Day: 037
Date: Thursday, 07 July 2022
Start: Holmfirth
Finish: Strines (then bus to Sheffield)
Daily Kilometres: 33
GPX Track: Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos
Total Kilometres: 1094
Weather: Cool and overcast early, then sunny.
Accommodation: Hotel
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Egg & cress sandwiches
Lunch: Tuna & sweetcorn sandwich/Coronation chicken sandwich
Dinner: Steak pies, peas & mash, chocolate brownie & icecream/sticky toffee pudding & icecream.
Aches: Dave - a few niggles. Julie - zero.
Highlight: While having a pleasant lunch at 12:30pm, high on the moor overlooking the Derwent Valley, Dave checked how far we had to go to the A57 road crossing (7.9km) and what time the next buses to Sheffield, where we had a hotel room booked, would go from there (2:19pm and 3:54pm). Dave asked Julie whether she thought we could make the 2:19pm bus and she replied that she knew she could, but wasn’t sure about him. We packed up in five minutes and then power-walked the sometimes technical and hilly trail, only stopping for photos, the remaining distance to the bus stop. We arrived at 2:17pm and the bus came at 2:20pm. We were very happy hikers.
Lowlight: None really.
Pictures: Click here
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
Knowing we were catching a bus to Sheffield, where we had arranged to have dinner with Dave’s nephew, Harry, and his partner, Rachel, at the end of today’s walk, we were keen to make sure we got there comfortably in time. So, we passed up the breakfast included with our hotel room at Holmfirth and hit the trail soon after 5:00am on a cool overcast morning.
Our plan was to navigate our way back to the guidebook route in the first few hours and this started with a steep climb out of the village where traders were already setting up for market day. The navigation app route was intricate and we found ourselves following suburban lanes and streets, public footpaths (some overgrown with nettles and blackberries), enchanting country lanes, and finally a busy road as we climbed higher onto the moors with the views getting better and better.
Once back on the guidebook route we had the moors to ourselves and luckily found a nice bench on which to have our first break, and breakfast, at 8:15am. From there it was beautiful walking on a day which was becoming warm and sunny. The trail was mostly good walking and we crossed high moors with views in all directions before descending to the Derwent Valley and the picturesque Howden Reservoir. There is a chain of three reservoirs in the valley, of which the lower, Ladybower, is famous as the training location for the Dambuster squadron of the Second World War. As if on cue, an airforce jet made a very low pass through the valley as we walked alongside the Howden reservoir.
After passing the reservoir, our route climbed very steeply out of the valley and back on to the moor where we found a lovely spot with fantastic views to stop for what turned out to be an abbreviated lunch (see above). From there, we walked briskly on the sometimes technical and hilly trail past the string of strange rock formations that lay along the high ridge. It was awesome scenery and a very enjoyable walk despite the time pressure. We reached the A57 road crossing just in time to catch a bus to Sheffield where we checked into our hotel just before 3:00pm.
Later, we had a very enjoyable dinner with Harry and Rachel at a nearby pub, a fitting end to a great day.
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