14 January 2014

Distance

West of Sheffield, Ringinglow Road ascends the nearby moors, linking my adopted city with The Hope Valley in Derbyshire. I can start walking from our front door and be on wild moorland within half an hour. It's something that Londoners can only dream of - having such natural, barely-tamed wilderness right on your doorstep. By car it only takes five minutes.

In the top picture, taken this afternoon, I have just pulled in to the roadside near Lady Canning Plantation. Look beyond the footpath sign and you can see Sheffield nestled in the valley where the River Don meets the Sheaf, the Porter and the other tiny rivers that flow eastwards from the hills. 

Then I took my camera, rested on that second fencepost for stability and zoomed down to the valley to get this shot of the city centre:-
I was almost six miles away. The taller building in the centre is  St Paul's Tower - a modern residential development completed in 2010. Why not click on the pictures to enlarge?

For those who don't know, Sheffield is a northern English city with a population of half a million. During the nineteenth century, it grew from rather insignificant origins to become the bustling centre of steel-making in Great Britain. In international terms, Sheffield has two great claims to fame. It was here that stainless steel was invented and it was here that the game of football was truly born. The city boasts the world's two oldest teams - Sheffield FC and Hallam FC and also the world's oldest football ground - Sandygate - the continuous home of Hallam FC. 

Other tidbits about Sheffield... The Arctic Monkeys, Def Leppard, Joe Cocker, Jarvis Cocker and Pulp, The Human League, Gordon Banks (England goalkeeper), Michael Palin (Monty Python), Helen Sharman (astronaut), Michael Vaughan (England cricket captain), Margaret Drabble (novelist), Samuel Holberry (Chartist martyr) and Thomas Boulsover (inventor of Sheffield plate) all came from the place. It is the greenest city in Great Britain - in terms of the proportion of parkland and other green areas that exist within the city boundaries.

And it is now home to the Yorkshire Pudding Photographic Studios - specialising in funerals or pre-funeral albums for your loved ones - Leave a little of yourself behind... Special rates for bloggers.

18 comments:

  1. I know that view so well! I used to live in Norton and Bradway.

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    1. Why were you exiled Mad? You could always re-apply for Sheffield citizenship.

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  2. That zoom is very impressive,

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    1. As a simple fellow - without the technical curiosity and know-how that you possess - I wanted a simple camera with a very wide range and that's what my Sony bridge camera is giving me.

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    2. I've had two Sony bridge cameras - HX1 and HX100V. I still have the latter although I've converted to a Canon SX50 HS for most things. The bridge camera is, in my view, one of the best camera developments since I took up photography at the age of 6. It is a wonderful compromise between quality, 20-60x magnification at the touch of a button, portability and ease of use. If I want to blow up a picture to the size of a large brick wall I'll just borrow my son's Canon DSLR. The perfect situation.

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  3. So far, I have managed only one visit to Sheffield, for two days and one night at the very nice Leopold Hotel in 2010. I was quite impressed with how beautiful the city centre is, which for some reason I had imagined rather different. I hope to get back this year when visiting an aunt and uncle in Chapeltown.
    Both pictures are beautiful. The "public footpath" sign immediately makes me go there for a long walk in the sun.

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    1. I was walking near Chapeltown the other day. Have you ever visited the Wentworth Woodhouse estate? You should do that. It is possible to book guided tours round the house nowadays. Your auntie and uncle would probably find that fascinating too.

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  4. Crikey, your photography skills (coupled with a good camera) are quite impressive YP.

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    1. How come you slipped that wormy little "quite" word in?

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  5. I love public footpaths! One of the few things I do actually miss from England, the networkk of public footpaths and relatively easy access to open land.

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    1. Yes we are blessed Brian. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world with such a network of ancient paths.

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  6. I suppose you didn't include Seb Coe because he was born in London, even if he did his growing up in Sheffield. However, on that basis you'd have to exclude Michael Vaughan from your list as he was born in Lancashire!

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    1. I didn't include Lordy Coe because he ia a monster raving Tory and I am well aware that Michael Vaughan was born in Eccles, Lancashire - something of which he is deeply and understandably ashamed. Please note "came from the place" is not the same as saying "born here". Nonetheless I thank you for your comment which felt like being poked through the bars of my cage with a sharp stick.

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  7. Well, you guys mightof birthed 'em, but we got 'em for good. Joe lives on a lovely ranch in Crawford, Colorado. LOVE Joe Cocker!

    Now, how is it that you can take such beautiful photos from so far away?

    For me, one of the best things I know about England is that you can go on a walkabout anywhere you please..almost. Well, my son in law is one of the other best things, too. LOVE my SIL. How wonderful to go share a picnic with nature that is not fenced or gated.

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    1. Just went looking for Cocker's Mad Dog Ranch courtesy of Google Streetview but I couldn't find it. Still it gave me a sense of the landscape around Crawford. Beautiful and spacious but I didn't see any footpath signs! Looks like you'll be burying our Sheffield Mad Dog one day. In his heyday, that guy could really sing

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  8. Thanks for all the information...the only thing I knew about Sheffield is the steel part.

    Being the city that gave us Joe Cocker and Michael Palin has to rate pretty highly in my book; to be rated as the "greenest city in England" is no mean feat, either...and of course, let's not overlook you, our esteemed ceremonial cessation of existence photographer!

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    1. Clients may dress as Egyptian mummies if they wish... or zombies. We have birth and baby pictures so why not cover the very end of life too? "Cessation of existence"...mmm...I like that phrase. Might use it in my advertising literature. Thanks Lee.

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  9. Son No 2 lived in Sheffield for a number of years and that is exactly what he loved about the place: it took about five minutes by car to get right out into the most beautiful countryside!

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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