A Walk in Padley Gorge

I've not been to Grindleford café for quite a while. Its an old railway station and is very popular with walkers and climbers. The guy who used to run it was quite eccentric and unfortunately died a few years ago but its nice to see it's still going and hasn't changed. There are still loads of hand-written notices at various places advising on things such as not asking for mushrooms as “they never have nor ever will sell mushrooms” and by the old fire place “If you want to guard the fire join the Fire Brigade”.

Grindleford Cafe

Anyway, Karen and I parked in the road approaching the café and after a snack and cup of tea headed off across the nearby railway bridge and soon passed through a gate leading to the bottom of Padley Gorge.

This led us along a nice stream cascading down through blocks of gritstone through a wood of oaks and beech trees. After crossing over the stream on a wooden footbridge, we followed a zig-zag path on the opposite side which led up to a path heading again alongside the stream.

Eventually we reached the top of the gorge and into a wide section of moorland with views across to Higgar Tor and higher ground and also the start of some drizzle and light rain.

We headed towards Burbage bridge and then before reaching the road curved around following a path back along the road heading towards the house of Longshaw Estate belonging to the National Trust with a the optimistic owner of an Ice Cream van parked by the road hoping for customers on this cool and damp Good Friday.
We passed through a small gate in the wall, crossed the road then followed down the drive leading past the house and then along the “hah-hah” in front. This brought us to a broad path skirted by rhododendron bushes and then past a large pond. After this we followed a path through grazing land and through a small gate leading to a muddy path along the top of steep ground covered with short trees with views down to Grindleford far below.

A Bursting Bud

We stopped alongside the path sitting on some moss-covered stone blocks to have lunch then continued on along the path, dropping down on steps to reach the road leading from Grindleford to nearby Hathersage. We crossed the road then followed a path back down to where we had parked.
After getting our boots off, we drove to Hathersage to visit Outside as I was after a pair of lightweight boots to wear later in the summer. I ended up buying a pair of Asolo Fugitive GTX boots and then we had a look in the marquee in the car park where the Outside Easter Sale items were on display.
I succumbed to temptation and bought a Rab Ascent duvet reduced from £149 to £90!
I wore Paramo Cascada trousers, Paramo Third Element jacket, Contour Navigator boots and Osprey Kestrel 38 rucksack.