Seven walkers met at Holmesfield Village Hall in full waterproof gear owing to the unpromising weather forecast.
The first part of the walk took us through Holmesfield Park Wood after which we walked on Fanshawe Gate Lane for around half a mile. When the road turned sharply to the left we took the steep downhill footpath through the trees and past GHB Ward’s former cottage “Storth House”. If Bert Ward was around today he wouldn’t recognise his cottage as it has been hugely extended. We then joined Moorwood Lane which we followed all the way to its junction with Baslow Road. As we walked along Moorwood Lane we were lucky enough to catch sight of a herd of deer although none of us were sure what type of deer they were. Still following the GHB Ward Memorial walk we took the steep path onto the Totley Moors. At this point we contoured around the edge of the moors before we dropped down into upper Totley. At one point in our descent we passed by one of the Totley tunnel air vents which I had only seen from a distance until then.
The homeward leg of the walk took us down Totley Hall Road and then into Gillfield Wood. From here we followed a track through fields eventually joining up with Moorwood Lane once again. The last stretch was along the main road into Holmesfield.
At the end of the walk we were all pleased that we had ignored the weather forecast as we only had light drizzle rather than heavy rain.
Many thanks to Joe for plotting and leading this walk.