Twenty one walkers met in the car park alongside Whirlow Playing Fields. We started the walk by diagonally crossing the playing fields and entering Ecclesall Woods. Rather than carrying on deep into the woods we turned right towards Limb Lane and followed the road all the way into the Village of Dore. On the way we passed a sizeable bonfire that was all ready for the festivities later on in the day. On reaching Christ Church in the village we had a short stop and Shirley, one of our leaders, spoke about the history of the church. After our stop we made our way along Drury Lane and Towhead Road to reach the byway known as Shorts Lane. This took us into Blacka Moor Nature Reserve, an area that we often use for our annual Dawn Chorus Walk.
After leaving Blackamoor Nature Reserve we crossed Hathersage Road and made our way up onto Houndkirk Moor where we stopped for our lunch break at a rock formation close to Houndkirk Hill. We then continued over the moor to Houndkirk Road where we turned right and headed for Ringinglow. After passing Lady Canning’s Plantation we came onto Sheephill Road and took a right turn onto a popular path that took us down the Limb Valley. This then took us into Whirlow Brook Park and back across Hathersage Road and finally over the football fields back to the car park. Everyone thanked our leaders Shirley and Gaynor for a very interesting walk on varying terrain.
Thanks to Graham for the photos and the second half of the walk description.
