We arrived at Grindleford station at 9.35am on a sunny day with hardly any wind.  While my colleagues were taking their normal 10 minutes to get ready I took some pictures of the old Grindleford railway station which is now a café and next to it the Totley Tunnel which runs for 3½ miles beneath Totley moor on its way to Totley in Sheffield. Finally we were off and crossing the railway lines we turned right through a stile to enter the wooded Padley Gorge.  A small stream ran down the Gorge and within minutes we had sights of Grey Wagtail and Dipper.  We climbed up through the Gorge on a good woodland path to emerge into the open near a footbridge, which took us across the stream and then across a small road into the Longshaw estate which was taken over by the National Trust in 1931.  Passing a small pond we came across a millstone on which a message thanked all those who had gifted their time since 1926.  We then reached Longshaw Lodge and next to it the National Trust café.  Though the café was closed we appreciated that the National Trust had kept the toilets open in the nearby portacabins. After skirting round Longshaw Lodge we carried on down a good track to the junction of the B6054 and B6450 roads.  Crossing the roads we entered White Edge Moor and made our across the moor passing White Edge Lodge and emerging to recross the B6054 near the Grouse Inn. Near but not quite as our footpath took us on a long loop round the Grouse Inn and then once again across the B6054 road in the direction of Froggart Edge.  As we made our way to Froggart Edge we passed an ancient stone circle about 10 yards to the left of our path.  The views from the Edge should have been superb but today they were marred by a haze, which did not seem to be shifting.  Part way along the Edge we turned to our right down a path that led us down to the bottom of the rock face and then back in the direction from where we had come.  As we walked along the bottom of the Edge rock face groups of rock climbers were practicing on the face which though not very high gave a number of climbs of varying difficulty.  Our route took us on to a new path that turned sharply downhill and here we nearly lost one of our group who was so engrossed in the activities on the rock face that they had not noticed the rest of us had taken a new path.  While walking through the woods we espied a small pond and the same absent minded member now made up for this lapse by spotting a small catfish lying on the muddy pond bottom and almost impossible to find.  Finally we left the woods and crossing a field came to Grindleford Bridge over the River Derwent.  Here the route ran through the fields alongside the river and while four of our group took the shortest route away from the river two of the more dedicated members took the longer route by the riverside. Their diligence was rewarded with a pair of Mergansers in the river.  The other four now came trooping over the field and we all had excellent views of the Mergansers fishing as they swam up river.  Suddenly we spotted two Goosanders less than a 100 yards further up the river.  These also gave us good  views and we contrasted the ways the brown to white merged on the necks of the female Merganser and Goosander. After walking along a pretty wooded area by the river we turned sharply to our right and walked uphill to cross over the Manchester to Sheffield railway line and then across a field to join a track taking us back towards Grindleford station. Earlier in the day we had glimpses of butterflies on the moors but they had not settled long enough for identification.  Now along the track we espied a number of Peacocks and then our first Comma of the Year.  Further along the track we passed Padley Chapel, the only remains of Padley Hall, and then came to Padley Mill.  Time for a last group photo on the steps of Padley Mill and it was past the station and back to the cars.  The time was 2.30pm and it had taken us nearly 5 hours to complete 8½ miles.  Too late for a pub meal so we had sandwiches in the car park except for one more resourceful member who wandered into the café and emerged with a carton of excellent chips. The fine weather and superb scenery had given us a great day out.

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