Padley Gorge

Situated near the village of Grindleford, Padley Gorge is just a few meters away from the Grindleford station (which lies on the Sheffield – Manchester Picadilly line).

The gorge runs along the Burbage Brook. I followed the brook heading roughly north, coming across a large number of small waterfalls that are dotted along its length. These provided some good photo opportunities.

When photographing moving water like this there is a choice to make. Of wheter to use a fast exposure in order to freeze the water or a slower exposure in order to create a greater sense of motion. This can be seen below.

I’ll be writing more about this later.

After following the gorge for about a mile I came out on the B6521. Opposite was the Yarncliffe quarry where rock climbing goes on. I was also just a short distance from Langford Estate. However due to the miserable weather, by this time I was ready for a hot chocolate, so I headed to the visitors centre.

From the B6521 both Higgers Tor and Carl Wark are clearly visible. These are both areas I’d like to visit in the future.

I had decided to come to Padley Gorge after reading about it in a magazine. It said that the best time to visit is in the autumn. The beginning of spring certainly isn’t a very good time to visit. The trees are still bare and dead looking. Looking out over them, all you can see is a sea of brown. However I can see the area being a lot nicer in the autumn when the leaves are first starting to turn.

The path through the gorge can get quite muddy and slippery, so good walking shoes are a must.

You can see more pictures at my gallery

Longshaw Estate

On Saturday I visited Longshaw Estate, which is situated in Hope Valley. It’s near the village of Grindleford. Here is the Google map for the area.

Longshaw estate is managed by the National Trust. Here is the Trust’s site for the area.

I travelled to Grindleford by train, changing at Sheffield. From Sheffield I took the Manchester Picadilly train, which stops at several places along Hope Valley. Right from the start the journey had problems. When I got to the Chesterfield station I used one of the ticket machines to buy a ticket then checked the time, only to see that the next train to Sheffield had been cancelled. So I had a forty minute wait for the next train. When I got to Sheffield it was another half hour for the train to Grindleford. To make matters worse while I was waiting at Sheffield it started raining.

After leaving the station there was a pub just off that road. Next to the pub there was a sloped path leading up to the B6521, which I followed to the north. Quite a long section of this road doesn’t have any pavement, which is always fun.

After following the road for about a mile I came to a rock climbing area. There were a couple of people getting ready to climb the rock face. Instead I followed the path up to the top. You got a good, albeit rather scary, view of the area from the top. When I was coming down I was glad to have shoes with a good grip, since the path had gotten very slippery.

I was starting to think I wouldn’t find the visitors centre, when I came to a sign for it. From there it was about half a mile further to get to it. They didn’t have any fridge magnets there, but I did pick up a couple of books of walks around the Peak District.

By that time I was starting to feel it was time to head back to the station. With getting there quite late and the bad weather I didn’t see much of the area. In particular there was an area called Padley Gorge that I missed. So I would like to go back there again, when the weather’s a bit nicer.

The only wildlife I saw were sheep. There’s supposed to be Red Grouse in the area, but I didn’t see any, probably due to the season.

Here are some more pictures I took while there.

You can see more pictures at my gallery.