Windmill, Great Hucklow, Grindlow, Foolow, Eyam, Stoney Middleton, Froggatt, Grindleford, and Hathersage

Today's walk started from Windmill, a tiny hamlet where I'd not travelled to before on the bus. I took the path that runs right next to the road as I headed towards Great Hucklow. There were lovely views looking over to the north.

I continued for a short distance across the fields to Grindlow, and then Foolow.

The walk over to Eyam was easy, nice and flat with possibly no stiles at all. After walking through the village I took the high level route over to Stoney Middleton.

I descended into the Derwent Valley at Froggatt and followed the Derwent Valley Heritage Way north to Hathersage, passing through Grindleford.

As I was approaching the bus stop at Hathersage I noticed my brother already waiting there. We hadn't arranged to meet and I didn't even know he was also walking in the Peak District today. We chatted on the bus going into Sheffield and then he caught the local stopping train going to Leeds and I caught the Cleethorpes train to get back home to Doncaster.

Castleton, Bradwell, and Hope

A walk from Castleton to Eldon Hill today, the highest point in the White Peak area of the Peak District. When I reached Sheffield I walked up the hill and caught the bus at the Howard Street stop; nearby there's a brightly coloured fibreglass bear. These bears are placed all over the city, just like similar elephants were a few years ago.

I arrived at Castleton at nine o'clock; I wasn't the only hiker on the bus at that time.

I walked up Cave Dale and then took a path heading to the west towards Eldon Hill Quarry and another path which goes alongside the edge of the quarry. Just to the right of the path it's Access Land and so I was able to walk across the grassy scrubland to the summit of the hill, overlooking the now disused quarry. There's nothing to see at the summit, not even a trig point and because it was misty I couldn't even walk over to maybe get some good shots of the quarry.

I did manage to take a photograph of Eldon Hole though, I thought it looked quite haunting, although that doesn't come over very well.

I then returned to the path a few hundred yards further along and continued to just to the north of Old Dam and then took a series of footpaths and a long stretch of road heading east towards Bradwell. 

I entered the Smalldale area, on the northern edge of Bradwell and finished  by walking along the road to Hope to catch the bus; I didn't have long to wait.

The final photograph features the Hope Cement Works which I always think looks like a fairytale castle when looked at from certain angles.

I'm sorry there aren't many photographs today, and those I've included aren't really that good. it seems that my eyes are better in poor visibility than my camera's lens is, the camera's not a cheap one either, it's a Kodak. I only paid £10 for it though from the secondhand shop.

Snake Pass Summit to Castleton

This has been the walk I should have done on Friday when the bus didn't show up. Things didn't get off to a good start though because the early morning train from Doncaster to Sheffield was cancelled again and so I had to use the bus.

I travelled to the summit of the Snake Pass, there's a bus stop there that's used by the X57 service that goes to Manchester. I walked to the south along the Pennine Way; it was easy going at first, a paved path going across the moors, relatively level for at least a couple of miles.

The path then climbed up to the plateau of Kinder Scout , keeping to the western edge followed by the steep rocky descent down Jacob's Ladder to the Vale of Edale.

I passed through the tiny hamlet of Upper Booth and left the Pennine Way before reaching Barber Booth and then climbed up on to the Great Ridge and finished the walk at Castleton. The weather wasn't as nice as Friday, very little sunshine and occasional drizzle with a bit of heavier, more persistent rain for the final hour.

Surprise View, Hathersage, Bamford, Thornhill, and Brough

I should have been travelling on the X57 bus to the summit of the Snake Pass this morning but the bus didn't show up. Whilst I was waiting at the bus station two other buses departed for the Peak District, the 218 going to Bakewell and the 65 going to Buxton. When the Castleton bus started boarding I moved over and joined that queue; I'd given the X57 twenty minutes and I wasn't giving it any longer...a few other people made the same decision as well.

I wanted to get off the bus and start walking as soon as possible and so only travelled as far as Surprise View, the first stop in Derbyshire. I climbed up on to Millstone Edge and enjoyed some classic views looking up the Hope Valley, and then made my way down to Hathersage.

I didn't enter the centre of Hathersage. The footpath came out near to the church and then I found another one which continued across a field, through the allotments and then through open countryside to Bamford.

I popped in to The Angler's Rest Tearooms at Bamford for tea and cake and then walked down the lane that leads to Bamford Mill where I used the walkway and stepping stones to cross the River Derwent.

It was only a short walk over to Thornhill and then as I was heading for Hope I had to make another decision. The timing for catching a bus back to Sheffield was going to be very convenient at Brough and so I ended the walk there.

Malton

I went to somewhere today with my support worker and I was rather disappointed with the place. It was Malton, a decent sized market town but with relatively few photo-opportunities. I couldn't get any decent shots of the church, there aren't any outstanding buildings or picturesque courtyards or alleyways; even the selection of shops was limited, only three charity shops that I could remember, and no large antiques centres to wander round.

 

On our way back to the carpark we spotted a sign pointing to Old Malton and so wandered up the hill. I was pleasantly surprised with this part of the town though, there was a mediaeval church, a large lodge converted into an hotel and what looked like some old almshouses.

On the way to Malton we got stuck in a traffic jam for thirty minutes and so decided to travel home using a different route. We passed through several pretty villages which would be ideal to visit in the future, probably on a day out based at Easingwold.