydale, Whirlow, Ringinglow, and Sheffield

Not all of the buses in Sheffield city centre use the bus station; I think it's mainly the cross-city services that don't, but I'm not sure. It's not very far to walk up the hill to Arundel Gate though to catch the 61/62 to Bradfield or the number 51 to Lodge Moor; however this morning I needed to walk right across the city centre to Pinstone Street to catch the bus to the start of today's walk.

I got off the bus at Abbeydale, about five miles south-west of the city centre. The footpath going into Ecclesall Woods was directly across the road.

I passed plenty of joggers and dogwalkers on my way up to Whirlow. I usually try to get out of the way of the joggers because many of them seem to be timing their runs; later on when it was icy underfoot on my way up the Limb Valley one of the joggers running towards me slipped and nearly fell over - I offered him a concerned expression and a wry smile before 'tut-tutting' my disapproval that he was wearing flimsy running shoes rather than sturdy walking boots.

I reached the first lying snow just before I reached the main Hathersage road at Whirlow; there was plenty of snow for me to enjoy today, even though none of it was virgin.

There was more snow but fewer people as I passed through Whirlowbrook Park and climbed up the valley towards Ringinglow.

A small group of Chinese students was waiting for the alpaca farm to open at ten o'clock - it's a visitor attraction where you can get close to the animals...and there's a cafe and shop as usual. Over to the left I could hear the sound of loud piped music coming from the direction of Lady Canning's plantation where there must have been a mountain biking competition being held on the specially designed track in the woods there.

As I was sitting on a bench at the top of Porter Clough eating my sandwiches a man walked by and informed it was 'very Canadian' - I didn't know what he was referring to or what to say in response and so just took a large bite from my delicious crab paste sandwich that I prepared last night using 'superseeded wholegrain bread. Superseded by what, I don't know though.  

A few minutes later it started to snow and turned to drizzle lower down the valley before clearing up.

I had a pot of tea at the Forge  Dam Cafe, the service was rather slow though.

As usual, and as expected it was busier for the next couple of miles down to Endcliffe Park; there's also a cafe there...I don't think I've had anything to eat there yet.

I left the park and crossed the road and headed for the General Cemetery; it's no longer used and is quite overgrown in places but there are some interesting buildings and monuments there.

There are two chapels; the first is the Non-Conformist Chapel and the second is the Anglican Chapel...both currently closed.

On my way back to the railway station I called in at the market and bought a crab, they are quite a bit cheaper than they are in Doncaster - I'll have it for my tea tomorrow.

More Walking Opportunities.

I was surfing the net yesterday and ended up finding out about a new bus route to me, which I can use to reach the Peak District; service 51 to Lodge Moor.

I haven't been aware of its existence before because it departs from Arundel Gate and not the bus station - and it's not included in the timetable booklet featuring services running into the Peak District - it actually stops short of the Peak District boundary by about a mile...so this is probably the reason why.

If I'd realised earlier that not all buses serving the City Centre use the bus station, and actually knew where Lodge Moor is, I would have already been using this service; especially since its operating frequency is every ten minutes on weekdays - there have been many occasions when I have been hanging about for long periods of time at the interchange.