A family walk in the fantastic countryside around Sheffield
seemed a good idea as we move in to spring. It would blow
away the winter cobwebs and lets face it I need the
exercise. So on the last two weekends we have walked around
two reservoirs to the north west of Sheffield, Dale Dike and Dam
Flask. We found the Dale Dike walk on the Yorkshire Water
website, which gives some useful information on how difficult
each walk is, though I am not too sure how these ratings relate
to a 4 year old.
Our first walk was round Dale Dike, apparently this was two and
half miles long, though it felt much further as the terrain was a
little difficult. The biggest problem being that large
stretches were muddy, very muddy in fact and with big
puddles. Our youngest loved it, jumping in the
puddles. He didnʼt even mind it once he had fallen over and
got covered in mud. Fortunately we had all put wellies on,
which seemed a must given the conditions.
On the walk round Dale Dike there is one place where there are a
number of steps. These can be tricky for the young, the old
or the not so fit, especially as some of the steps are quite
large. You have a choice of going up or down the
steps. At the start of the walk the path splits in to
two. Take the left fork or the low road if you wish to go
up the steps and take the right fork or the high road if you
would rather go down the steps. We didnʼt know this and
took the low road and ended up carrying our youngest up the
steps.
You will need to keep young children close to you during the
walk, as there are a couple of places where there are sheer drops
at the edge of the path down to the water. There are other
places where the reservoir water comes right up to the muddy path
and there are branches that overhang the paths. Whilst I
wouldnʼt want to overdo the need for caution, there are certainly
places of risk for young ones during this walk.
The second walk round Dam Flask was probably longer, but it felt
much easier going. The route has many footpaths and is did
not suffer from the mud and puddles problem. You could
quite happily go around in trainers. There are some
fantastic views as you walk round Dam Flask. By the way
does anyone know what those small round buildings on the bridge
at the end of Dam Flask are for?
There is also a choice to make on the walk round Dam Flask.
As you approach the lovely village of Bradfield you can either
cross over the wooden bridge to start back round the other side
of Dam Flask or you can continue on in to Bradfield in search of
refreshment. On a sunnyish Saturday afternoon we found an
ice cream van just next to the cricket pitch and so our boys got
a welcome treat. Alternatively the village shop stocks the
posh ice cream!