Well its better than nothing!

So after Tuesdays emotion, Wednesday i was drained! I wanted to get out for a walk but it was early afternoon before i got my act together and set off for the city, following the Sheffield Navigation to the edge of the centre. My aim was to purchase some gloves to replace some i've misplaced, the best place being Decathlon, a store that is missing from the Brizzle region! I ended up with two pairs, one for walking, the other for layering on the bike, all for a little under £12.

Job done i walked back through the shopping zone before catching a bus back out to Dad's gaff. About 8km of walking all told and pretty much all flat but i felt better for it.

And so to today, i wanted a bit of a mini adventure but my plan to get out the moors was thwarted by a mixed forecast. Instead i took the tram to the north of the city intending to walk the trail up the Rivelin Valley. For bikies its the easiest route out to the Peak District, a steady climb all the way over the Eastern Edges before you drop to Ladybower but its been important to the City's heritage since the early 1600's at least. The lower part of the valley, some four kilometres, was home to 21 water wheels, 20 of which being used exclusively to produce knives and other blades. Along with the neighbouring Loxley, Porter and more distant Sheaf and Don rivers all flowing from the moors above the city, they provided the power for the burgeoning steel industry in the city, the source of its wealth for some 300 plus years.

The walk followed the river upstream from its meeting of the Loxley to the Toll Road aka Manchester Road, a sinuous route between the fast flowing river (currently bolstered by the recent rains) and the more serene mill ponds and leets that fill the valley bottom. Its mostly a decent path but with the recent wet weather there were a few quite muddy stretches and at one point i had to leap a breech in a leet wall! Hardly anything remains of the actual mills, a few pits and bits of wall, the last of them ceased production in the 1930's. (there are preserved examples in the Porter and Sheaf valleys and a some repurposed buildings on the Loxley).

I continued my walk by following Lodge Lane, average grade 20%, up to Redmires, one of the most exclusive areas of the city, where i ended the walk after 6.6km and a climb of 230m - intense stuff! A bus took me back down into the city centre where the Christmas Market was now open so i partook of Gluhwein and a Krakauer, a pleasant end to a different day.

Tomorrow its a trip to sort out my friends bike gear, where it goes or not and then Saturday i've got the family coming down from Leeds. If i get back early enough on Sunday i'll try to get some sort of post up to let you know how that all goes.

For now though,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid