For our last day in the Peak District, we decided to visit the Derwent Dams, driving via the spectacular Snake Pass.  The dams are famous because they were used for the “Dam Busters” Squadron to practice low flying over water before dropping their bouncing bombs.  Derwent Dam was chosen because of its similarity to its […]

It was Ian’s final day on the Steel Cotton Trail, meaning he would be finishing in the centre of Manchester.  While Sheffield is the home of steel, Manchester is known as “Cottonopolis”.  The city’s wealth came from the production of cotton cloth, shipped in as fluffy bales, and shipped out as skilfully woven textiles. I […]

Every second day seems to be wet, and this one more so than most.  We spent the morning relaxing and catching up on things, then decided to brave the rain.  We’d entered an orienteering event in Guiseley, outside Leeds, so we decided to make our way there via some other places. We headed north into […]

This morning was the sunniest we’ve had for a while – time for Ian to hit the trail again, with another 20-ish km day planned.  I dropped him off near Hayfield, and he found the Pennine Bridleway, a good path which took him straight to New Mills. In the meantime, I’d driven on to Whaley […]

We like to plan “rest days” roughly once a week – a chance to sleep in, do the laundry, catch up on correspondence, and generally hit the Pause button. With more rain forecast, today seemed the right day. However, we needed to pick up a few odds and ends at the supermarket at the other […]

Every orienteer knows that map accuracy is vital.  So of course that’s why Ian set off to walk across the Peak District National Park, with only a brochure that we picked up at Sheffield Station.  This colour leaflet includes reasonable instructions, and a somewhat sketchy route map that is not to scale. Disclaimer: it does […]

Ian’s second walking day took him from where he left off in Grindleford, continuing west across the southern (Derbyshire) section of the Peak District National Park, for 15 km to a point west of Hope.  Here are his pictures from today, including the Stepping Stones (which he didn’t venture onto). He’d seen some of this […]

Walk the entirety of the York City Walls – that was my aim for the day.  Almost 50 years ago, last time I was in York, I walked a small portion of them.  Ever since then, a return to York and completion of the Wall Walk have been on my bucket list, but for one […]

Today I learned a lot about steel, cutlery, and precision tools.  While Ian walked 24 km from Sheffield Station to Grindleford, the first stage of the Steel Cotton Trail, I was exploring the city of Sheffield.  We’d taken an unassuming train from Mexborough, to arrive in the centre of the city.  Ian headed south through […]