Monday 14th April
We checked into the 'Spiral and Garden' after a visit to Meadowhall, very busy - even on a Monday. Eats at TGI Fridays, and then a short drive to our accommodation for two nights, near Penistone.
The Spiral & Garden is a small, quirky property with bedroom downstairs, a small entrance hall, and a spiral staircase up to the open plan kitchen/lounge upstairs. The artwork on the walls was interesting, a bit alternative, with most related to Siouxsie & The Banshees and Depeche Mode (pictures of singles covers and eerie artwork).
The owners' house is right next door with a shared drive leading to a more private parking area at the rear of the properties.
The property was quite modern with reasonably good facilities, though the kitchen was not that well equipped as far as utensils, pots, pans etc.... goes. Maybe most people eat out, we did not.
After settling in, we went for a short walk through the village up to the reservoir and back on a nice early evening.
View below shows the property with the small arched window at the front. good views over open countryside from both the front and rear of the house.
Tuesday 15th April
Susan's birthday, which is one reason why we had booked a trip.
The weather was good again, and we had brought our bikes, and planned to tackle a short section of the Trans-Pennine trail nearby at Dunford Bridge.
However, on arriving there was work taking place and metal fences. An enquiry at the work security hut, explained that this section of the trail was closed, so after a bit of a think we decided to head towards Glossop and pick up the trail at Hadfield heading back towards Penistone direction and Woodhead tunnel.
This section of the trail skirts by 5 reservoirs (Bottoms, Valehouse. Rhodeswood, Torside and Woodhead). The first (Bottoms) can be seen below, and we set off along the trail, which was a fairly wide, gravelled track. It was not too busy, and we enjoyed the views across the reservoir.
After a few miles the trail was diverted along a more gravelly track as there was a lot of work taking place by National Grid on the electrical pylons and later at a fairly large sub-station.
The end of his section of the trail came at Woodhead Tunnel, and this was a large work site with work taking place within the tunnel (maybe they are going to open it up for cyclists?). Here we turned around and headed back the same way we came, about 7 miles in each direction.
We arrived back at the car around 14:30, loaded on the biles and headed off for a quick look around Holmfirth (famous for the TV comedy series Last of the Summer Wine)
Our cycle ride score : 7/10
On the way a quick photo stop at Holme Moss Summit, we did not fancy the push up this hill on our bikes, but there were plenty of cyclists tackling the hills round here.
The "famous" Nora Batty's steps and Sid's Cafe in Homlfirth
After perusing the town, and a cheeky ice-cream, we headed back to our digs.
Wednesday 16th April
We paid the bill for the accommodation, and set off for Rother Valley Country Park at Killamarsh (near Sheffiield/Chesterfield). Arriving at the park around 10:15 it was quite busy even this early, probably due to the children being on school holidays. The plan was to cycle around the lake at the park, then head off away from the park to pick up another section of the Trans-Pennine trail along the old railway cutting past Killamarsh, then along the Chesterfield Canal towpath to Tapton Lock just outside Chesterfield.
The lake itself is the central attraction of the park and is used for all manner of watersports including a water ski powered wire that pulls skiers around the lake and over jumps if they are daring.
We headed off around the lake and around half-way found the turn point to head off along the Trans-Pennine trail towards Chesterfield.
The trail is pretty wide and flat, and we were soon passing through the old Killamarsh railway platform before heading out into more open countryside.
The trail is used by a mix of walkers, dog-walkers, horse riders, and cyclists but was not too busy (unlike the park). The view above shows that at times it was very quiet and tranquil.
After around 4 miles we arrived at the Chesterfield Canal tow path and followed this for about another 4-5 miles to Tapton Lock just outside Chesterfield.
The whole route is very interesting and a mix of all good things from the park lake, old railway trail and canal tow path. The canal path was not too busy, the canal itself very quiet (no boats), though there was plenty of wildlife along the way. (Including a Heron, missed the picture though!)
We stopped to eat lunch (sarnies) at a small lock before pressing on further.
The end of our trail was Tapton Lock visitors centre, where there is a small shop/centre selling books, and a few snacks. We had the obligatory ice-cream sat outside at a table on such a nice pleasant day. After resting we headed back the 9 miles or so back the way we came to the park, once again enjoying the canal and railway trail.
Arriving back at the park around 14:30 we cycled around the lake the other way, but it was so busy and not that enjoyable. A quick loo break and loaded up the bikes we headed for home, both agreeing how good the trail was.
Our cycle ride Score: 9/10
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