Fairholmes to Bamford

I travelled to the visitor centre at Fairholmes today. To begin with I visited the dam, and then climbed up through the woods to Lockerbrook farm.

I descended to the Snake Pass road and started to climb up through the woods at the other side of the valley with the intention of reaching Hope Cross and then the village of Hope where I would have a choice of two tearooms, two cafes and four pubs for refreshments. Halfway up the hill though, at a junction of two footpaths, I saw some mountainbikers coming up the hill in  the other direction, some of them carrying their bikes on their shoulders. I didn't want to get in  their way, and I used this as an excuse for a short break so I found I safe spot a few yards down the path they were using and waited until they passed. Absent-mindedly though I kept on walking down that path but didn't realise what I'd done until a few minutes later when I heard running water.

I was back in the Woodlands Valley, approaching the southern shore of the western arm of Ladybower Reservoir. Obviously there would need to be a change of plan; the change of plan would mean possibly visiting the Angler's Arms at Bamford for tea and cake...only if I wanted to walk down the road for over a mile though.

A few minutes later I saw another group of mountainbikers, this time all of them riding their bikes along the relatively flat track...with a small energetic terrier leading the way.

When I reached the Ladybower Dam I took several photographs featuring one of the 'plug holes.' This is the only image I've decided to include today; a very severely cropped image.

In the end I decided to take the cinder track down to the Hope Valley Garden Centre - there's a nice cafe there.

A bus was due in twenty minutes when I arrived; I would have liked to visit the cafe, but I decided to walk straight to the bus stop instead though.

Fairholmes To Hope

I travelled to Fairholmes, as far up the Derwent Valley as the bus goes before turning round and then continuing to Castleton.

After visiting the toilets at the Information Centre I walked up to the Derwent Dam; there are several information boards both here and at the Information Centre explaining all about the Dambusters Squadron, the construction of the dams, the water supply to the major cities of the East Midlands, the temporary prefabricated town built for the construction workers, and the temporary railway laid to transport stone quarried at Grindleford. There are also some nice views.

I then took a footpath that leads up through the woods to Lockerbrook Farm Outdoor Centre. There were some lovely views of the reservoir as I climbed higher; unfortunately the sun was at the wrong angle for any decent pictures. There are many paths in this area that I haven't explored yet and I will have to return, the infrequent bus service tends to put me off though.

In one location I walked past a feature which might have been natural, or it might have been an embankment; I couldn't tell - I'm neither a geologist nor an archaeologist. It looked like a Roman wall to me, but obviously isn't.

I turned right before reaching Hagg Farm and came out further along the Snake Pass road. When I reached a ruined barn I stopped to finish off my sandwiches, and also to make sure that my trousers wouldn't end up around my ankles. Since being prescribed both vitamin D and metformin tablets I've been steadily losing weight, it seems to drop off me with every step I take and by now I really had to do something about my trousers. My belt really needs an extra hole cutting, but for the time being I did an emergency repair job by tying a length of string tightly around my waist...the string is an item that's always buried somewhere at the bottom of my rucksack. Since I started taking the tablets I've lost nearly a stone and a half in weight and my 46ins waist trousers are now too big; I can now even get into a couple of 42ins pairs that I didn't throw away several years ago as I started to put on the weight.

There are some lovely views along here, looking up the Snake Pass.

I crossed the road and continued down into the valley of the River Ashop and then climbed up the path to Hope Cross; there are more lovely views looking from this direction.

It seemed to be especially busy in the Peak District today, by the time I reached Hope Cross I had already passed dozens of mountainbikers, but I now encountered a large group of horseriders...I'm very wary of horses...they're a lot bigger than me.

When I reached Hope I enjoyed a pot of tea and a chocolate chip cookie at The Old Hall Tearooms. The cookie contained 13 grams of sugar; at the moment my daily allowance is 100g; fortunately my diabetes is only very marginal and so an occasional treat shouldn't do me any harm.

I had a few minutes  to spare before the bus was due and so took a few photographs in the village.

As I was sitting in the bus shelter waiting for the bus an eccentric woman, a widow from Tideswell, came and sat next to me and started talking. She had put all of her things into a blue laundry basket and was carrying it with both hands in front of her; she explained that she went to Sheffield once and was mugged. I didn't follow the logic but thought it better not to ask.

As I was travelling on the bus back to Sheffield a woman, her young son, and their dog got on at Fox House - together with about thirty other people. The three of them sat in the seats behind me; she was very chuffed that the dog had been issued with its own ticket, something that hadn't happened before. I couldn't work out whether her son, or the dog, was called Harry.

A Short Walk From Fox House, And A Drive Up The Upper Derwent Valley.

Today I spent a lovely few hours in the Peak District with two friends from Leeds. It was totally unexpected; I received a phone call at eleven o'clock and we arranged to meet ninety minutes later at Sheffield Railway Station. I assumed we would just be meeting up for a drink, or a meal, but when my friend met me he mentioned that they'd come in the car and fancied a quick visit to the Peak District.

We drove to Fox House and walked part way along the carriage track and then returned back to the car park by the high level route at the top of the rocks. Damo has a bit of a limp, and his shoes weren't really appropriate for hiking, but I reckon we did about three miles; and no-one came to any harm.

After a quick drink in the pub we drove to Ladybower Reservoir and then turned up the road which goes up the valley. We stopped at the Derwent Dam to enjoy the view from the observation platform. Conditions were absolutely perfect; mainly sunny, but with dramatic-looking clouds, a strong breeze and occasional drizzle. We even spotted a rainbow. Excellent conditions for photography...but I didn't take my camera.

We continued further up the valley to the Howden Dam, which was overtopping; glistening like a plate of glass in the bright sunlight. The road at this point is narrow and so we needed to travel another mile or so in order to find a spot to turn round. All the time we drove very slowly up and down the valley, drinking in the scenery and listening to Wagner on the car's music system.

We then returned to Sheffield along the A57 road, arriving in ample time for my friends to have a meal before going on to their appointment.

Fairholmes, Howden Moors, Brightholmlee and Wharncliffe Side.

This morning I had to catch the bus into Sheffield because the railway line was closed for regular track maintenance. Fortunately I'd already checked online and was able to leave the house a few minutes early.

Although it was forecast for bright and sunny weather, when I arrived at Fairholmes it was drizzling and murky; it didn't affect my photograph of the east tower of the Derwent Dam though.

Both this dam, and the Howden Dam further up the valley have impressive crenellated towers.

The weather was still cool and cloudy as I climbed up onto Howden Moors; this is a climb of about 1,000ft in altitude, and so I appreciated the conditions...which unfortunately were unsuitable for photography.

By the time I'd reached Back Tor though the sun had broken through the gloom and I was able to take some photographs of the erosion-sculpted rocks.

The next section of the walk was across open moorland and bog, but was easy because most of the route was paved with natural flagstones, which had been placed there since my previous visit a couple of years ago; and further on the path became a trackway. For a couple of miles I was keeping pace with a hiking group from the University of Nottingham: their pace was quite a bit quicker than I was used to...but I enjoyed the challenge.

Next there was a short section along the road and then I took the bridleway that went through the Canyard Hills, an area of several dozen unusually shaped hillocks and troughs. I haven't come across anything like this before in the Peak District and wondered if the hillocks might by spoil heaps from early mining operations; or possibly a landslip. Well; my curiosity got the better of me; I've googled the location and according to English Nature's website the Canyard Hills are the best example in England and Wales of a type of landscape known as 'ridge-and-trough' or 'tumbled ground.'

By now something on the horizon had caught my eye. It looked like the site of a rocket launchpad, even when I looked at it through the binoculars; the only explanation I can think of is that it might be scaffolding that's been put up as part of the construction process for a new transmitter.

The rest of the walk was along country lanes, looking down onto Broomhead Reservoir, passing through the hamlet of Brightholmlee and arriving at Wharncliffe Side with only five minutes to wait for the bus.

The train I caught back to Doncaster was one of the few that actually went non-stop; going straight through the station at Meadowhall. It was packed as trains usually seem to be on a Sunday; I had to sit on the floor in the wheelchair space - I did have more legroom there though.

The Derbyshire Lake District: Fairholmes, Yorkshire Bridge and Bamford.

For today's walk I went to an area which is informally and unofficially referred to as Derbyshire's 'Lake District' - due to the large amount of water in the three reservoirs of the Upper Derwent Valley.

I got off the bus and walked to the visitor centre, used the toilets and went to the east tower of the Derwent Dam to take some photographs. The dam is an impressive structure, but none of my photographs could adequately show this. I then doubled back for a couple of hundred yards and climbed up the path through the wood to the western tower.

Inside the western tower there is a small museum dedicated to the 'Dambusters Squadron' which used these dams to practise flying low and dropping 'bouncing bombs'  in preparation for their attack on the Ruhr Valley Dams in Germany during the Second World War.

Nearby there are two memorials; one to the airmen and one to a very loyal dog - the inscription tells the story of 'Tip.'

I then continued along the track which runs alongside the western shore of the reservoir and after about a mile took a steep footpath up through the conifer plantation; eventually leading to a point where four footpaths meet. I chose to take the one leading westwards, going parallel to the Snake Pass road, which I crossed about a mile later just beyond Rowlee Farm. There were some spectacular views ahead of me on this section of the walk.

I was now approaching the headwaters of one of the arms of Ladybower Reservoir. It's just about the best time of the year for heather, so I took some photos featuring it.

As you can see from the next photo, the water level in the reservoir is quite low.

I continued through woodland and then a track suitable for vehicles until I reached the Ladybower Dam, the furthest South of the Upper Derwent Valley Dams, the newest, and the least spectacular (it's only earthen).

Finally I walked down the road to Bamford, passing Yorkshire Bridge en route.