Saturday, November 18, 2017

Hope, Little Hucklow, Windmill, Wardlow Mires, Wardlow, Great Longstone, and Bakewell

A change of plan today; I left the house early this morning and so ended up at Sheffield bus station just before eight o'clock. Since the Castleton bus was due in a few minutes I got on it rather than waiting another thirty minutes for the Bakewell bus, which was my intended plan.

I travelled to Hope and headed south out of the village along the road which leads to the cement works and Pindale. There were some lovely views of the Great Ridge along here.








I took the footpath which goes alongside the perimeter fence of the works, but didn't go all the way down into Bradwell.






Instead I stayed on higher ground, walking along the quarry road and then Smalldale Head Road. Whilst I was on this stretch of the walk the sky became very dark and it started to spit with rain although I could see bright sunshine ahead of me to the south...something to look forward to. Alas, I never reached the sunshine; by the time I arrived at Bakewell it was cloudy there too. The weather was disappointing today - much better was forecast.

I arrived at Little Hucklow, walked the entire length of the village and then across the fields to the hamlet of Windmill - the best views were over to my left.



I ate my sandwiches sitting on a bench at the site of the old lead rake before continuing down the road towards Wardlow Mires and then the bridleway which goes along Silly Dale. I don't think this should be a bridleway though; I could see that horses regular use the route but I wouldn't feel comfortable, or even safe, passing horses at close quarters here. In places it's quite narrow and it's enclosed by dry stone walls at both sides meaning that there's nowhere to get out of the way of anyone on horseback.

The only way to reach Wardlow is by using the road. It started to drizzle a bit as I approach. The only subject I found to photograph was the church - it's small and not very old.



The next footpath led on to the southern end of Longstone Moor and then a lovely descent down into Great Longstone. I have not used this path before and I enjoyed the distant views of Monsal Head and Little Longstone which I haven't seen before from this angle.

I walked through Great Longstone from west to east; this piece of metalwork caught my eye; I'm not sure if it's part of the pub sign at the White Lion, or not.




I had to rush a bit to reach Bakewell in time for the bus; I've done the walk before and so it wasn't a problem...I didn't miss anything. I arrived just a couple of minutes before the bus was schedule to depart...but it was five minutes late.

I noticed a few twinges in my right knee today - I hope this isn't a sign of problems to come.





No comments:

Post a Comment