Upper Derwent Valley Reservoirs Walk

I could very well not have been able to go walking today because of a potentially serious injury. I was out drinking with friends in Leeds last night [only having Diet Cokes though because I'm diabetic] and we went to sit outside in the beer garden at the back of the pub. The seating is located on a raised platform made out of wooden decking; I moved my chair a few inches from the table to make a bit of space for myself but as I sat down one of the chair legs went straight through a rotten section of the timber. Fortunately I wasn't hurt at all, the accident seemed to happen in slow motion and I had a very soft landing. 

So...I was awake at 06:30 this morning after a good night's sleep, uninjured, full of energy, and raring to go. The first thing I saw after leaving the house was a middle-aged woman sitting on the grass on a piece of waste ground at the end of my street, surrounded by at least a dozen pairs of shoes, energetically trying on every one - she didn't look like a homeless person, or a drunk, or a drug addict...in fact she looked very smart and quite attractive.

I caught the 273 bus at Sheffield and travelled to Fairholmes, as far up the Derwent Valley as the bus goes before it turns around and goes back down the valley and then continues to Castleton. I walked a clockwise circuit of the two reservoirs, a distance of about eleven miles mainly flat and on a metalled surface, although I regularly ventured down to the water's edge to take photographs. The water level is currently very low, only fifty five percentage capacity, so low in fact that I was easily able to cross on foot what would normally be the western bay of Derwent Reservoir - the water here was only a few inches wide.

Many of the remains of the old railway and some of the buildings of the villages that were abandoned and flooded to make room for the reservoirs were clearly visible, these are the supporting pillars for Ouzelden Viaduct.

As I continued walking wherever there was a gap in the trees there were wonderful views of the reservoirs, the dams, and the hills beyond.

When I got back to Fairholmes it was only about twenty minutes until the bus going in the Castleton direction was due. Unfortunately it was quite a few minutes late and so I missed my tight connection at Bamford for the 272.  So...I had to wait another thirty minutes there and the next bus that arrived that was going to Sheffield was the 273, the same vehicle and the same driver, and also going all the way back up to Fairholmes before heading eastwards towards Sheffield. 

Bamford, Yorkshire Bridge, Aston, Hope and Castleton.

I got off the bus at the bus-stop for Bamford railway station - this is as far as this service goes into the village. I had intended to walk a few hundred yards further into the village and take a path which leads past the old mill and across a footbridge and weir. I had to make other arrangements though; part of the footbridge had been washed away, last month it seems.

Fortunately, I only had to retrace my steps for a couple of minutes; but checking the map I realised I would have to walk right through the village and nearly a mile further until I'd be able to cross the River Derwent at Yorkshire Bridge.

Yorkshire Bridge has an interesting history and is unique in the Peak District. It was constructed as a planned village in the early decades of the twentieth century to house residents when the villages of Derwent and Ashopton were evacuated so that the Upper Derwent Valley could be flooded to form the Howden, Derwent and Ladybower reservoirs.

I then climbed and subsequently descended the path which leads to Aston, the last few hundred yards being along a sunken lane with many wildflowers blooming on the steep verges. The next stage of the walk was across fields and along a short stretch of the River Noe to reach Hope, where I stopped for a cup of tea at one of the tea rooms located next to a pub.

It was then a short easy stroll to Castleton, with pleasing views of Lose Hill and the Great Ridge.