News Archive (July 2016)

The Ramblers
Saturday 30 July

The Saturday walkers let the train take the strain for a pleasant change.
Cathy writes ;

A fabulous day, the weather perfect for walking, with a super linear 8 mile walk.
We started off at Dore and Totley Rail Station and caught the 9:21 train to Grindleford and then had a leisurely walk back.
A start by walking up Padley Gorge and across the road towards Upper Burbage Bridge – then up on to Houndkirk Moor.
From there we walked down Houndkirk road, stopping along the way for a coffee break.
The day was clear enough to see Lincoln Cathedral on the horizon.
Houndkirk Road comes out at the top of Ringinglow, where we walked beside Limb Brook (following part of the Sheffield Round) down through the woods and across Ecclesall Road and then Abbeydale Road South to the rail station car park where we had left the cars.
From there ten of us went to The Rising Sun on Abbey Lane for a well earned meal.
Lovely company, a wonderful day, and a few photographs of us along the way.

David displays bullet holes used in World War 1 practice

Old mileage stone on Houndkirk road, an old pack-horse route from Sheffield to Buxton

David adds ;

…. and of course to add to the excitement of our train ride, a steam excursion roared through Dore station at some speed whilst we were on the platform . LMS Jubilee class ‘Leander’ was heading a train from Liverpool to Scarborough.
I didn’t manage a photo, but here’s one taken by a friend as it passed through Bamford a few minutes earlier.

The Ramblers
Friday 29 July

Michael led the latest in the series of ‘very short walks’ ;

Nine walkers set off from Middle Handley on a 3.75 mile circular walk in dry but overcast conditions.
The group successfully crossed what is known as the ‘murder field’ (a man murdered his wife there in 1873) without any accident or blood being shed and joined up with the ’Round Chesterfield Walk’ route towards West Handley.
It was at this point that it began to rain and unfortunately it increased in intensity so that as we were walking alongside Grasscroft Wood it was throwing it down.
Because of the adverse weather conditions, on reaching the narrow country lane the decision was made not to aim for Hundall as planned, but to cut the walk short.
We turned left and walked down to Old Whittington, reducing the walk to 3 miles.
It is hoped that this walk, or a variation of it, might be included in a future programme.

The Ramblers
Wednesday 27 July

Jack reports ;

Our ‘Goyt Valley Railway Walk’ which attracted 19 Ramblers on a fine, cloudy day, followed a circular route from Derbyshire Bridge to Burbage, before climbing on to the eastern moors to eventually drop down to the old track which previously carried the Cromford & High Peak railway line.
The railway was finally abandoned in 1967, and now affords an attractive high level path all the way to Goyt Lane.
Uninterrupted views down into the depths of the the Goyt Valley were enjoyed before descending a steep path down Wild Moor with glimpses of Errwood Reservoir seen whilst crossing Goyt Moss.
An easy finish on the lane through Goyts Clough took the group back to Derbyshire Bridge to complete the 7.5 miles route.

A 16A bus ride from Chesterfield to Holmesfield for nine, led by Andrew.
Virtually a figure of eight loop, via Totley, Fox House and Longshaw Lodge, with plenty of walking over the long route of the Totley Tunnel.

If we’d hung about until the evening we could have joined the last of the scheduled summer evening walks which featured Longshaw, with a meal at Fox House.
Summer evening walking is a short season, but an extra one has now been arranged for next Wednesday 3 August from Dronfield Woodhouse.

The Ramblers
Wednesday 20 July

A hot day for walking, but 11 members made it to the medium car ramble, led by Kath and John.
From the car park at North Anston they went across the playing fields to Anston Stones Wood, and walked the top side of the wood over to Lindrick Common.
Over the golf course and on to Shireoaks for lunch.
From Shireoaks, it was Brancliffe Grange and Lindrick Dale, and back through Anston Stones Gorge to North Anston.

The Ramblers
Saturday 16 July

A view from White Edge

John, with the latest Saturday strenuous walk along the Derbyshire Edges ;

A great walk with a small mixed group of five – Beverly from Stoke, Andrea from Wensley, Rebecca from Qatar (via Matlock), Jim from Newark, and John from Stoney Middleton.
The walk was started in drizzle and stayed that way off and on until the finish, but it was comfortably warm.
All finished with wet feet due to the wet grass and shoulder high bracken in places. We finished at the Robin Hood in good spirits, and ready to go again (?).
19 miles covered in just over 8 hours, including two stops of around 40 minutes total.

Another monthly walk with the visually impaired.
Kath writes;

We had a turn out of fourteen which included four visually impaired and three trusty guide dogs.
I would like to say that we set off from Hassop Book Shop car park in brilliant sunshine, but I am afraid that it was grey and drizzly.
We walked over to Rowland, and then on to Great Longstone, where we had our lunch stop in the park.
Then over the fields to Little Longstone and back down the Monsal Trail to Hassop – about five miles.
The leaders were myself and John.
The weather may have been on the miserable side but the company was good as always.

The Ramblers
Wednesday 13 July

The Wednesday long car walkers had a great day today when Clive led a walk to Bleaklow Stones.
He’s the one watching the skies for the weather.
Photo by Mel

The Ramblers
Wednesday 6 July

A turn out of 29 for Kath’s Edges walk today.
From the car park at the Robin Hood they walked on to Birchen Edge, over towards Big Moor, and then to Curbar Gap,
Continuing along Baslow Edge , past Wellington`s Monument and then down to Cupola Cottage and Gardoms Edge. A journey of about 7 miles.

The Wellington Monument, Baslow Edge

Ellis led a dozen walkers on a nine mile local route from Wigley to Holme Hall on the edge of Chesterfield, via Moorhall and Unthank.
Good views over the western bit of our group area, but relatively slow progress owing to the overgrown vegetation.

Tuesday 5 July

The Tuesday morning walk with Dronfield Footpaths and Bridleways Society, led by David.

There were ten of us on our six mile walk around the Cordwell Valley.
We had a bright and breezy morning and there were splendid views across the Valley.
Starting from Dronfield Woodhouse, our route was through Cartledge and along to Unthank, where we had a very close encounter with a (fortunately friendly) bull and a struggle
(though successful) passage through rampant brambles at one point.
We returned to Dronfield via Millthorpe and Cowley.

The next ‘Dronfield’ walk is on Tuesday 9 August to Beauchief Abbey.

The Ramblers
Sunday 3 July

A Bradwell Moor circular, led by Rhona and Gavin.
Photos by John.