Derby and Bolsover

Although I regularly go walking in Derbyshire I think I've only once ever been to the city of Derby, over thirty years ago; so I thought I'd go for the day with Siobhan, my support worker, and see what I could remember...absolutely nothing at all as it turned out. I took plenty of photos though, it's been a lovely sunny day.

The first photograph was taken on the footbridge as we approached the Catholic cathedral, just at the moment when a strange hybrid Father Christmas walrus character was cycling towards us.

There are several old pubs in the city like this one.

The Anglican cathedral isn't much further. The ornate tomb of Bess of Hardwick is inside.

We then walked down to the Market Place and the main shopping area, looking for charity shops - no bargains today though.

We finished by spending a few minutes sitting at the riverside.

The plan was to then call back at Alfreton on our way home, more charity shops and tea and cake in a cafe. We ended driving three times round and through the town trying to find the car parks. There were signs for us to follow, but all of the car parks seemed to belong to supermarkets...and they were operating some sort of complicated voucher system, with the cost of parking redeemable inside the shop. Far too complicated I'm afraid, so we returned to the motorway and stopped at Bolsover, where I knew there was free parking. 

Unfortunately Bolsover was closed when we got there at three o'clock, or at least all four cafes were. We were desperate for tea and cake and so went in a pub and ordered a cup of tea and  apple and cherry crumble with cream, which was absolutely delicious.

We burned off some of the calories we had consumed by walking around the perimeter of the castle, just below the walls.

Steetley Quarry

A short walk with Marshall, my support worker who I see on Fridays. We parked the car in the lay-by just before the water tower at Warmsworth and walked down into Steetley Quarry, a quite steep and slippery descent in places.

I think the landscape in the quarry looks like the Badlands in South Dakota; here's an image I found online.

We then continued along the path and climbed up onto Conisbrough Viaduct; I struggled with my grip underfoot and had to find an easier, less steep, route on firmer ground - I wasn't wearing my walking boots. 

The visibility was significantly better than when I was here with Chris and Jonathan on Saturday.

We returned to the car, passing Warmsworth Water Tower.

Weather Forecasts

It's recently been reported that the Met Office has lost the contract to provide the weather forecasts for the BBC. No reason has been given, it will probably be financial, but if it turns out to be because of the poor standard of recent forecasts then I wouldn't be surprised.

In my experience this year has been particularly bad for the Met Office: I'm fortunate in that because I'm disabled and don't have to go out to work I can pretty much choose when I go walking, [I'd much rather have a job - but that's not relevant here] but I can recall cancelling a walk on at least four or five occasions and then being frustrated because the weather turned out to be much better than the forecast.

One particular trend I've noticed is how often the forecasts change, and change a lot, not just a bit of fine tuning - something that makes planning any outdoor activity difficult.

Let's hope the new provider of weather forecasting services for the BBC is able to do a better job. 

Newark, Southwell, and Kelham Hall

A day out in Nottinghamshire with one of my support workers visiting two of my favourite towns, Newark and Southwell.

Newark has its castle, several Victorian arcades, pretty courtyards and alleyways, and a beautiful market place.

We ate our sandwiches in the castle grounds and then walked down to the Market Place and the shops. As usual we looked in all the charity shops; Sue Ryder seemed to be having some sort of sale - as many items as you could get in a large carrier bag for £9. I found nine items in my size; there was room for more, but nothing else would fit me. I came home with a suit, a Regatta fleece, A Slazenger top, two smart shirts, two sports shirts, and a pair of trousers....the best day's shopping I've ever done.

Southwell is rightly famous for its minster, but there are other reasons to visit the town, quirky independent shops, a workhouse that's open as a museum...and everything you might want to know about Bramley apples. Southwell is the home of Bramley apples and this week is the town's apple festival. There were apples in almost every shop window, irrespective of what was sold there...quite a bit of thought and care had been taken with incorporating the fruit into the regular window displays. Excellent!

  

On the way home we called in at Kelham Hall and Country Park, and weren't we glad we did. It's a lovely spot. The hall itself seems to be used by a number of separate businesses but there is limited access to the public. However, being a bit nosey as we are, myself and Siobhan went everywhere that we could reach on the ground floor; everyone said 'hello' to us and seemed to usher us in to every room - maybe they thought we were some sort of government inspectors. To be honest, it's a natural skill I have...and it's happened before. We were disappointed with the cafe's facilities...and so we told the chef on our way out.

We went for a short walk in the park and were joined by dozens of grey squirrels; they were everywhere.

Sprotbrough And Conisbrough Viaduct With Chris And Jonathan

I've done this walk quite a few times but this was the first time for both Chris, my monthly summer Peak District walking companion from Leeds, and Jonathan, another friend from Leeds.

Chris is particularly interested in walking along the routes of abandoned railway lines and so the walk incorporating  climbing up to the the viaduct would be an ideal way for the three of us to spend a few hours as Chris' wife and her friend were going round the shops in Doncaster.

I met them all Doncaster Avoiding Lineat the railway station and then Chris, Jonathan, and myself walked along the river to Sprotbrough, where we called in the pub; Jonathan and Chris had meals but I only had a pot of tea and a soft drink...I would be eating later. 

En route we passed under two railway viaducts over the Don Gorge, one carrying the Doncaster Avoiding Line, and the other which is now only used as a cycle route; we also passed under the viaduct which carries the A1(M) motorway.

After leaving the pub at Sprotbrough we took the high level path through the woods, before returning down into the gorge. When we reached the viaduct Chris took the quickest, and steepest, route up, whereas Jonathan and myself took a longer but less steep route - I'd noticed he was beginning to struggle a bit by now after five of the day's six miles.

The views from the top were marred by poor visibility, hence no photographs.

Even though the viaduct is about a hundred foot above the river, we still had to climb higher to reach the road from where we caught the bus back into Doncaster; by now Jonathan had had enough.

Back in town we retreated into one of my favourite pubs; this time I had a meal whereas Chris and Jonathan only had a drink each.