Lodge Moor, Rivelin Dams, Ughill, and Low Bradfield

As usual the number 51 bus was packed with schoolchildren so my journey out to the terminus at Lodge Moor was rather unpleasant - but I arrived there unflustered and unscathed. 

I dropped straight down into Fox Hagg Local Nature Reserve; I noticed that the first, and steepest section of the bridleway had been re-surfaced since my previous visit. Further down it got very muddy underfoot in places as I walked through woodland to reach the Rivelin Dams and the Wyming Brook Nature Reserve at the bottom of the valley.

There's a small car park at the entrance to the nature reserve and a lay-by at the other access point on the A57 road. As I approached the latter I noticed at least four small plastic bags most likely containing dog pooh...maybe it would have been better if the dog walkers had just let their pets do their business and not bothered to pick it up and bag it. Certainly the environment would look a lot cleaner...but at least I suppose the drinking water supply isn't getting contaminated.

I walked along the busy main road for a short distance and then took the first path leading up to the right, a steady, gentle climb up to Crawshaw Lodge. There's a sign on the gate that reads 'Beware of the Dogs' - I was more concerned about the peacocks, I counted at least seven of them. 

I made quick progress along the track across the moor to Crawshaw Farm, and then Ughill. I had to stop and take a photograph of the direction signs at the junction of two roads.

It's not a very good photograph of some not particularly attractive countryside...but I couldn't resist an image which includes the words or phrases, 'Ugh, Tinker Bottom, Dung, and Burglars Beware.'

I passed through Ughill, there are only about half a dozen farms or houses there, and continued along the road until I reached a footpath which took me across the fields to another stretch of road, and then a path downhill to Dale Dike Reservoir. Towards the bottom of this section the footpath which goes through the forest was closed because of tree felling and so I took what was marked as the diversion...well it wasn't, I got a bit confused trying to remember exactly where I should go and ended up just heading directly for where I wanted to be, climbing over a fence and two walls to finally get there.

It was quite busy as I was walking alongside the reservoir; a dog wearing a nice red woolly coat approached me and so I asked it how it managed to keep the coat so clean. Almost instantly its female owner answered telling me that the trick is not to walk where it's muddy; a few minutes later five greyhounds sniffed my crotch, each in turn...not saying a word between them.

I always take a photograph of the pump house when I pass it...and the memorial stone to the victims of the Great Sheffield Flood a few yards further on.

Finally I walked down the road to Low Bradfield, well actually the bus terminus at the edge of the village: the view from there is quite pleasant.

My journey home to Doncaster was thankfully uneventful. The weather in the Peak District today wasn't very good, mainly overcast with a cold wind...but when I arrived back home it was sunny and warm. This isn't too surprising though because I think the weather in Doncaster is significantly better than the upland areas of the country such as the Peak District.

If everything goes according to plan I'll be going on the bus to Gainsborough tomorrow with my friend Justin - something that I couldn't have done six months ago when I needed at least a day to recover from a walk.

Worksop

Although I've been to Worksop quite a few times I've never actually visited the priory before and so I was looking forward to seeing it and taking a few photographs this morning.

I got off the bus at the first town centre stop and walked down to the priory, taking photographs en route.

The sun was at the wrong angle for photographing the towers of the priory...but not for the gatehouse.

I had breakfast in the 'Liquorice Gardens' and then looked in the shops, buying my first pair of waist size forty inch trousers for many years...from a charity shop.

Bakewell, Rowsley, Calton Lees, Calton Houses, and Edensor.

It turned out to be a lovely day and yet I didn't make the decision to go walking until quite late last night after the weather forecast had been updated; I even told my friend that I'd got nothing planned this weekend when he phoned up earlier.

The 218 bus service runs every thirty minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, alternating between going directly to Bakewell or going the long way round via Chatsworth House. The bus I caught went to Bakewell first and so that's where I started my walk today. The bus went on a diversion though, the road was closed at Owler Bar and so we travelled via Froggatt and Calver; a chance for me to enjoy some different countryside.

Obviously I arrived at Bakewell a few minutes late, but I didn't mind. It was still a bit overcast when I took the first photographs...it didn't take long for it to brighten up though, and stay that way.

I climbed up to, and then walked along, the final few hundred yards of the Monsal Trail until I reached Coombs Viaduct, then continued along the bridleway which goes past Bowling Green Farm to Rowsley; I think it's impassable for horses, but there were tracks where I could see that mountainbikers had been. Like the rest of the walk, it was very muddy in places.

Some very nice countryside along here.

I dropped down into Rowsley, visiting the churchyard, but not venturing much further into the village because my footpath was just at the side of the churchyard. The church is quite picturesque, but not very old; it looks to be Victorian.

Once I'd passed the muddy sections the route towards Calton Lees is very easy, almost flat and walking on grass. I had a pleasant surprise when I got there; there was a vintage car rally taking place.

At Calton Houses the Chatsworth Estate has done a very good job in converting an old barn into a holiday cottage, or maybe even two.

The next cottage is also owned by the estate, but regular tenants live there, most likely estate workers. Properties owned by the Chatsworth Estate are easily identifiable by the blue/green petrol-coloured paint that is used on the buildings, the doors, fences, gates, windows, drainpipes, and eaves,

It was a short climb up to the top of the ridge and then a steady descent, with far-reaching views, down to Edensor.

I lingered at Edensor, taking photographs of all the cottages that were bathed in sunlight...here are a few of the better shots.

When I arrived at the bus stop on the main road I discovered that I had over half an hour to wait until the next scheduled bus was due, but who knows what time that might be because of the road closure? I decided to set off for Chatsworth House where I knew the public toilets would be open. Not long after I'd crossed the road the bus whizzed past me on its way to the House, where it turns round and then continues on its journey to Sheffield, either direct or via Bakewell. So...I had plenty of time to walk the couple of hundred or so yards back and wait at the bus-stop.

Annoyingly I seemed to be spending a lot of time pulling up my trousers today, I must be getting close to having a forty inch waist now...I will certainly have to punch another hole in my belt.

My Blogstats

If you click on the Revolver Maps globe icon at the bottom of the screen you'll see a real-time update of my blog visitors, most likely though it will only be your own visit that's being shown because the blog doesn't get a lot of visitors. It's a niche and specialist subject that I write about, but I've been told that my visitor numbers are quite reasonable considering.

The other widget at the bottom of the screen is a link to Google's own stats page which records several times more visitors, but these numbers include the various automatic cataloguing and aggregating services.

As to what my statistics show; well about eighty percent of my visitors are from the UK, the two most popular cities being Sheffield and London, and quite a few from wherever they live will be regular visits by people who read the blog every time I write a new post. About ten percent are from the USA, but many of these are from the same four locations, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Redmond, and Chicago - probably where the large multinational internet conglomerates are based. I know for sure that I do have one regular flesh and blood visitor reader of the blog in America and that's Anne from Madison, Wisconsin. She's a Facebook friend and we regularly interact over there...she first contacted me in response to a post or comment I made on one of the autism/Asperger's forums; her daughter has got Asperger's syndrome too. Hello Anne.

Since I installed Revolver Maps I've had visits from people in 111 different countries, well less than half of the countries in the world; it gives me a bit of a filip though when I notice a new country has been logged. I like stats, it's one of my Aspergic traits and I probably spend far too much time obsessing over them.

Where do most of my referrals come from? Well, it looks like it's search engines, mainly Google and Google Image Search. This post doesn't contain any photographs and so won't be as popular as those which do...which is most of my posts. My photographs seem to rank quite high on Google Image Search and I get a lot of visitors from there...even to my old posts. When I publish a new post I get a rush of visitors from the sites where I post a direct link, mainly Facebook, but also Twitter, Reddit, and a couple of walking based forums. Occasionally when I comment on another person's blog I might get the odd visitor too...but not that often.

Finally, one thing I've noticed and don't understand at all is why I'm getting a lot of visitors from my own blog. I wonder what's going on there? Maybe someone can help and let me know.

Latest Health Update

Since my twin diagnosis of rickets and diabetes in the middle of last year my health, wellbeing, and appearance has improved drastically. During this time I've lost five stone in weight and have so much more energy and stamina. I can climb up hills without having to regularly stop to bend over double to catch my breath, even jogging up some of the easier sections. My muscle control, balance, and confidence has improved when I'm scrambling over rocks or navigating through a peat bog, I no longer have a problem with muscle knots or painful cramp in my legs...and I'm convinced that many of my problems due to my Asperger's syndrome don't seem to be anywhere nearly as severe as they used to be. I seem to be immune to colds and the flu, recover from exercise almost instantaneously, don't crave food all the time, don't sweat excessively [ meaning I drink a lot less water too ] and I'm much more comfortable with approaching people and talking to them...which makes a walk a lot more pleasurable.

So...I'll be continuing to take the tablets, vitamin D and metformin; at the moment I'm feeling fifteen years younger.

As a result of losing all the weight I'm having to regularly keep on buying smaller sized clothes from charity shops, and I do feel the cold a lot more...but overall it's not a bad trade-off and life is good for me at the moment.