The Wayfaring Path

Because I rest a lot and take things at a fairly relaxed pace it can be easy to think that I’m not fitting much in to my days; certainly, I’m not doing as much as I would if I only had three days in Sheffield and had to race around, squeezing in as much as possible. But I love the pace, and the extended nature of this trip means we get little glimpses of what it’s like to live here, not just to visit. And then I type out a title like the above and I realise that actually I am doing quite a bit each week, even if the individual days can feel a bit quiet.

Regan struggled with his cold last week, so I did a few of the daily trips to the supermarket. It’s quite a long way away, via a lovely woodland path. There’s a Costa Coffee near the supermarket so I had a ridiculous iced coffee situation one day, and a “Spanish latte” the next. I’d love to tell you what a makes a latte Spanish, but I can’t as the man who explained it to me had a very thick accent so I just smiled and nodded and hoped for the best. It was delicious, but nothing at all like the thick, strong and bitter coffee I remember from Spain. Back then it took quite some convincing to get any kind of milk at all, and anything like a latte was well out of the question. But that was ten years ago, so I guess things have changed.

The walks back, laden with potatoes for baking, tins of beans, and a few bits of fruit are a lot less enjoyable as they hurt my back, but I had an audio book to listen to so it wasn’t all bad. And the greenery here in Sheffield is so gentle and lovely, it’s such a treat to walk in.

After Monday’s work day I jumped on a bus to the northern part of Sheffield to visit a sculpture called The Spirit of Parkwood Springs which I had seen on Wessex Archaeology’s Sheffield Art Map. Parkwood Springs is a large green space and the sculpture is a cool embodiment of the wildlife that exists within it. I felt a bit sad for the sculpture being so close to the road, but it was great to see it in real life, and enjoyable to ride the buses around different bits of the city. I had a day pass and took six buses!

Tuesday was exciting as I passed 2,000 followers on Insight Timer, where I publish guided meditations. I’ve been on there for about 3 years now, and it’s a project that came out of the shitty cancer year I had in 2021. It’s something I’m very proud of and it felt good to hit such a nice round number. Although I’m always a bit conflicted about follower numbers – as my meditations tend to deal with cancer and insomnia I feel a bit sad knowing that a new follower most likely means someone else who is struggling, so it feels a bit wrong to celebrate. But anyway I’m glad that the meditations are helpful for people and I’m pleased that some light has shone out of the darkness of that year.

Wednesday was a Costa / Supermarket / rest combo for me, and Regan made a trip to Leeds to visit the Royal Armouries Museum, which he loved – as he did Leeds, too. I’d have liked to go also but as I’ve probably mentioned we can’t leave the doggies for a whole day on their own. It was fine as I was tired but we are both looking forward to being able to go on adventures together again soon!

On Thursday I had my final acupuncture session and afterwards walked to the Botanical Gardens to hunt out the Bear Pit. Yes, a bear pit. As in a pit where bears lived and were considered entertainment for wealthy people. I absolutely detest that aspect of it, but there was something so weird and so un-New-Zealand-like about it that I had to see it. I was expecting a mostly filled-in hole in the ground, covered in brambles and hidden from view, but I was very wrong (see video above) as it was well-maintained, of sturdy construction, and much larger than I was expecting. Absolutely still a prison for bears, but still quite a feat of engineering.

I was leaning over the upper railing and, in true Sheffield style, got chatting with a Dad with his young son who were down in the pit. As soon as anyone hears my accent they are so interested to know why we are here, and quick to offer suggestions for fun things to do. The people here are really great – I’m not sure if it’s the north in general or Sheffield in particular, but a good chin-wag is never far away if you’re up for it! Another thing we’ve noticed is that people in the south would ask “what part of Australia are you from?”, whereas people in the north make no assumptions and ask “where are you from?”. It really makes a difference to how we feel in the conversation and I think says a lot about the people here.

Anyway, our half-shouted, echoey, bear-pit conversation drew others in and before I knew it I was looking down at three adults and two kids who were all keen that I have the best time possible in their city. Just love it! I eventually wandered down into the pit and was pretty blown away. There were a few openings in the wall – one small one that might have been a cave for the bears to hibernate in, and a larger room that might have held food or supplies for the bears. There’s a statue of a bear which is nice but also sad; and as someone said to me, kind of looks like he’s doing Tai Chi. I wandered around the rest of the gardens, which are lovely, and decided to bring Regan here next week. We have another heatwave forecast so it’ll be nice to be under trees.

Thursday also marked the “one week to go” stage of the dog sit. The dogs are funny wee beans but do require quite a lot of work so we are looking forward to having fewer responsibilities soon. As I say in the video they don’t like to walk, and it takes a LOT of cajoling to get them into the woodland. Once they are there they like it, but they forget all that the next time we get the leads out!

On Friday we got all the work and dog duties done and jumped on a train to Hathersage, where Robin Hood’s merry man Little John apparently lived, died, and is buried. It’s something we really appreciate about being here – there are so many small towns and villages that we can get to on public transport that all have an interesting church or weird story or nice pub – or all three if you’re lucky! It’s a cute little place, now on our list of places we’d pet-sit in, and a nice place to while away a few hours.

We walked up to Little John’s grave, which apparently was extended a bit at some point, and then became the main measurement unit for the village, perhaps along the lines of: “I’ll have 3/4ths of a Little John of red linen, thanks” in the days before standard measurements. Apparently there was a very long thigh bone found in his grave, and his cap and bow were hanging in the church for many years (sadly no longer) – but I have no evidence for any of these statements, so take from them what you will 🙂

We had a pint at the Little John Inn (including a chat with the friendly barman) and then I embarrassed myself by yelling “gidday!” at someone walking past wearing a Speight’s (NZ beer) t-shirt. He looked confused, Regan looked mortified, I felt like an idiot. So, situation normal then… my super-power is making things awkward, don’t you know. I ran into him later and explained that I thought he was a kiwi wearing that t-shirt and he said he lived in NZ for a bit. Worked as a policeman. Great, so now I’m randomly yelling at retired cops quietly going about their day 😦

(As an aside I think I’m getting a few twinges of home-sickness as I found myself wandering into the NZ part of the wine section at Sainsbury’s, wanting to see something familiar from home. But as I don’t really drink still white wine I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of the Oyster Bay or Villa Maria bottles there).

As Hathersage is in the Peak District there are lots of outdoorsy types walking about (well, striding about) and easily 30% of the shops (so, 3 of them) were outdoorsy shops. I was in the market for something to sit on when I’m on the dig and I always enjoy imagining one day I’ll do something spectacular like climb Mt. Kilimanjaro (spoiler: I won’t) so I took a walk around. In the first two shops everything was so EXPENSIVE. And one was specialising in rock climbing gear and the other in cycling gear and there was something about both of them that made me feel very eye-rolly. Not sure why, probably jealousy. But happily the third one was a bit more my speed with cheaper stuff that would do nicely for an hour or two out in the woods. I found a little bum pad for four quid, so that made my day.

We met back up again at the David Mellor cutlery factory and design museum/shop for a slice of rather fantastic cake and a bit more eye-rolling at the ridiculous prices of things. But if you have lots of money and like well-made things then it would be a great place to hang out. Enjoying cooking is probably important too, as I can’t really justify spending huge amounts of money on cooking implements when I detest cooking! But there were some cool knives. And the factory was in a round building, like a solid and fancy yurt.

Back to Totley (our nearest train station) and we went to The Tunnel Tap, a tiny little pub that Regan found the other day for a cheeky cider / beer on the way home. It’s extremely small, like there’s 6 chairs and that’s about it. Cool wee place and obviously a centre of a nice wee (very wee) community. Regan had made friends with a fun person there the week before and we hoped she’d be there again but alas not. So we had a drink then bussed home and had a chippy tea. It was all a bit much for me – cake with cream, two ciders, plus fried food, so I felt a bit yuk that evening after living healthily (i.e. cheaply) for weeks and weeks. I’m such a frigging lightweight these days.

Saturday was a bit blustery but not enough to put us off an adventure. So we jumped on the bus and went back out to Chatsworth House – well, the grounds at least. I managed to quietly spill water all over my seat-mate (a stranger, not Regan) and then I dragged us off the bus far too early – so not a strong start from me! Happily Regan found a path we could walk that would take us to the edge of the grounds, and we were there for a walk so once we were off the busy road it was all good. HUGE grounds, quite appalling that they used to be private for just one family. Great to see lots of people out walking through them, having picnics and enjoying the land.

We ended up at the village of Edensor (pronounced “Enza”), which is within the gates of Chatsworth House grounds. Apparently the original village was visible from the big house so the 6th Duke had it torn down and Edensor built in it’s place, out of sight so as not to ruin the views. WTF? Hopefully the new village was built before the old one was torn down but I wouldn’t put anything past those toffs.

Edensor has a nice church with a lovely big spire (I’m a big fan of spires, they look so good in the countryside) and a memorial to two of Bess of Hardwick’s sons. Our friend Bess has a connection to Chatsworth, she pops up everywhere around here!

On Sunday we took the bus to the city and went to the Kelham Island (despite appearances, actually an island in the city) Museum – lots of cool industrial artefacts from Sheffield’s recent past. Lots of huge metal things, and engines, and beautifully delicate tools too. It made me melancholy for a time I never lived in and sad for all the skills that were lost. I know that there are both good and bad points to globalisation, and I’m very happy working remotely in my modern computer-based job that allows me to travel, so it’s really just a misplaced and pointless nostalgia – but as someone who trained in a traditional apprentice system I do sometimes miss the old ways of doing things.

We then wandered to Leah’s Yard, which is a very cool (dare I say boujee) area with galleries, artisan shops and a cool food hall. We were broke so had lunch next door at good ole Wetherspoons and then wandered around and promised ourselves we would go back after Regan’s payday, as we are staying in the CBD later this week. There’s a bookshop that made me want to own every single book in it, but sadly I can’t buy books here as they are too heavy to carry so I just have to make notes in my Books To Buy Later list.

Today (Monday) is a no-spending day for me (I don’t get paid till after we leave Edinburgh so am trying to conserve as much dosh as I can) so we walked through the woodland paths near here. As I mentioned earlier the dogs are unenthusiastic walkers at best, downright stubborn buggers at worst, so we wanted to go walking unencumbered. Ecclesall Woods is just glorious, with wide tracks and gentle greenness everywhere. It’s very dry here so there weren’t many streams running, but there were lots of blackberries – heaps of them were out of the dog-pee-zone too, so I stuffed my face!

As our time in Sheffield draws to a close we know that we would be happy if we were to live here, and we are grateful for the dog-sit as it brought us to a place we might not have visited otherwise – and that would have been a real shame. It’s a city that is a good scale for me, the people are great and the green spaces are divine. There’s a whole food and drink and music scene that we’ve not even scratched the surface of, and different quarters and suburbs that remain yet-to-be-explored by us. Good to have more to explore next time we are here!