Looking for Whitesprings ...

To the north-east of the Darley Dale are a number of Forestry Commission woods that are open to the public. I parked on Flash Lane and walked into one of them, Seventy Acre Wood ... 

 

... and followed a track ...

 

... until I reached Back Lane ...

 

Back Lane is an unclassified road linking Flash Lane and Sydnope Hill. As it gets nearer Sydnope Hill it gets much rougher than it is shown above and local motor cyclists [who like a bit of rough] like it.

I entered Whitesprings Plantation on the other side of Back Lane ...



I followed a track into the woodland ...





Tracks and paths wander here and there in the plantation. One bought me to this line of beech trees which made me wonder if this is an old nursery ...





I followed another path in a vaguely westerly direction which led to a gateway suggesting that there may once have been fields here ...



The path led to the 'upper reaches' of Halldale Brook where it is crossed by a fairly substantial bridge ...





I realised at this stage that I had probably strayed outside the 'open access' land but when I found a squeezer stile I did wonder who it was for ...



Finally I found what I had been looking for, the remains of Whitesprings ...



This old farm was covered in so much ivy I could have walked past it ...





I looked around the ruins trying to work out what was what ... or what had been what ...



I came away thinking about the lives that had been lived there.

Some years ago I met a man called Hopkinson who had lived here as a boy. He died 15 or 20 years ago in his 70s so I suppose he was talking about the early part of the 20th century when the Hopkinsons were here.

  A pretty good path leads away from the old farm ...





I wandered through the plantation and found a pond ...



  ... full of frogspawn ...



 Eventually though all roads head home and I came back to Back Lane ...



 The afternoon walk ended with me photographing this warning notice ...



Some visitors to this area are not so keen on the beauty of the landscape as much as misbehaving with each other ...

This walk was followed on the 19th March 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 3.09 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 69.66 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 19th March 2011 ~ 597.71 miles
 
17 of 2011
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

Around Wooden Pole ...

The sun had brought people out on the Sunday afternoon we walked from the Longshaw Estate to Wooden Pole. Looking back there's a great view of Higger Tor and Carl Wark ...

It was cool but the air was clear with no haze ...



As we walked across Totley Moss, which let's face it, can be rather tedious, I was looking out for frogspawn whilst being unsure whether frogs would lay their eggs up there. They do !



Let's hope it didn't dry up before the tadpoles become frogs.

Moss Road eventually leads down into Totley and part way along it there are wide views of Sheffield.



We left Moss Road at this point and headed across the moor keeping to the east of the trig point.



 We were headed towards the sunshine and the rather boggy ground in the middle of the moor.





Lying on the path was a dead sheep. I often wonder what kills sheep in the middle of nowhere. I will have to ask a friend ...



We reached some drier ground and followed the vague path that drops towards the Sheffield road.



After crossing that, avoiding the speeding cars and motorbikes as we did so, we climbed the slope to reach Lady's Cross.





It looks a fairly isolated cross but it isn't really and there's a road in the background as you can see. I wonder whether there were wooden signposts all those years ago or did people just know where they were going and only did short journeys.

We descended the northern end of White Edge and passed White Edge Lodge [now a National Trust holiday 'cottage'].



I'd never been on the bridleway that passes the lodge and descends to the road near the Grouse Inn until this walk. The sun was behind us as we followed the track back towards Longshaw Lodge.



Natasha put her feet up on one of the seats that the National Trust appear to have hewn out of a big tree ...



I had to take a photograph of the memorial plaque of course ...



... and then we were back. Another shortish walk ... five and a half miles this one.

Date of walk ~ 21st March 2010

Length of walk ~ 5 1/4 miles

Total walked so far in 2010 ~ 47 miles

Total walked since 1st September 2009 ~ 177 miles

10 of 2010