Week 25 31st March to 6th April

What a lovely week we have just had, it started with birthday celebrations, included visits to Hannah & Steve, Ken and Lillian and finished with a visit from Kathryn, and we are liking the Peak District so much that we have decided to stay a couple of days longer, joy. Hope that you enjoy this weeks diary!

Monday 31st March – day 156

My birthday today and what a glorious day for it, bright and beautiful, just right for such treats as visiting Chatsworth House!
And what a good choice it was. The house was a little over blown for my tastes but Chris appreciated the Renaissance ceilings, and ornate wood and plaster work. The visit for me came alive once we were in the gardens. The grounds were extensive and beautiful. There were fountains and waterfalls dotted around all working by gravity only, as they were filled with water cyphoned off from a lake dug out higher up the estate. We walked amongst the formal and the informal, the patterned and the sculptured.
And we had a go in the maze, and fortunately the blood hound instinct was in tact and sherpa Minton had us round that one way system in less than half an hour!
We wandered around until we were asked to leave, and as usual we were the last guests in there. As the evening air was so lovely we stopped for a walk around Bakewell, before going on our way to the Plough at Hathersage where we were going for supper, as it got a sparkling review in the Good Pub guide! We had a lovely supper, enjoyed even more as it seems like a long time since we had splashed out on a meal. We did it justice and drove home feeling full, satisfied and at peace with the world! Final joy of the day…. A phone call from Tim, all is complete!

Tuesday 1st April – day 157

Another lovely day planned, as we are taking the local shoppers (!) train (cheaper and more convenient, would you believe it!) to Manchester to meet Hannah and Steve for a birthday lunch at Wagamamas. The train took us through the north (Dark) Peaks and into the centre. H&S were there to meet us, plus some lovely flowers! We went for a drink or two at a popular old pub called the Oyster Bar, first to work up an appetite, before we went on to lunch.
We had a lovely long lunch catching up (and getting full). It was so lovely to see them, and hear their news. It is true to say though that both of them looked weary of study, and the desire for it all to be over is almost palpable (I remember it as if it were yesterday!) However it didn’t dent anyone’s appetite, and we all managed a pud (except slim jim minton!)
We left them around 5.00pm and got to the station at 6.00 to catch the next train home, which we were informed was at 6.46 so we went for a cuppa to sit out our wait. At 6.30 the info board announced that the train would be 10 mins late, so we waited… until 6.50 and set off for the platform to find that all information on the train had been removed. A little stunned we went to info to found out where the train was….. to be told that they had found a replacement and the train had come in and gone out on time….. but….. what a pity they didn’t tell anyone! We enquired of the the time of the next train, to be told that there wouldn’t be one until 8.46!!! So a little frustrated we decided to go for a wander to while away some time. We were gad that we did as we turned right out of Piccadilly and found “Paradise Wharf” a new development by the canal so we had a good meander and nose around for long enough to pass the time away happily! Although we did make sure that we were standing waiting for the train in good time to hear/read of any changes.
We were home by 9.45 which was a little later than planned, and were even later to bed as we put the TV on to unwind and found a most charming film with 4 lovely old men (plus Minnie Driver and David Duchovny) in it, so late to bed tonight! (again!)

Wednesday 2nd April – day 158

The late night last night has made both spirit and body lacking in umpphh this morning so following plans to go to Dovedale to walk, we sat down for another drink, and didn’t move for the rest of the day, it gave Chris some space to do businessy things whilst I did very little except read, snooze or gaze at my lovely flowers!
Well, glad of a lazy day today as we have to be in Fritchley (an hour away) for 10am tomorrow, oh boy, that will mean an early start!

Thursday 3rd April – day 159

Well we managed our early start this morning, and had a delightful journey down the back roads, over the moors, arriving in Fritchley about 10.20 am, not bad for us!! And what a lovely welcome we had when we got there! It felt like just yesterday since we had last seen Ken and Lillian, apart from some extra laughter lines and one of us being thicker round the middle (and it wasn’t one of them!) it might have been 9 weeks rather than 9 years! We thought we were invited to coffee but found the invitation was extended to lunch so we felt very looked after indeed. We were shown round their lovely home with its glorious views, and it rekindled my own aspirations for a family sized kitchen…. But not just yet, this caravan is doing us proud for now!
We left them at 2pm as they were off to Peterborough, and we went on for our A6 tour as recommended by Pa!
We started at Whatstandwell, then over to Carsington Reservior, Cromford (see picture below), Bonsall, Matlock Bath (though we didn’t go up the cable cars to see the Heights of Abraham) and finally on to Matlock for a quick trip round Sainsbury, (not the high spot of the day!!).
We had not really expected Derbyshire to be quite this appealing, but the long pretty villages, moorland and more dramatic hills further north, are making this a county we would like to get to know a lot better – so guess what – we have extended our stay a couple of days so that we can fit more in!

Friday 4th April – day 160

After an unpromising start today was in the end a glorious day for walking down Dovedale. We took a circuitous route over the dales, past all those myriad of dry stones walls which make patchworks of the landscape, down to Hartington, which looks very comfortable in its setting. We parked up in dreamy little Milldale, had lunch and walked down to the trusty National Truss information booth. They had, with their usual diligence prepared the path that ran along the Dove River to Dovedale, so we could enjoy an easy 3 mile leg stretch along this beautiful “dingly dell” of a valley, past some truly spectacular sights, including the Dove caves, the Ilam rocks which where great columns of rock jutting out from the hill side, to banks of Wood Anemones gracing us with their shining faces. The whole walk was a joy and delight to the senses, the sounds of the bird song, and river rushing by, the spectacles that greeted us round each bend, the signs of spring everywhere, and joy - an icecream when we got to the Dovedale car park! We are not very good at the “there and back”
walks, preferring the circular sort, but there was so much to take in along this valley that we were glad of the return trip to enjoy more of its delights!
Everyone else had departed by the time we got back to the car so, apart from the ducks we had the little mill stream to ourselves to enjoy our after walk pot of tea.

Saturday 5th April – day 161

Kathryn is joining us today, and as the weather is uncertain we are going to visit Haddon Hall. She arrived in good time for a warming brunch before we turned collars up to the elements and headed off for Haddon.
This fine old house was much older than Chatsworth, and the simplicity of the medieval architecture and furnishings had much more appeal, and there was a huge wood fire in the Great Hall, which was much appreciated, We spent a leisurely hour wandering round the house and gardens, appreciating all that was on display for our enjoyment, before adjourning to the tea rooms for a little afternoon tiffin!
These were English Heritage tea rooms, and (alas) it has to be said that they lacked that little something extra special that you find in the ol’ NT hospitality!!
We must have received the necessary refreshment though, because we were able to deduce, on inspection that “Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese” (that we visited to check out where we would have supper,) did not resemble the description in the Good Pub Guide! So a little surfing time later we found that the “Cheshire Cheese” that we were hoping to dine in, was indeed near Edale! However this victory must have over worked the grey cell, because we arrived at said hostelry without Chris’s wallet, so Kathryn had to buy supper, how shame faced were we, and thank you Kathryn for saving the day!!

Sunday 6th April – day 162

Despite the forecast for snow, we intrepid explorers packed our salmon baps and set out for a longer walk. Today we wanted to visit Derwent Dale, but the OS map suggested that there was some real interest to be found at Ladybower which sits just below Derwent Reservoir. So we set our course and headed off to walk the left leg of Ladybower Reservoir, then over Derwent Dale down the fellside to Derwent Reservoir and back along the right leg of Ladybower, up to the main reservoir. We parked up and set off to walk over the dam of this magnificent piece of engineering. The first surprise was two 10m diameter wide stepped conical spillways that drew excess water off and redirected it to a river far below, that sends it on its way for other local use. (Can you tell that we read the info board?) Sherpa Mint was in his element amidst all this engineering achievement, and he waxed lyrical for the next mile or so about its virtues (but don’t ask me what he said!!) A little way into our journey we were caused to look up, and behold we saw a cloud heading towards us - but this was no ordinary cloud .…. It was deeply and heavily laden with snow, which it continued almost unceasingly to disgorge, by various degrees, for most of the rest of our walk. The trek up and over Derwent Dale looked particularly beautiful in the snow, but by the time we reached the waters edge again, we were beginning to feel a little cold and wet. We ate our prepared picnic huddled together in the shelter of the dam towers, before making the final leg of the journey back. We got one or two sympathetic looks from passing motorists, but we must have looked as if we were having a lot of fun, as no-one stopped to offer us a lift!