Thursday 1st June
What’s the phrase, ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same’? Well, my regular cat (for cat-sitting duties) has moved house (with his Mum & Dad) and now lives near Sheffield, but the change of venue doesn’t alter much for me. It simply means that I have a new base for cycling and walking trips which is great. I broke the journey to Sheffield yesterday by stopping in Edale and taking a hike up Kinder Scout. It is such a famous hill (historically) and I’ve never climbed it, so I wanted to rectify this.
Sadly, the glorious sunshine and blue skies we’ve enjoyed in Lancashire over the past week did not stretch to Derbyshire yesterday. I began the walk in overcast and chilly (11°C) conditions, but as I began to climb, I soon entered low cloud at about 500m which was accompanied by drizzle. The need for sunscreen was abandoned in favour of a waterproof and the anticipated views from the top remain anticipated. But I’ve climbed it now and so I’m now able to nod knowledgeably when anyone talks of the mountain.
The weather wasn’t much better this morning (Thursday), with heavy cloud and a brisk NE wind, but it was dry. Today’s objective was to gather a few orphan tiles lurking in obscure corners of the Peak District around Eyam. The route therefore zig-zagged a bit which was beneficial in lessening the effects of the wind. Nothing could lessen the hills, however. They were everywhere I turned, starting right from leaving the house. Fortunately, some of them were down, which was nice.
A café in Beeley was tucked away off the tourist route and served a delicious warm scone and a cappuccino. The café also had real flowers on the tables (The Greenery café in Glazebrook please note). I felt I needed to refuel at that point since the 230m climb out of Darley Dale up onto Beeley Moor and into the wind was coming up soon.
The B-road past Chatsworth House is narrow and very busy, so to avoid part of it, I diverted into the grounds and cycled by the river for about a mile. (I’d got permission from a passing dog-walker, so it was all above board.). There wasn’t so much as a path there as a broad sheep-nibbled field which was fine to rise on with road tyres. The only problem was manoeuvring the bike out of a kissing gate at the other end – there was no way of hoisting the bike over the 8ft deer fence.
None of the climbs today were steep, just long, but they had the welcome effect of keeping me warm. Once more, the temperature hovered between 9°C and 11°C – hardly June weather. But it isn’t raining, so I can rejoice over that.
Friday 2nd June
Friday dawned bright and sunny with a 19kph North-Easterly, so I headed East to get the benefit of a push on the way home. No specific purpose for that day’s trip, just to see somewhere new. That said, the first 30 miles were rather nondescript, but pleasant. I appeared to have skirted Clumber Park: I saw several signs over a period of some miles directing me there, and several identical-looking properties that could have been gatehouses. I wasn’t tempted.
I cycled through Worksop and found it a pleasant town before turning towards ‘home’ with a gentle tailwind.
Felix was very pleased to see me back early, and we spent a pleasant afternoon enjoying the sunshine together in the garden.
I nipped out to the shop for some supplies, realising too late that, although it was only a half mile walk, it also appeared to be half a mile down too. The bags became progressively heavier as I hauled them up the steps. (Yes, it’s too steep to just have a road or a footpath!)
Saturday 3rd June
Saturday’s route was very varied, with the first 8 miles necessarily taking me through Sheffield city centre. It wasn’t bad actually, with plenty of cycle paths and quiet streets. Then I climbed onto the the open moorlands – wonderful, and so quiet.
It was convenient to take a short 2 mile blast down the A57, a road I would normally avoid, but it meant I was soon at Ladybower reservoir and the Derwent Valley – my destination for the day. The road to the head of the valley is a 15 mile round trip, and fairly flat, but being weekend it was full of day trippers. Fair play, though, it was a lovely day and as a bonus, half of the road is shut to motor vehicles at the weekend.
Then it was back onto moorland again before dropping back down to my gaff for the week.
I have a video camera strapped to my bars which should run continually, but since the battery won’t last all day, I turn it off whenever I stop. Soon after such a stop, a large hare dashed out from the hedgerow and then ran along the road just in front of me for 20 – 30 yards. It was then that I realised that I hadn’t turned the camera back on! Later, I passed within a few feet of a curlew and its chicks beside the road on the moors, but once more, the camera was off! So you’ll just have to imagine these scenes because I can’t show you.
I think tomorrow’s going to be another tile-gathering expedition around Bakewell and Chesterfield.
Sunday 4th June
After the slight blip on Wednesday, the weather has improved each day. By Sunday it was beautiful sunshine and around 19°C with little wind. More hilly roads were taken on a short(ish) route, but the climbing certainly compensated for the lack of distance. I really felt that I’d earned my lasagne for tea. (Did I tell you that I get fed as my recompense?)
I’m unsure whether I saw a bit more traffic on Sunday or whether it just felt like it. Bakewell was very busy which may have influenced my overall impression.
Not being very good at sitting still, I went on a short walk around the area before tea. More climbing, however!
Monday 5th June
I am relieved of my cat duties today, so I only went for a short ride to the west of Sheffield taking in the lovely Redmires reservoirs, started in 1833 to provide clean water to Sheffield in response to the city’s cholera outbreak a year earlier.
Two of my favourite cyclists both live in the Sheffield area: Simon Warren (of 100 Greatest Climbs fame) and Ben Lowe (the inventor of Veloviewer) and I can see why they wouldn’t want to leave. The cycling roads round here are terrific and I saw plenty of cyclists on the road today, mainly old chaps like me.
Whilst the mileage over the week has been modest, the climbing in contrast was more serious, at a rate more than double that around home.
Thankfully there were no mishaps. The worst thing happened was on Friday morning as I was fitting the front light to my bike, the rubber bit holding it in place went ‘ping’ and shot off somewhere who-knows-where. I couldn’t find it, so I had to manage since then without a front light. No great tragedy.
So now I’ve just got to run the vacuum round the house, make sure Felix is well-provisioned until tomorrow and shoot off over the Pennines hopefully avoiding the traffic.
Until next time…