A Short Holiday With My Brother: Day Four

Today has been the last day of our unexpected holiday. We set off for home at two o'clock and arrived back at Doncaster just before five o'clock, this after having dropped people off at Wakefield and the coach company's garage at Upton. We didn't stop anywhere and took the quickest route via the M6 and M62. Even the rush-hour traffic coming into Doncaster didn't delay us.

I've enjoyed my short break in the North West, but I'm glad to be back home.

A Week Of Nice Weather

There's been some lovely days this past week and I've not been out walking. I've been busy; I had somewhere to go, or someone to meet, every day. I'm not complaining though...that's just how I like it.

I've been to Leeds twice to meet friends in a couple of different pubs, spent all one day in a meeting at Rotherham, helped with a presentation at Sheffield, stayed in Doncaster on Thursday because my brother was visiting me and it's my usual day to meet up with Justin [who features on the previous post about Bakewell Book Fair] and today I'm going to the theatre here in town; I've been invited at short notice.

I had planned to visit North Lees Hall at Hathersage for the Open Day today, but obviously I'm sitting at home tapping my computer keyboard. 

Walking Pole

A couple of months ago I formally resigned as both a member, and a trustee, of the Asperger's group in Leeds. Now that I'm involved with the autism charity here in Doncaster, and sit on the board of the Autism Partnership I felt that it was the appropriate thing to do.

On Thursday night many of the group gathered in Leeds for my 'leaving do,' nothing formal, just a meal and drinks in a Wetherspoon's pub - but it was good night out. I was presented with a gift, a walking pole, something I'd been considering buying for a while now. I think the pole will help me with balance and support, and judging the depth of bogs and streams - so it will be really useful.

I've noticed that many of the walkers I see in the Peak District use poles, most people seem to use two poles, and use them all the time, even when walking on roads; I've read that this takes a lot of strain off your knees and ankles. I shall only be using my pole as, and when, I need it; it's not as though it's heavy to carry attached to my rucksack; it only weighs a few ounces.

I'll still be staying in contact with my friends in Leeds, and regularly meeting them at the monthly socials, or in one of the city centre pubs when I go to the theatre; and, of course, I'll still be going walking with Chris from the group.

Sprotbrough, High Melton, Marr, Brodsworth Hall, Pickburn, and Woodlands.

Never more than a ten minute car journey from Doncaster Town Centre.

Another local walk today; taking in a classic car rally at Brodsworth Hall: A chance to show off Doncaster at its best I suppose. I love the Peak District and go there nearly every week; however there's still some lovely countryside and pretty villages in my local area to enjoy.

I caught the first bus to Sprotbrough, a lovely local beauty spot on the river. I arrived just as the Humber Princess was approaching the lock on the canalised section which bypasses the weir; this wasn't planned on my account, just a fortunate coincidence. Later on I saw her sister ship, the Humber Pride, sailing in the other direction taking its cargo of oil to Rotherham.

I rushed down to the lock so that I could see her pass through; there isn't a lot of room to spare, especially today since the captain was being very careful not to kill a family of ducks which was trapped in the lock.

Walking back in the other direction I paused to take the classic shot of Sprotbrough.

I continued walking along the river upstream, noticing that a major angling competition was underway; there were hundreds of competitors with some very expensive equipment...it was a team competition. Most of the anglers were actually sitting on platforms placed in the river.

I had a quick look at what I could see and photograph from the hides at Sprotbrough Flash Nature Reserve; nothing much though, the lighting was poor.

After about a mile I got my first glimpse of Conisborough Viaduct.

I climbed up onto the viaduct using the path and took some photos, yet again I wasn't happy with them and so I've not included any. 

The next stretch is part of the Trans Pennine Trail along old railway lines at the base of Conisbrough Crags. There were good views of the castle from here...and an abundance of wild flowers. I have never seen so many moonpennies in my life.

Next I reached the road and passed by Denaby Ings Nature Reserve, a lovely spot to visit, but I didn't have time today. I then crossed the fields, climbing up to High Melton, where I posed for a self-portrait outside the campus of the university centre; it's a very shiny, and reflective sign.

My route continued across some featureless agricultural land until I reached Melton Wood, passing close to the wind turbines at Marr, and then crossing more fields until I reached the village. It took me several minutes to cross the busy road before I was able to walk down the lane which leads towards Brodsworth.

I popped in to Brodsworth Hall to look at the cars, see how the gardens are, and get a cup of tea; I might as well take advantage of my English Heritage membership. The tea was delicious and restorative, the gardens were okay, but could have been better...the cars were naff though, dating mainly from the 1960s and 1970s and painted in a wide range of garish colours - the type of vehicles I remember being parked outside houses on council estates when I was a child.

I didn't stay long, only about an hour, and then took the quickest route, via Pickburn, to Woodlands and the bus back home. As I was walking through the estate down to the main road a bus came as I was near to a bus stop. I got on, but it probably wasn't a good decision; the bus found every estate it could on its route into town, taking three times longer than I was expecting.

Great Hucklow, Windmill, Old Dam, Beytonsdale, and Castleton.

The guard on the train this morning announced that we would be ten minutes late leaving Doncaster due to overrunning engineering works. This meant that I'd miss the 272 bus at Sheffield, and so would have to catch a later service, to a different destination. After checking my bus timetables, which were still wet after last week's soaking on the Great Ridge, I decided to catch the 65 and start my walk from Great Hucknall. Fortunately there was plenty of room, and even a table, for me to re-fold my map en route. There was plenty of time at Sheffield Midland Station to visit the toilets and pop into the Sainbury's shop there and buy something extra to eat. All I could find was a packet of Welsh cakes; I've never tried these before, in fact, until today I'd never heard of them. They looked a bit like Derby scones, which I think are delicious (never served as part of a cream tea though). Later in the day I was to find out that they didn't taste that much like Derby scones; they were much lighter and not as buttery...but did contain more currants. There were six in the pack and I ate them all; so I must have enjoyed them.

I got off the bus as planned at Great Hucknall and walked through the village, then along the road and a path that goes parallel to the road, until I reached the hamlet of Windmill. There were some pretty views along this section; spoiled somewhat by the poor visibility though. A few hundred yards beyond Windmill there's a gate which is the access to High Rake. Almost immediately there are the ruins of High Rake Mine, with a detailed information board, and a bench facing northwards to  appreciate the view of  Hucklow Edge over to the east. It was 10:45 by now and so the cricket commentary was just beginning: time for my sandwiches and a rummage in my rucksack for my radio. As I ate my sandwiches and Welsh cakes, England got off to a bad start for the day; they did easily win the test match against New Zealand by mid-afternoon though.

Here's a photograph of part of the information board at High Rake Mine; the part with the largest lettering.

I continued walking along High Rake and then crossed a narrow country lane and took the path that continued in the same direction. I was now walking along, and sometimes in the bottom of, Tideslow Rake. This is a very prominent, and impressive landscape feature, the largest in the Peak District I think. Here are two photographs I took, facing both directions, to try and show how large it is, stretching for over a mile - all dug by hand I should think.

  

When I was in the bottom of the rake I heard the sound of a loud engine and looked up to see a low-flying light aircraft; a very small one - a very flimsy single-seater.

After reaching the end of Tideslow Rake I walked along the road for a short distance and then took a path across the field, and then a single track lane, to Old Dam. I continued along this lane to reach Beytonsdale, a hamlet I hadn't visited before.

I took another path leading uphill across more fields and then reached the road, right next to Eldon Quarry. Just before reaching the quarry I saw an eviscerated frog on the grass.

I walked along the old quarry road and then along the section of the Limestone Way which leads down Cave Dale into Castleton. 

As I was approaching Castleton the weather rapidly improved, as you can tell  from this picture I took at the bottom end of Cave Dale, only about a hundred yards from Castleton's market place.

The bus was waiting in at the bus station; service number 273 which goes to Sheffield via the Ladybower Reservoir and the Upper Derwent Valley. The journey back to Sheffield was lovely, especially the section when the bus travels the entire length of the reservoir's upper arm to the visitor centre at Fairholmes. The last time I was here I was in a car with two friends from Leeds listening to Wagner on the CD player...and that was even better. 

I had time to get a cup of tea at Sheffield railway station; however I had to stand on the train, struggling with my drink as it slurped about in the plastic cup. I had a bit of an accident as the train turned sharply to the right just beyond Swinton station when what should have been a sip of scolding hot tea ended up inside my nostrils. Strangely, the hot tea didn't seem to drain back out from my nostrils though.

A Visit To Brodsworth Hall

My English Heritage membership arrived in the post yesterday and so I thought I'd visit the nearest property today; Brodsworth Hall and Gardens, located only about four miles from Doncaster.

The village has a very limited bus service, so I caught the bus to Marr, a neighbouring village on the main Barnsley road; and then walked down a country lane to Brodsworth - about a mile and a half.

I arrived at the hall just after the gardens opened at ten o'clock and requested a ticket for a tour of the house - this would be at eleven o'clock. The conditions were excellent for photography and so I spent the next forty minutes keeping busy with my camera; never straying from the formal gardens and the croquet lawn near to the house though.

Obviously the gardens aren't at their best at this time of year, but a lot of work had still been undertaken in the beds, borders, and containers; and the maintenance of the topiary.

It was soon time for me to join the queue for the tour of the house, actually advertised as a 'taster tour', just taking in a few ground floor rooms - I'd be able to see the rest of the house later on when the 'freeflow entry' session commenced.

To be honest I wasn't too impressed with the interior of the house; it was that dark that I could hardly see anything. The guide did tell us a couple of funny anecdotes though about the family's dogs regularly shitting on the dining room carpet, the one we were standing on, and a bug infestation underneath the carpets in another room which meant that it would be rather unpleasant walking about barefoot, or in your socks.

The tour only lasted for twenty minutes and when I returned outside the weather was still pleasant and so I explored the rest of the gardens; the fern grotto, the rose garden, the archery range, the pet cemetery...and a lot of statuary.

After yesterday's trek across the Derbyshire snowfields it was a nice change to see some exotic plants associated with much warmer weather.

After about half an hour the weather turned cloudy and the temperature fell by a few degrees, so I popped into the tearooms for a cream tea, far better value than the soup of the day. 

I did a final tour of the gardens, which are quite extensive and feature a lot of steps to climb up and down, and my thigh muscles, not fully recovered from yesterday's exertions, were aching a bit.

At one o'clock I went back inside and spent about thirty minutes wandering around the house; I was mostly interested in the servants' quarters.

Finally, I walked towards the village, but turned down the lane to Pickburn and took the most direct route to the shops at Woodlands and caught the bus back into town. If I wasn't so tired I would have extended my day out by climbing to the top of the landscaped spoilheap of the former Broadsworth Colliery, which is now a very impressive country park.  

It's Not The Norovirus.

Although there's been a lot of reporting in the media about the norovirus outbreak in the country there seems to be a rather nasty strain of flu going around Doncaster...and I've caught it.

Since Sunday I've been feeling rather unwell; I started with a headache and violent sneezing, then shivering and sweating at the same time, sometime later I had painful joints and muscles, and now it's progressed to an annoying dry cough accompanied with shortness of breath and a sore upper chest. I think these last symptoms might be a touch of bronchitis, which I'm vulnerable to after a dose of  the flu - I hope this isn't the case though because it'll most likely last for several weeks and will seriously curtail my walking activities...I popped out to the shops this morning and was absolutely shattered when I got back home, so things don't look promising.

Baslow, Hassop, Rowland and Calver.

I got off the bus at Baslow church and soon left the village by crossing the old bridge and then walking along an overgrown snicket. As soon as I had arrived in open countryside I noticed something in the distance over to my right.

If you enlarge the photo you can see that there are two oblong-shaped copses where some of the trees have been felled to spell out the letters 'E' and 'R' - I will let you draw your own conclusions.

I then continued uphill across the fields and along the road to Hassop. En route I noticed some foxgloves in bloom. These are flowering several weeks earlier  than the foxgloves in my garden; I have noticed this with all the plants in my garden. With me living at low altitude in Doncaster the average temperature is a few degrees warmer than it is in the Peak District and so you'd expect my plants to be flowering earlier, yet this isn't the case...even though my garden has a southwesterly aspect. The only reason I can think for this is that I have a large oak tree in my garden which sucks up most of the available water and leaves most parts of the garden in shade for prolonged periods.

It was only a few hundred yards across more fields to Rowland, a pretty little village situated at the foot of Longstone Edge.

Next I climbed up onto the edge, and was pleasantly surprised how much better my breathing was - I'm hoping I'm finally getting rid of my bronchitis.

The final section of the walk was along Coombs Dale, where there were some lovely displays of wildflowers.

I soon arrived at Calver, where I popped in the café and enjoyed a ten item cooked breakfast in the middle of the afternoon.

UPDATE: I've just received this informative reply from a member of one of the online walking forums of which I'm a member:

Hi there - I live in Baslow - what you saw on the hillside (under what is known locally as Crocodile Wood from its shape) was planted to commemorate the Coronation of Elizabeth II - it was replanted a few years ago. It is not felled trees which create the letters but larch which stand out against the darker trees in the rest of the patch.
Chatsworth did another one to commemorate the Queen's Golden Jubilee (in Chatsworth Park) - this one was done in stone - so far as I know they were made to remove it by the Peak National Park.

Moscar Moor, Stanage Edge, Burbage Valley and Fox House.

I've done this walk before, as part of a longer walk I did last year...but I haven't blogged about this section so far.

I got off the bus at the county boundary and joined the waymarked Sheffield Country Walk leading southwards towards Stanage Edge. The entire route is easy going, being fairly flat, although at a high altitude, and on a clear day the views are spectacular. Today wasn't a clear day though, it was misty and quite chilly compared to Doncaster, which was considerably warmer when I arrived home.

About half way along the journey I noticed some vehicles in the distance which were not parked on a road; as I got closer I saw that it was a convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles that had been driven across the moors and was now struggling to descend a steep, narrow and dangerous section of track. People were out of their vehicles removing boulders which were blocking the way...and the embankment was crumbling because of the combined weight of eight or nine cars.

Two motorcyclists were struggling to get by as I took the photograph.

About half a mile further on I stopped to eat my sandwiches and enjoyed watching groups of students rock climbing, bouldering and weaseling between the gaps between the larger rocks.

Later on I stopped for an orange lolly from the ice cream van that usually parks at the Upper Burbage car park and then had a leisurely stroll back to Fox House.

Hello

Last year I was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and given a travel pass by Social Services. On pretty much a weekly basis I've been using this pass to go hiking in the Peak District - I live in Doncaster and so it's relatively easy for me to get there. During this time I've been taking photos and posting them on Facebook; but now I've decided to set up this blog and share my photos and experiences of my visits to this beautiful part of the country with a wider audience.