Hello Blog long time no see. So where were we ? Well today was a little jaunt down the Hope Vally railway line (from Sheffield) to Hope, then walking on to Edale, before catching the train back to Sheffield.
Given that I had caught the 1214 from Sheffield, by the time I alighted from Hope, it was near lunch time and thoughts were turning to my M&S roll. So having found my path on the gradual ascent to Win Hill, I found a nice rock to sit on and have my snap (yes you Northern bastards, I am trying to learn the lingo). Yet no sooner had I done that then a vicious gang of bovine bullies had crept up behind me, shouting and making cat calls through a gate they were attempting to break down (when are the courts going to do something about this ?). Deciding that discression was the better part of valour, I gave them a one fingered salute, after taking their photo (should the police require evidence), and decided to have my snickers bar and orange carton elsewhere.
The descent up Win Hill was reasonably straightforward, after discovering my second choice of path was the one up to the trig point. The heather looked nice (of course) but not as purple as me and Helen have seen it in the past.
Following the descent all the way down past the plantation and along the Roman road, I eventually ended up at Hope Cross. After a little confusion with my instructions, I eventually picked up the path taking me down to Jaggers Clough, and then the path up to Nether Moor.
There then followed a long and scenic descent down to Clough Farm where I initially encountered some mountain bikers coming the other way, and then a whole herd of sheep being rounded up by someone on a quad bike. Continuing on I took at right at Ollerbrook farm before following a scenic route into Edale, where I managed to make the hourly 1630 train, with about 3 minutes to spare. An excellent day (which made me feel like I was on holiday) and first rate walk (which I will certainly be doing again).
Walks Since Last Blog Entry
Chander Hill (Circular) - 15/06/13 - Helen (Molly) - 2.5 Miles / Chesterfield (Trans Pennine Trail) Circular - 17/06/13 - 10.5 Miles / Beeley (Circular) - 08/07/13 - 3.5 Miles / Sundry Others
Anyway I eventually found my way onto Lovers Walk, on a steep stepped climb that had me looking back at the Heights Of Abraham on one side (cable cars too small to see in this photo) and Matlock Bath, with some sort of school holiday fun-fare way below. This soon descended in a switch back to the river Derwent, where I crossed a white footbridge to come out on the A6. There I followed the road past Masson Mills, regretting the fact that I had already had my lunch, before turning left to pass Cromford Mills. The visitor centre there had a board displayed outside for Bradwell's ice cream. Now this seemed a good idea, but the grumpy sod in the visitor centre told me there was no one to operate the kiosk (what looked like a standard fridge thing to me), and told me to piss off (well not his exacts words, but if you can read body language.....)
Fortunately disaster was averted as there was an ice cream van, at the joining point of Cromford canal (also a conveniently placed set of conveniences). From here it was a fast and flat canal walk that took me to my first marker of Highpeak Junction. One thing that had come up in conversation on Monday's walk with Helen was the prevalence of Himalayan Balsam (invasive species) that seems to be everywhere. If anyone is looking for a good example of this, walk along the canal by Highpeak junction and you will get some idea of the problem.
Anyway after taking some photos of the Wharf Shed and Leawood Pumphouse (see below), it was back with fast flat canal walking for the 4 miles to Ambergate. My written instructions, were a tad confusing regarding where to come off for Ambergate station (two stone bridges have a 'Welcome to Cromford Canal' sign), but having worked that out, I arrived at Ambergate with twenty minutes to spare for the hourly train back to Derby.
Walks since last blog entry: Chander Hill-Chesterfield (circular) - Helen (Molly) - 4 miles
