Monday 14 May 2018

May Work Day


As all good work days should, we started the day making sure we knew where we were going! Only Andrew really knew  the problems with signage  in this area and so we were very reliant on him to point us in the right direction. 

So, we started from the car park at Hope station and our first task was to look at signage needs from here onto NCN Rte 6, which is about 1/4 mile away. With that all sorted we headed on into Hope for sandwiches and then retraced ourselves back to the route. Once away from the main A6187 what  a lovely route this is. There is a bit of an initial climb up to Aston, but it is not too bad and on a sunny day like today it offers wonderful views across the Hope valley. 

 One or two more signs required to confirm to cyclists they are on the correct route, but otherwise few navigational concerns all the way across the hillside to Thornhill.
 We were able to make a few improvements to the existing signage but it soon bacame clear to us that we will need to make a full list of signage requirements and then return later in the year to put them all in place.

From Thornhill the route climbs a bit further up the hillside until levelling out to give some lovely views out over the Derwent Valley and an intersection with the Thornhill Trail. This was the old rail line used by the construction company building Ladybower reservoir, but it now makes for a most delightful traffic free ride. Although it is ideal for cycling along towards Ladybower (and is the existing official route) Andrew has asked us to consider a route change which would potentially eliminate the section along the trail, and introduce a new section along the very quiet, little used road from Thornhill up to the main road at Yorkshire bridge. There are a number of reasons for wanting to do this, and a couple of alternative ideas, which we will be investigating further. What was very clear was the fact that signage in this area does need some urgent attention to meet current Sustrans standards.

Having contemplated whether the route should go across the dam wall, or not, we adjourned for much needed refreshment at the Yorkshire Bridge Inn. There Dan gave us a training session on "how to sign a route", which certainly covered a lot of the areas we are likely to come up with in the next few months.

The final task for the day was to retrace our steps back to the point where we had joined the Thornhill trail but then, rather than staying on NCN Rte 6 we deviated onto a lovely descent along the Thorhill trail which leads almost into Bamford. Andrew was keen to look at this as a potential link route to Bamford station and we all agreed it would be excellent, if only we can get permission to use a short stretch of private road. We deduced that this access lane was probably owned by the local Quaker community and so, in for a penny...., we went and knocked on their door. The guy we spoke to was very friendly and suggested we write to them to put forward our proposals. He was surprised we were even asking as he said most people just used it as a "right of way" anyway! Maybe they'll give us permission to sign it

So, all in all a really interesting day. I was not aware previously of the Sheffield to Castleton NCN route 6, but I intend to try and ride all of it as soon as possible (even if not on such a fantastic day as today!). Otherwise, we will gather together everything we need to complete the signing on our next visit so that users travelling in either direction along NCN rte 6 can be confident about following the route easily.

Thanks to Andrew, Dan, David & Catherine and Paul for all their contributions today.

No comments:

Post a Comment