Lodge Moor, Redmires, and Whirlow Bridge

The number 51 bus was ten minutes late today: during the thirty minutes I was therefore waiting for it on Arundel Gate in Sheffield nearly a dozen number 120 buses going to Crystal Peaks must have passed me - they seem to be everywhere in the city centre.

I rode on the bus all the way to the terminus at Lodge Moor and then took the path which leads northwards and downhill into Fox Hagg Nature Reserve. After a few minutes I turned left and headed towards the Peak District. The path remained quite high and I had occasional glimpses of the Rivelin Dams through the dense silver birch woods, which had now nearly lost all their leaves.

I reached the furthest west point of the walk, and was briefly inside the boundary of the National Park for a few hundred yards, in an area that I know as Redmires; local Sheffield people might call it by another name though. I came up from the woods, crossed over Redmires Road and walked along Soughley Lane - I don't know which pronunciation is correct, a quick look at the Google search results didn't help.

I walked in an easterly direction along Brown Hills Lane, passed Bole Hill, where I got a decent photograph a bit further on, and then turned right at Bennett Grange.

I then turned left down a very narrow enclosed lane where I would have had a lot of trouble if a car had been needing to use the road at the same time, fortunately none did.

I arrived at a small group of buildings which isn't named on the Ordnance Survey map; there's a Methodist Church, an old school which is now an environmental study centre, a postbox, and a row of cottages a few yards away down the lane I took, identified as 'Workhouse Cottages' - I've not come across this term before; maybe this being a rural area, these cottages were used as the actual parish workhouse. I'm quite interested in workhouses; I was actually born in one: in truth it was a local hospital by that time...but if no-one asks for clarification, I don't volunteer the additional information.

I continued to walk across farmland pastures until I reached the Porter Valley at Clough Lane. There's a waterfall here with a drop of about eight foot, after the recent heavy rain it was looking quite impressive today. As usual my camera's automatic settings couldn't cope with the fast moving water, and I couldn't cope with the camera's manual settings.

It was quite sunny when I reached Forge Dam Cafe; there had been a couple of light showers earlier though. I went inside although there were people sitting outside, and it was pleasantly warm. I ordered a cooked breakfast; I thought it was a bit more expensive than the last time I visited a couple of years ago...in particular, £2 for a mug of tea is a bit much.

It was raining again when I left the cafe, quite a bit heavier this time and so I got a chance to wear my new trapper's hat...it was very warm; probably too warm for a mild day in October. The sun was shining again only a few minutes later though, and this was the best weather of the walk. I found the path that I was looking for that leads uphill towards Cottage Lane. I kept stopping to admire the spectacular views of the western suburbs of Sheffield behind me, spotlit by the sun and framed by a complete semi-circle rainbow: I took several dozen photographs, and here are the best two.

In my enthusiasm to get the best camera angles I lost the track of the path and had to climb over a wall to get onto another path, which fortunately would take me in approximately the same direction.

I stopped to eat some chocolate, sitting on a bench with a nice view towards the city centre. It was right next to horse chestnut tree and conkers were regularly falling about me; one landed on my left shoulder and another landed on my right boot; no damage though...no young boys excited by this easy bounty though either. Do children still play conkers now?

It was a short stretch of road, then a short cut across some fields and I was at the covered reservoir on Ringinglow Road. The path then went dead straight across grassy fields for a few hundred yards; I was quite high up here again and the visibility was good - the horizon was populated by power station cooling towers and several dozen wind turbines glinting in the sunlight - you'd think the cost of electricity in Yorkshire would be relatively cheap compared to other parts of the country; we certainly seem to generate a lot of it.

I had some steep steps to climb down to reach the bottom of the Limb Valley; by the time I'd reached the well-maintained bridleway going alongside the river it had started raining again. I had intended to finish today's walk at Abbeydale, but it was clear that I'd already had the best of the weather and I couldn't imagine that I'd be missing out on anything by not walking through Ecclesall Wood in the rain.

I got to the bus shelter on Ecclesall Road just as the number 272 bus from Castleton was arriving; it looked like that it had been delayed by a couple of cyclists that it couldn't get past.

Perfect timing for me!

Lodge Moor, Rivelin Dams, Rivelin Valley, Malin Bridge, and Hillsborough.

An early start this morning. I arrived at Sheffield at about 08:15 in order to take advantage of the frequent running and the convenient timing of the number 51 bus.

Things didn't go exactly to plan though since I lost quite a bit of time by standing waiting for the bus on the wrong side of the road; it seems that most of the buses that run along Arundel Gate use a one-way loop through the city centre...this was news to me - there's certainly no mention of it in the printed timetable.

Anyhow, I got off the bus at the terminus at Lodge Moor, walked along the road for a few yards and took the footpath which leads down through Fox Hagg Nature Reserve; such a beautiful place, even though it's so close to a large housing estate. At various locations I could see right across to the other side of the Rivelin Valley, and beyond, and out towards Derbyshire to the west.

I soon reached the car park at the Lower Rivelin Dam; this is where I crossed into the Peak District. I walked along a wide, well-surfaced track along the southern shore - unfortunately the views of the water were often obscured by trees. The pungent aroma of pine was heady and refreshing though; and made the actual act of breathing a pleasurable, sensual experience.

I then took a rather rocky and overgrown path which went alongside the upper reaches of the River Rivelin and came out onto the A57 road right next to the 'Welcome to Hollow Meadows' sign. I crossed the road and then it was a gentle climb across fields to reach Crawshaw Lodge. On the Ordnance Survey map, next to the track at the back of the building, a cemetery is depicted, yet all I saw was a 'Private - No Entry' sign. This track continued onto a tract of high heather moorland and then descended towards Crawshaw Farm, where I ended up getting lost due to a lack of appropriate signage.

After climbing and clambering over several walls, fences and gates I thought I was going to get back onto the path...until I brushed up against a well-hidden electric fence. The two shocks I received were very unpleasant and gave me a feeling of numbness in my left elbow area for about ten minutes. Another wall with a barbed wire fence on top and a slog through a sticky bog and I was finally where I needed to be; taking the path which goes down through Royds Clough.

I then walked along country lanes and footpaths leading across grassy fields until I noticed a brick chimney lurking in the bottom of a small valley. Looking at the map, this appears to be a location called 'Stopes.' There were some lovely viewpoints looking down into the valley at several places along this section: it seems that Bradfield Parish Council is very good at providing seats in all of the best spots.

A path that I chose went alongside the perimeter fence of the mill/works at Stopes; it was then more country lanes, farm tracks and footpaths across grassy or muddy fields until I came down into the Rivelin Valley Nature Trail, about a mile from its start. This is familiar territory for me and I knew it wouldn't be too long until I'd reach the Café in the Park. I think I was too late for a hearty meal, so made do with a pot of tea, a toasted teacake and a sticky flapjack. I noticed that Bradwell's Ice Cream was on sale; I'd already spent nearly £5 and thought it would be greedy and extravagant to order some...I did feel like I was letting the side down though.

It isn't far from the café to Malin Bridge, and then the shops at Hillsborough, where I got the tram to Meadowhall, and then the train back to Doncaster.