Peak District

My train journey between Stockport and Sheffield, crossing the Peak District, was the longest one, marked in red..

The railway

I began my doctoral studies in early 1990. I had recently moved from the West Didsbury neighbourhood in Manchester to Edgeley, in Stockport, a town located southeast of Manchester. Stockport was historically part of Cheshire, but as Manchester expanded into a major metropolis, the town became part of the Greater Manchester area. It is impossible to tell exactly where the formal boundary between the two cities lies. My house in Stockport was only about 6 kilometres away from the Manchester city limits.

Even after being accepted into the doctoral programme at the University of Sheffield by my supervisor, Alan Watt, author of several books on computer graphics, I never considered moving from Manchester to Sheffield, for a variety of reasons. Instead, I moved to a house in Stockport located very close to the train station, with the plan of commuting daily.

I used the journey, which took about 50 minutes, to read and analyse scientific papers. It was a good way to break up the workday routine. I resolved many issues related to my doctorate during those trips back and forth. The university in Sheffield was also just a 15-minute walk from the train station.

But the most interesting part was what lay along the route between Manchester and Sheffield: a stunningly beautiful park called the Peak District. Often, while working, I would look out the train window and admire the landscape, colourful in summer, muted in winter, and sometimes blanketed in white.

Depending on the time I caught the train, there was sometimes a stop between my departure point and my destination: a small village called Edale. It had an essentially bucolic atmosphere.

Winnat's Pass

Peak District | Castleton

Castleton

Peak District

Winnat's Pass

Peak District | Castleton

Edale railway station, in the Peak District, between Stockport and Sheffield.

Living in Manchester/Stockport, I was already familiar with the Peak District National Park. However, my daily commutes to Sheffield made me appreciate the region even more. I remember driving out one weekend to find Edale. The railway line took a different route than the roads did, so the drives revealed scenery distinct from what I enjoyed daily on the train.

The spots I loved most when visiting the park by car were Winnat's Pass and the small town nestled at the foot of the hills, Castleton.

Castleton | Hope Valley

Castleton is a village and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England, at the western end of the Hope Valley on the Peakshole Water, a tributary of the River Noe, between the Dark Peak to the north and the White Peak to the south. The population was 544 at the 2021 Census. (Wikipedia)

Manchester

Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian, neo-Gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments. The building faces Albert Square to the north and St Peter's Square to the south, with Manchester Cenotaph facing its southern entrance.

Oxford Road, the university's main street, which was also home to the Department of Computer Science, where I completed my master's degree.

University building on Oxford Road.

Main entrance to the university, on Oxford Road.

Flat 3, 58 Northen Grove, Manchester, M20 8NN. My home in Manchester during my master's degree. The Victorian house had been divided into three flats, one on each floor. I lived on the top floor, which did not have a bay window.

University of Manchester: Passing through the main entrance on Oxford Road, we find a beautiful garden and several university buildings.

My visits to the Peak District would not have happened had I not first spent time in Manchester, where I pursued my MSc degree.

A Universidade de Manchester é uma universidade pública de pesquisa situada em Manchester, na Inglaterra, com seu campus principal localizado ao sul do centro da cidade, na Oxford Road. Trata-se de uma "red brick university", fruto do movimento de universidades cívicas do final do século XIX. A instituição atual foi formada em 2004 mediante a fusão do Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia da Universidade de Manchester (UMIST) e da Victoria University of Manchester. Essa fusão ocorreu após um século de estreita colaboração entre as duas instituições. (Wikipedia)

I began my MSc programme in September 1988 and completed it in December 1989. At the time, the institution's full name was "The Victoria University of Manchester."

Stockport

Stockport Town Hall is a building in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, that houses the government and administrative functions of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC). Stockport Town Hall is a Grade II* listed building.

Stockport Library

27 Yule Street, Edgeley, Stockport, SK3 9LB | Where I lived between 1990 and 1992.

Alley between houses in Edgeley, Stockport.

Hollywood Park, Stockport | Park one block from Yule Street.

Stockport Underbanks: what Brazilians called the "little centre" or "precinct", a picturesque spot in the centre of Stockport.

Living in Stockport meant living in a relatively small town, yet close to a major urban centre.

The Underbank is an area of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, containing the streets of Little Underbank and Great Underbank. Originally considered the finest shopping street in Stockport during the 19th century, the street was dubbed as Stockport's answer to the Soho district of London following an influx of independent businesses in the 2010s.

After completing my MSc degree at the University of Manchester, I began my PhD at the University of Sheffield. I then moved to Stockport and took the train to Sheffield every day, travelling through the Peak District.

Sheffield

Sheffield Town Hall is a municipal building on Pinstone Street in the City of Sheffield, England. The building is used by Sheffield City Council, and also contains a publicly displayed collection of silverware. It is a Grade I listed building.

University of Sheffield | Faculty of Engineering

University of Sheffield | Portobello Centre | The building where I did much of my doctoral work, before the move to Regent Court.

University of Sheffield | Regent Court | Where the Department of Computer Science is located | Where my doctoral viva examination took place.

University of Sheffield | Regent Court | Interior view.

Sheffield railway station.

To tell the truth, I didn't know the city of Sheffield very well; I would arrive at the train station from Stockport in the morning, walk to the university, spend the day working, and make the return journey in the afternoon.

Sheffield station (formerly Pond Street and later Sheffield Midland) is a combined railway station and tram stop in the city of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England; it is the busiest station in the county and the third busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber, after Leeds and York. The South Yorkshire Supertram stop lies adjacent to the main station.

Back then, the Supertram didn't exist. There was only the railway.