Long time no blog

Not sure why it's been so long. The summer has come and gone and I've trod the byways of Northumberland - maybe more of this later. As the mushroom season proper is approaching, - I hope - I want to catch up with the Sheffield country walk, so I can make a start on the highlights of the autumn's efforts. I'm now upto leg 9, so I've got a bit of catching up to do. I'll take it one leg at time, until I'm up to date. Leg 2 took me to Totley. Leg 3 took me into the real upland section of the walk. It was 9th of June, and a warn and pleasant late spring day. No indication of what was to come! The busride to the start of the walk was nice and easy, the start of the walk through small woodlands and country roads before a steep ascent across open pasture and up onto some moorland access land. Before too long, I was approaching Fox House, and the very familiar scenery of Longshaw, Burbage and Carl Walk. This section finished at Upper Burbage - not ideal as bus services are a bit sparse up here. I finished the walk by dropping down into Hathersage.

Sheffield Country Walk - section 2

The weather today was astonishingly changeable. I was very lucky not to get very wet. It was as if someone up there had suddenly realised that we'd missed out on March winds and April showers, so we should have them on a single day in May. Seconds after passing the cows, it started to rain. The rain lasted for less than a minute. I didn't turn round to see if the cows had stood up. The walk was not very different from leg 1: meadows, woodlands, country lanes. The bus stop - the terminus was right next to a pub, so it was perfect to have a quick drink outside in the sunshine before hopping on the bus to return home.

Sheffield Country Walk

Having done the Round Walk, the logical next step is the Country Walk. I travelled from home (north west) to Halfway (south east) on the Supertram. This left me a short walk to the start at Eckington Church. I was lucky enough to have the best weather of the week: quite breezy, but sunny and pleasantly warm out of the wind. This leg mainly follows the Moss valley, and is a very pleasant and easy stroll through woodlands with a bonus of 2 pubs en route (I only stopped at one).The bluebells were just getting past their best, but the blue haze of the massed swathes was still a delight. The wild garlic was in full bloom and the warmer than average spring meant that there were plenty of other things starting to flower: yellow archangel, tufted vetch and herb robert to name a few.

Ther were some fine views across the south of the city from the highest point near Troway.