Spring in Sheffield

Friday 6th March 18:30

I really enjoy pet-sitting for my children. This week has been particularly busy since I was needed in Longridge on Tuesday and Wednesday with Maple, and I’m now in Sheffield with Felix and another cat, but more of that later.  Laurence needed to be in St Albans this week and as I was in that city less than a year ago, I felt no envy. Emily, however, is off to Malta tomorrow and part of me would love to be there instead, but I’m content with my lot – misty Yorkshire rather than the sunny Mediterranean. Someone has to keep the British climate industry going.

When I was in Sheffield last September, my stay was rather fraught because I had to leave Geraldine to deal with a leak which had occurred just that morning.  This week I have a similar problem since Emily has discovered a leak from the bathroom into her kitchen.  It isn’t dreadful, but it does need a plumber who was due to fix it today but of course he was delayed and is now only expected tomorrow.  Not quite a wasted day, but I did miss out on a ride that I’d planned.  It seems like plumbing emergencies have an uncanny ability to appear whenever cycling trips are involved.

Emily has an arrangement with a neighbour whereby they share cat-sitting for each other whenever required.  The other couple didn’t realise Emily was away this week and was unable to look after their cat, so the job has been sub-contracted to me.  My charge is a gorgeous silver-spotted British shorthair cat called Mason.  He’s an affectionate housecat who lives nearby, so I’m not expecting any problems – unless he turns out to have strong views on plumbing.

Tonight I went to a gig at Cafe #9 in Nether Edge.  I’ve been there several times before, but my complacency today nearly caused an issue.  I jumped on the bus in Totley and began to write this journal and I then got carried away – quite literally – since my lack of concentration meant that I missed my stop.  And another two after that.  So the five-minute stroll to the cafe became a 15-minute power-walk, which at least made me feel briefly virtuous.

The venue is tiny, and I was one of the last to arrive which meant, paradoxically, that I had to take a seat on the front row.  It wasn’t a bad problem to have though; I got a table to rest my coffee cup, but I am well within the spit-zone.  At least I won’t have to raise my voice to heckle, but if I don’t like the musicians it will be difficult for it not to be noticed.

11pm

Not liking the musicians certainly wasn’t an issue tonight.  The support, Liam Walker, was excellent and he was a perfect way to preface the best musical performance I’ve seen for years.  I hadn’t previously heard of the Woolverstones, but the duo were extremely accomplished performers and were accompanied on several songs by another amazing musician who played mandolin, alto sax, violin, tom-tom and bodhrán.  Sadly, I never caught his name – possibly because I was too busy trying not to spill my coffee in my enthusiasm.  The music was sort-of folky but very upbeat with what appeared to be a strong Spanish influence.  I loved it and I can’t wait to see them again.

No bus issues on the way home; I decided that it was quicker to walk the three miles than wait 45 minutes for the next bus. Sheffield’s public transport system often encourages fitness in this way.

Saturday 7th March 09:00

This weekend I had planned some DIY jobs that Emily needed doing along with a few bike rides, so whilst waiting in for the plumber, the DIY tasks got bumped up the priority list.

Emily had bought a solid oak mantelpiece which needed fitting and she’s also had a great idea of putting up eight tiny shelves on one wall to display old record sleeves. That way she can have a musical gallery wall – eight pieces of classic artwork which can be juggled around to suit any mood. It’s like Spotify for the eyes but does require some manual intervention.

Noon

Although the plumber’s been the toilet isn’t fixed yet.  He’s identified the problem as a cracked cistern and so a new toilet is needed which is straightforward enough, but trying to find a toilet with a base larger than the old one (to save buying new flooring) is proving a challenge.  He’s now gone to research toilet footprints (lucky man!) and hopes to be back next week with some suitable porcelain.  I hadn’t realised that toilets came with such an extensive catalogue of architectural specifications.

The mantelpiece is now fitted, the shelves are up and I’ve also hung a picture in the kitchen, so I’ve had a very satisfactory day. I’ve also read a lot, making good progress on a novel I brought with me, and caught up on social media with the latest crazy things (perhaps ‘terrifying things’ is a more appropriate phrase) that Trump has been up to.  (Not Twitter/X in case you’re wondering: I deleted that app two years ago just as it began its descent into the gutter.)

After a 3am start, Emily made it to Malta and after a few hours mooching round Valletta she jumped on a fast ferry to take her up to Gozo, the smaller island to the north.  Her plan is to walk solo around the island in <3 days.  Some people collect Veloviewer tiles; others circumnavigate Mediterranean islands.

Sunday 8th March

After breakfast (with no leaks evident – always a promising start), I walked down to feed Mason before loading up my bike onto the car and driving through Sheffield to Low Bradfield where I parked up ready to embark on a 47-mile tile-collecting ride and increase my cluster around Stocksbridge and Penistone.

It was just as I arrived at Low Bradfield I remembered that my Garmin was still plugged in at Emily’s.  I noticed this morning that it had discharged itself – an increasingly common occurrence – and so I plugged it in and then promptly forgot to take it when I left.

Therefore I had to navigate using the old-fashioned method of stopping at each junction and staring at the map like a Victorian explorer.  The precise route was important since I’d planned a few diversions to collect tiles so it took a long time.  

It was misty when I set off which turned into fog on the tops.  This was forecast to lift by noon, but it didn’t happen.  I had perhaps an hour of improved visibility around 11am but then the mist came down once more and didn’t shift.

I had chosen a very hilly route and this, combined with all the stopping and starting, led to a very slow average speed.  I took a slight wrong turn at Royd Moor and arrived at a café sooner than expected where I called in for a scone and coffee.

The scone was delicious but flawed. It looked like a fat rascal from Betty’s but the texture was all wrong.  As I sliced it, it just fell apart into large crumbs, being entirely deprived of the basic structural integrity required of a proper scone.  The coffee was good though.

Upon leaving the café, I decided to omit an optional 7-mile loop and when I turned to go south I found myself riding into a strong headwind.  You never notice a tailwind, do you?  It’s like good health: only appreciated when it disappears.

After a fairly straightforward route back to the car, I loaded the bike and drove back to Bradway after an enjoyable day gathering 24 new Veloviewer Explorer tiles.

After a shower (still no leaks!) I enjoyed a lovely tea and read a book all evening before having an early night.

Monday 9th March

It was slightly better weather today, but not a patch on what Emily was enjoying in the Mediterranean.  She seems to be having a great time on her solo expedition, sending me some gorgeous pictures.

There was still a bit of mist first thing so I delayed driving to Staveley (near Chesterfield) until 10am to give the weather chance to perk up, but it never did.  The temperature was about 8°C when I set off on the bike but dropped to 6°C just before lunch. In addition, there was a southerly breeze again and I really felt it on the 12-mile stretch down to Shirebrook and became rather cold.

I saw a pinfold today and learned that it was an enclosure to hold impounded livestock if they’d strayed.  Whilst I was aware of the concept, I never knew that was what they were called.  In some parts of the country they’re known as pounds – indeed there’s one in Brindle – but this was the first pinfold I’ve ever noticed. I also saw a field of daffodils which surprised me for two reasons.  Whilst I’d expect to see these in Lincolnshire, I didn’t think that they’d be here in Derbyshire especially not in full bloom.  They clearly weren’t being grown for cut flowers, so I guess they must have been grown for their bulbs.  There was no-one around to ask, so now I’ll never know.

I looked for a café in Shirebrook but, with no offence meant to the locals, the town didn’t appear to have much to offer passing cyclists. The couple of cafés that were open fronted directly onto the pavement with nowhere to store the bike, so I reluctantly continued towards Bolsover.  Thankfully the road began to climb here (I know! I don’t think that’s a phrase I’ve ever written before) and so the extra effort helped me to get warm again.

I noticed that there was a café in Glapwell which, although a bit off the route, at least on paper met my exacting standards: secure bike parking with coffee and cake.  I don’t need much. The café was part of a garden centre, as so many are, and the coffee was good and the scone was warmed especially for me.  I say ‘warmed’, but it was actually superheated – you could hear the butter sizzle when I spread it.

I adjusted the route to pass Bolsover Castle, but I never saw it.  It was probably skulking behind some high wall or a stand of trees because although it was less than a quarter of a mile away it still wasn’t visible. This must be the first time I’ve technically visited a castle without any visual confirmation that it exists.

Today I gathered 20 new Explorer tiles and a cluster increase of 21.

Emily is due back tomorrow.  She still has a 7½ mile hike, then a 45-minute ferry ride followed by a 20-minte bus ride to the airport. The last check-in is about 2pm so in theory there’s plenty of time, but if it were me I’d be busy doing a risk assessment and drafting contingency plans.  In many ways she’s just like me – embarking on a solo walk around Gozo is the sort of thing I’d do, but in terms of planning, not at all.  Planning tends to be more of a free-flowing concept constantly changing on a whim.  Much of her arrangements seem to be seat-of-the-pants stuff, or just blind faith that everything will work out fine.  It probably will.

Tuesday 10th March

Today was always going to be my last day unless something untoward happened and Emily failed to get back from Malta on time. In that event I’d have to rethink.

For Emily, this last day always had a tight timescale but I awoke to learn that the fast ferry she was hoping to catch into Valletta had been cancelled due to high winds and she now needs to take the slow ferry on the short hop to Malta followed by a 1¾-hour bus ride down the island.  Thankfully she was able to shorten her final walk down to five miles rather than 7½.  With Emily, there’s always a drama.

By 9am I could see that she’d arrived on the main island but she was then talking about going for a walk and catching a later bus or even jumping off at Rabat before catching a later bus to the airport.  Thankfully one bus never turned up and she finally realised that public transport in Malta can be a little sketchy, so she then took a bus to Valletta – much to my relief.

Once I knew Emily was sorted, I thought about my day.  I didn’t want to leave Sheffield too late (I don’t like the Snake Pass in the dark) and I wanted to avoid heavy tea-time traffic around Manchester, so a shorter ride was in order.

I had a very hilly 20-mile route to collect some obscure Veloviewer tiles starting from Hathersage so I chose that.  I could have arranged to travel straight home from there, but I wanted to be sure that Emily had landed in Manchester before abandoning the two cats in my charge so I decided to drive back to Bradway afterwards to have a bit of lunch. 

I really enjoyed the route today, but it was brutally hilly.  Some of the tracks were so rough and steep that I had to walk to reach the tile I was seeking and consequently my average speed was in single figures.

Near Hope, I saw another pinfold.  Odd that in all my years I’ve never noticed one before, and on this trip, I’ve seen two!

I’d cycled on most of these roads previously, but to reach the missing tiles I had to go up three dead-end tracks. The first one was straightforward until it degraded into a bit of a scramble, but only for a quarter of a mile. The tarmac on the next road ran out half way leaving me to walk a further half-mile up a too-steep-to-ride hill on rough gravel.

There were some lovely views at the top of these roads, but I had to work hard to see them.

The final tile was once more a mile up a steep tarmac road starting from the valley near Bamford. Although it was tarmacked all the way, it was relentlessly steep and I was very glad to reach the top.

Overall, although I only cycled 20 miles today, I ascended over 2,800 feet. I collected just three new tiles which boosted my cluster by 13. (I know, this means nothing to you, but it was important to me!)

I fed Felix and Mason before I left and provided additional food in pop-up timed feeders just in case Emily was delayed.  With the plumbing behaving itself and the cats well supplied, I finally set off home at 2:30 after a very pleasant and productive few days – thankfully leaving Sheffield a little drier than I found it.