Walk: 5.4 miles and 775ft of ascent
Now Donna is back at work after finishing her long leave, I have decided that on the days when I am off and therefore drop her off at work at around 9:30am in the morning, that instead of heading back home to return to pick her up just after 4pm, I would instead "do something" And today was the first of those days.
So, I packed my camera bag, saddled up my tripod, grabbed a sandwich, drink and an apple and would head out into the Peaks. The forecast was for a nice early spring day (ok, winter hasn't officially ended yet) but I still packed coats, hat and gloves; which in the end wasn't necessary as it was a tad warmer that expected!
I dropped Donna off at around 9:20am and headed out of Sheffield on the A57 towards Ladybower and it's sister reservoirs, Derwent and Howden. I had planned to park at the car-park not far from the dam at the north end of Ladybower, but at the last minute took a left at Yorkshire Bridge and parked in the car-park a little way down on the left. It was around 9:50am as I left the car.
I spent around an hour around the dam at the southern end of Ladybower, taking plenty of photos of the large swirling drain holes that take away the overflow water and send it into the Derwent River that eventually joins the Trent many miles away. I'd never seem these drawing away the water before so went a little overboard with the photos; thank goodness it's digital and not film!
My plan was to walk some way around the reservoir but soon after starting on the path I saw the footpath that headed up towards Win Hill and decided "why not" so headed uphill. I must admit that after about 30 minutes of uphill walking I was rather tired, so didn't quite make it to the summit. To be honest, as soon as I saw the hordes of people at the top, I quickly decided not to bother as taking photos would be nigh on impossible unless I wanted groups of people in all my photos.
So, I headed along a path to the left where I found a good place to have lunch and take a few more photos; and the views were fantastic. About 200m further up the hill I could see a large flock of sheep mulling around minding their own business, but as I had decided that they would make a good subject matter I slowly made my way up the hill towards them. And to my surprise they didn't run off as soon as they set eyes on me; ok I could only get so close before they meandered away, but they were well within range of my lens.
After 20 minutes or so I took the path back across the field and then started my descent back down towards the reservoir. Whilst I was a little weary and out of breath on the way up, it was my knees which would take their turn in 'feeling the heat' on the way down, the paths were very muddy in the shaded areas and quite steep in some places. It only took about 30 minutes before I was back down at the waters edge.
My camera was called into action again for the last time as I fired off a few more photos around the dam, but by 3pm I was back at the car and ready to head back into the city. I had just one more task before picking Donna up, and that was to return some walking boots to Go Outdoors for a refund, then onwards for my good lady wife.
Whilst today wasn't about walking, more about taking some photos, I did walk quite a few miles with a decent amount of ascent so I know that tomorrow I am going to feel it a little. But did I enjoy my day? Well yes, maybe not as much as I expected as I have to admit I did miss Donna's company.
ASCENT PLUS MILAEAGE
Now Donna is back at work after finishing her long leave, I have decided that on the days when I am off and therefore drop her off at work at around 9:30am in the morning, that instead of heading back home to return to pick her up just after 4pm, I would instead "do something" And today was the first of those days.
So, I packed my camera bag, saddled up my tripod, grabbed a sandwich, drink and an apple and would head out into the Peaks. The forecast was for a nice early spring day (ok, winter hasn't officially ended yet) but I still packed coats, hat and gloves; which in the end wasn't necessary as it was a tad warmer that expected!
I dropped Donna off at around 9:20am and headed out of Sheffield on the A57 towards Ladybower and it's sister reservoirs, Derwent and Howden. I had planned to park at the car-park not far from the dam at the north end of Ladybower, but at the last minute took a left at Yorkshire Bridge and parked in the car-park a little way down on the left. It was around 9:50am as I left the car.
I spent around an hour around the dam at the southern end of Ladybower, taking plenty of photos of the large swirling drain holes that take away the overflow water and send it into the Derwent River that eventually joins the Trent many miles away. I'd never seem these drawing away the water before so went a little overboard with the photos; thank goodness it's digital and not film!
My plan was to walk some way around the reservoir but soon after starting on the path I saw the footpath that headed up towards Win Hill and decided "why not" so headed uphill. I must admit that after about 30 minutes of uphill walking I was rather tired, so didn't quite make it to the summit. To be honest, as soon as I saw the hordes of people at the top, I quickly decided not to bother as taking photos would be nigh on impossible unless I wanted groups of people in all my photos.
So, I headed along a path to the left where I found a good place to have lunch and take a few more photos; and the views were fantastic. About 200m further up the hill I could see a large flock of sheep mulling around minding their own business, but as I had decided that they would make a good subject matter I slowly made my way up the hill towards them. And to my surprise they didn't run off as soon as they set eyes on me; ok I could only get so close before they meandered away, but they were well within range of my lens.
After 20 minutes or so I took the path back across the field and then started my descent back down towards the reservoir. Whilst I was a little weary and out of breath on the way up, it was my knees which would take their turn in 'feeling the heat' on the way down, the paths were very muddy in the shaded areas and quite steep in some places. It only took about 30 minutes before I was back down at the waters edge.
My camera was called into action again for the last time as I fired off a few more photos around the dam, but by 3pm I was back at the car and ready to head back into the city. I had just one more task before picking Donna up, and that was to return some walking boots to Go Outdoors for a refund, then onwards for my good lady wife.
Whilst today wasn't about walking, more about taking some photos, I did walk quite a few miles with a decent amount of ascent so I know that tomorrow I am going to feel it a little. But did I enjoy my day? Well yes, maybe not as much as I expected as I have to admit I did miss Donna's company.
ASCENT PLUS MILAEAGE
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