2011 Rother walks – day 3 – Dronfield, Common Side, Bradway

Date of walk – Tue 24 May.  Start/finish – near Dronfield station.  Distance 17.5 miles.

Dronfield is the second largest town in the area covered, and like so many places was new to me.  It certainly looks worth exploring with interesting surrounding countryside and good access to the Derbyshire Peak District, despite being so close to Sheffield.  I must immediately mention the commitment to the local footpaths with many well signed routes around the nearby hillsides, which is very commendable.

The actual start and finish was the B6057 / B6158 roundabout just east of the station.   It was a bright sunny morning, and there are many photo opportunities around the town, so there will be two pictures from the square to mark the start and finish of the walk.  (RW 3.1 – SK3578 – Town scene, Chesterfield Road, Dronfield ).

With hillsides crowding around the town on most sides, climbing was soon involved, heading south towards the golf course.  (My typing often turns golf into gold, which is probably the closest I’ll get to obtaining any riches through sport).  The climbing means views quickly open out, as shown in the picture from Hallowes Lane.  (RW 3.2 – SK 3577 – Hallowes Lane, Dronfield).

Golf courses take up a lot of ground, as the project emphasised over the days.  I am of the “good walk spoiled” school of thought personally, although top class professional golf is great to watch on TV.  The light was good through the trees at the edge of the course, but the self imposed limit to the format of the reports means that the one picture from the square will be from further along.  A footpath edges around the course with limited views, and then enters extensive woodland either side of the main A61.  Woodland can be a challenging environment for photography, so my results are often disappointing, however great the actual enjoyment of woodland sections of the routes in reality.  The view is of the impressive footbridge over the dual carriageway.  (RW 3.3 – SK 3576 – A61 footbridge, Monk Wood).

Resuming woodland surroundings beyond, the track eventually emerges into open valley farmland towards Barlow Brook.  The ground was bone dry again after the small amount of rain the previous day.  (RW 3.4 – SK 3575 – Track from Monkwood Farm).

A pleasant valley walk followed on close to the south side of the brook.  There was a popular fishing lake on the other side, and some interesting looking properties around, but generally just a quiet rural feel.  (RW 3.5 – SK 3475 – Fields by Barlow Brook).

The path joined a minor lane rising up towards the chapel between Barlow and Common Side.   There is a lovely view along the lane down into the rural village of Common Side.  This is really the sort of sight that beckons you onwards as a walker, and (looking back) was probably my favourite village scene the whole trip.  (RW 3.6 – SK 3375 – Common Side).

It was a pleasure to follow the lane winding through the village.  Beyond I took the little lane right to Brindwoodgate, and stopped for refreshments making use of a bench by the lane with views back to Common Side.  The heaviest items in my bag were the three bottles of drink (two plain water) which I could enjoy and still take for granted even in the current dry spell.  My thoughts from time to time went to the Turn on the Tap appeal, remembering that there are so many people around the world who cannot take supplies of clean water for granted.  Sometimes I tried to think what impact that must have on daily life, but it was difficult to appreciate all the implications on time, energy and patterns of life.  Soon it was onwards, and in this case, upwards, towards Barlow Lees.  The hamlet is hardly at a high altitude, but the south facing slopes give wide views, and were growing a variety of crops, including potatoes.  (RW 3.7 – SK 3376 – Fields below Barlow Lees).

The lane winds around the hillsides with a truly rural feel despite being close to Dronfield.  There was very little through traffic in evidence.   The next square was an attractive mix of fields and woodland, very difficult to rush through bearing in mind the need to keep up some forward motion to achieve 17 or so miles in the day.   The secluded corner shown in the picture was an especially appealing stretch of the lane, near Lees Common.  (RW 3.8 – SK 3476 – Barlow Lees Lane).

After crossing the little stream, the lane lane rises through woodland then fields with an increasingly upland feel.  It comes as a surprise to realise that you are approaching the A61 (no junction for vehicles) and the edge of Dronfield.  The lane curves through every quarter of the square, so may represent the longest distance I covered within any single square.  After turning away from the main road the country views were once again predominant.  (RW 3.9 – SK 3477 – Countryside near Dronfield).

The next destination on the route was the small but straggling village of Cowley.  The highlight was the sweet little whitewashed Mission Chapel, which without further ado is shared as the next photo subject.  (RW 3.10 – SK 3377 – Cowley Mission Chapel).

It is clearly in use and well cared for and loved, with morning and evening Sunday services, which was good to see.   I finally parted company with the lane, taking a lovely path through fields and the small woodland areas of Spring Wood and Kitchen Wood, finally arriving at the edge of Dronfield Woodhouse.   I would be very tempted to break self imposed rules and add one or two more pictures from this square, but must pass on.  More pictures can be seen on Geograph, and hopefully later on Flickr too.  The residential area of Dronfield Woodhouse was one of the most attractive of the modern estates visited during these walks.  (RW 3.12 – SK 3378 – Residential street off Leabrook Road, Dronfield Woodhouse).

Older houses were encountered on reaching Carr Lane, which was followed left, uphill.  Continuing west across fields, the watershed was eventually reached with Totley coming into view – the western edge of the territory covered by the walks was encountered for the first time.  It was interesting to see how the project was really helping to get to grips with the geography of the area and to appreciate the lie of the land.  Of course it was not really a major watershed, with the Rother flowing into the Don which collects the tributaries from the famed hills and valleys around Sheffield, including the Sheaf itself whose valley now lay below.  (RW 3.13 – SK 3278 – View over the watershed).

As far as today’s route was concerned, it meant almost doubling back, heading to the hamlet of Mickley, but it was good to have a sneak “over the edge”.   Mickley is near the headwaters of one of the streams that combine to form the Drone in Dronfield.  These minor upland valleys form an important green belt beyond the city limits of Sheffield.  (RW 3.14 – SK 3279 – Green belt between Sheffield and Dronfield).

Heading north, at the next grid line I crossed into South Yorkshire and within the city limits of Sheffield.  You see, Sheffield sneaks over the edge of the watershed in a narrow strip along the suburbs from Bradway to Jordanthorpe, so duty called to tackle these city fringes.  The corner of SK 3280 hardly counted, but the B road – Bradway Road and Greenhill Parkway – stays quite close to the line of the watershed.  Edmund Avenue and Reney Avenue are residential streets set back a bit, so I added them to the route for a change from the main road.  (RW 3.15 – SK 3380 – Reney Avenue).

I ventured over the brow into Greenhill, but failed to get decent pictures of either of the churches featured in the square, both almost on the watershed.  Instead a residential street and a fish and chip shop will have to suffice.  (RW 3.16 – SK 3481 – School Lane, Greenhill).

Next it was the turn of the suburb of Lowedges, an uninspiring mix of flats and houses.  (RW 3.17 – SK 3480 – Parade of shops, Lowedges).

Jordanthorpe and Batemoor, to the east, have a mix of more modern flats and houses, but are hardly any more inspiring, and dominated by a tower block.  The green space around the houses and flats seemed a bit more imaginatively arranged.  It was interesting to take a bit of time to walk along the edge of one of our larger cities.  The suburbs seem impersonal in so many ways, and yet are home to so many individual lives with their varied achievements and needs.  I am by no means a true country person, and lived for a number of years well within the Leeds city boundaries, but the allure of the city that is so strong for many around the world does not work for me.  There simply seem to be too many people to retain a sense that every person is an individual – how many front doors did I pass without a thought of each being the symbol of home for an individual or family?  (RW 3.18 – SK 3580 – Batemoor Road).

At the edge of the city limits I crossed back into Derbyshire.   Dyche Lane crosses the green belt at its narrowest point, to Coal Aston at the northern edge of Dronfield.  A waymarked path called the Sheffield Country Walk rings the city, and I followed part of it westwards across the green belt.  (RW 3.19 – SK 3579 – Sheffield Country Walk near Dronfield).

The route crosses the old main road and then under two bridges, one for each carriageway of the current A61.  After some farmland the second golf course of the day was reached.  (RW 3.20 – SK 3479 – Track under the A61).

The golf course setting is really quite attractive and I’m sure helps to shield the green belt area from further development.  It is called the Dore and Totley Golf Club, although those places are out of sight over the hill.  (RW 3.21 – SK 3379 – Dore and Totley Golf Club).

The final section of the route headed back in to the centre of Dronfield, once again involving crossing the A61.  The houses in the picture are just above the bridge.  (RW 3.22 – SK 3478 – Houses near the A61, Dronfield).

The centre of Dronfield must take quite a few visits to get to know properly, as there is a network of narrow, twisting streets.  This first visit did not provide a proper opportunity for exploration beyond the planned route, but it was a pleasant walk down the High Street and Church Street.  Although taking care to cover every km grid square seems quite detailed, I was very aware of barely scratching the surface of the places visited.  The final picture from a varied walk on a lovely day was taken by the station, back in map square from the start of the walk.