Curbar Crossroads, Curbar, Froggatt, and Surprise View

I caught the Bakewell bus to Curbar Crossroads and walked along the path to the Wellington Monument. There are usually Highland cattle along here, as there were today...but that's all.

This isn't the Wellington Monument...

...but this is.

I then continued down to the village of Curbar using several different paths, all well signposted. I was glad to get out of the cold wind.

I had to be careful not to get my shadow in shot as I took these photographs.

As I approached the village I got chatting with a local dogwalker who told me that this quaint little circular building used to be a jail.

I walked down the road  to Froggatt. and joined the the Derwent Valley Heritage Way there and stayed with it for about a mile until I climbed up to the Hathersage road.

I went up onto the moors and had quite a clamber to reach the rocks at the top.

I returned to the Hathersage road at the Surprise View Car Park where there's a bus stop. I'd had the best of the weather by now and it had just started to rain as the bus arrived.

Walking From Curbar Crossroads to Fox House With Damo and Lydia

A short afternoon walk in the Peak District today with my friend Damo from Leeds, and Lydia, his friend who lives in Sheffield.

We arranged to meet at the bus station at Sheffield for two o'clock; fortunately they were twenty minutes early and so were able to catch the 13:40 bus, arriving at the start of our walk about forty minutes later.

We headed over to the Wellington Monument and then the Eagle Stone.

We continued walking along the Eastern Edges until we reached Fox House, calling en route at the Grouse Inn, which is at an isolated location up on the moors.

We had a Diet Coke each at the Grouse Inn - I took photographs of the foreign banknotes which are displayed throughout the pub.

It was a bit too windy on the edges, but otherwise it's been a lovely afternoon and early evening spent walking and chatting in Derbyshire with friends.

Totley, Holmesfield, Millthorpe, Unthank, Baslow...and Sheffield

I caught the bus to the Cross Scythes pub at Totley this morning and walked down Totley Hall Lane; at the bottom I had a choice of two footpaths to take and I chose the left one, taking the route of the Sheffield Country Walk. After a couple of fields I'd crossed over into Derbyshire and continued heading south for Holmsfield, leaving the Sheffield Country Walk at Woodthorpe Hall.

As I was walking through a wood I noticed thousands of small acorns on the ground; they were tiny, no bigger than my fingernail. The acorns in my back garden must be four times larger.

As I approached Holmesfield I had to punch an aggressive tarpaulin on the nose - it wouldn't let go of me.

The church  is late Georgian [1826].

It was a pleasant walk in the sunshine continuing southwards to Millbridge and then heading west towards the tiny hamlet of Unthank.

I passed a couple of properties at Unthank before turning south again but went the wrong way in Meekfield Wood. I easily managed to walk over to the road though; this road marks the eastern edge of the Peak District National Park here. 

At the junction with the next road I turned west and entered inside the boundary of the national park and kept on walking until I reached a footpath that goes across Big Moor and then another footpath which eventually leads down to Baslow, passing by the Wellington Monument. On the way I didn't miss the opportunity to photograph this unusual road sign; I'm sure it will start off a good discussion thread on the 'Geo Geeks' Facebook page when I ask them if anyone's got a similar photograph with two destinations with only the one letter different in their names.

The Highland cattle are very good at posing for the camera.

It was a relatively early finish today before the rain set in; I got some bargains in Sheffield and then took some photographs in the rain.

Fox House and the Eastern Edges

A walk with Maureen and Chris from Leeds today. As usual the brief was a six to eight mile walk, fairly flat and easy conditions, and parking somewhere with toilets. Starting a walk from Fox House just about fits all these criteria, although the public toilets are now closed there are still some at the visitor centre at Longshaw, only a ten minute stroll. Out of good practice I always take my map, but I didn't need it today...and didn't use it - I know the area very well.

As the passengers were boarding the bus at Sheffield Interchange I helped the driver work out where a couple of foreign students needed to get off; the end of the road to Ringinglow for Mayfield Alpaca Farm and Fox House for the car parking area at Longshaw Estate. This seems to be becoming a regular task for me; I'm not a particularly helpful person...it's just that I see this as being the best way to hurry things up and make sure that the bus sets off on time.

The route of today's walk was through the grounds of Longshaw Estate, along the road to the footpath on the top of Froggatt Edge, cut across the moors to Eagle Stone and the Wellington Monument, and then across more moorland to reach White Edge and return to the visitor centre at Longshaw...and then finally back to Fox House.