From Sheffield to the Peak District

Saturday 21st July 2018

Keen to make the most of the fabulous weather that we enjoyed last summer, I thought a good walk to do would be somewhere that would normally be boggy. After all that hot and dry weather the ground was rock hard even where it is usually a bit of a marsh. The closest such place to my home that I could think of was the Dark Peak in the northern half of the Peak District, and then the latest alumni magazine for my University asked “When did you last visit the University? If it was more than five years ago you are in for a surprise.” That got me intrigued so I caught a train to Sheffield and headed through the city centre that has certainly changed a lot since I was there twenty-five years ago. I passed the church that I used to go to, now a Walkabout pub, and along West Street that now has tram lines on it, which were being built as I finished Uni, and they led me to the outskirts of the University of Sheffield. Walking up the hill I passed the Hicks Building where I spent a lot of my time and it doesn’t look like it’s changed much on the outside, but right next to the building is now a pedestrian crossing that I don’t remember and this would have helped me as I also spent some time, while at Uni, in the Dainton Building opposite, and was constantly moving between the two.

Now I used this crossing to visit the front of the Dainton Building before heading beside the road past the Alfred Denny Building and the Arts Tower until I reached the underpass that took me under the road and rather than turning left back towards the Hicks building, as I often used to do, I turned right past the Student’s Union where there has been a lot of development on top or in front of the old building that I would have remembered. The place does look fantastic as I walked back up to the road where the red-brick building of Firth Court stands grandly across the road. Leaving the University behind where I had spent three years of my life, I walked along Western Bank road to Broomhill, which is a social-hub for the students and doesn’t seem to have changed, and further along the road I came to Ranmoor hall of residence where I stayed during some of my time in Sheffield, and which has completely changed. Gone is the old prison-like building that I knew and hated, to be replaced with fresh, modern buildings that are much more welcoming. The best thing about staying at Ranmoor was a walk I did from the halls down the hill into Endcliffe Park and the Porter Valley.

Turning right when I reached the park I followed the Porter Brook into Bingham Park and Whitley Woods where a peaceful wooded valley plunges deep into the city and often provided me with a welcome refreshing all those years ago as I tried to survive the bustling city. I soon felt like I was miles from civilisation, though still in Sheffield. I have returned to the Porter Valley several times over the years, most recently in 2014 when I did the Sheffield Round Walk again, retracing my steps of when I first did it in 1992 to escape from the confines of Ranmoor prison. This delightful valley, through many wonders, eventually brought me to the edge of the Peak District where I turned right along the road that marks the boundary of the National Park with hazy views across the city behind me before coming off the road onto a permissive path that heads over Rud Hill and into the Peak District even though I was still technically in the City of Sheffield. Passing through an area of heather and bracken the ground was satisfyingly dry as I followed the clear path past White Stones and onto a byway that took me to the trig point at Stanedge Pole. I was now at the boundary of the city and finally left Sheffield behind to enter Derbyshire near the popular Stanage Edge, which I have visited many times in the past, and now I walked along the edge again passing over the highest point at High Neb.

It was a shame it wasn’t sunny for this walk and the views were murky, but at least it was warm and dry. Coming off the edge at Crow Chin I descended onto Moscar Moor where I had difficulty finding a route through a thick barrier of bracken. Although I was aided by the ground being dry, it was still difficult battling through the heather on Bamford Moor and it took me a while until I eventually reached Bamford Edge with the prominent top of Win Hill ahead of me, but across the gap cut by the River Derwent, with seemingly no route down. In the end I gave up trying to find a way down, although if I’d headed south straight away, instead of north, I may have found a way, but by then I had already decided to head home. On reaching the road I turned steeply down Bamford Clough into the village of Bamford and rather than following the main road to Bamford station I turned onto the minor Joan Lane taking a footpath around Bamford Filters and descended steeply into Hurst Clough before climbing even more steeply out of the deep valley, which was quite tiring at the end of a long day so from there I followed a road all the way into Hathersage and the railway station there.

It was good to return to my old haunts from my University days and I particularly enjoyed walking along the Porter Valley again, which is a fantastic place that will be drawing me back many more times. A lot of time has passed since I was at the University of Sheffield and although there have been many changes at the Uni since those days I have also changed a lot since those days. I do still have a lot of affection for Sheffield, but the University itself is very much in my past, while places like the Porter Valley are what interest me now. It is a pity the views in the Peak District were so poor, but this was still a good, long walk to travel from the centre of a large city all the way out into the moors of the Peak District National Park.