Blogs from Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

This weekend we headed out of town early on Saturday with one of Mike's friends from law school in Toronto and her fiancé to the Peak District for some camping and hiking. It was a struggle to figure out where we should go (the Peak District is a big hiking region in the English "mountains," three hours north of London near Manchester), but our lovely Australian friends Jas and Stu had the great idea of going to Edale. We originally were going to rent a car to get there, but since there was a train station near the campsite, we opted to take the train instead. It was easier since none of us like to drive on the wrong (left) side! The campsite was about a 20-minute walk from the train station, so we hiked in ... read more

Hello Well 2 weeks have passed already, we can surely say that the days aren't going by too quickly but trying to think back on what we have done so far is sometimes a bit of a blur.......probably due to the many pints of beer! It is interesting that not only in each town/village but even pubs within them have their own beer on tap so we have been trying out the local in each pub just to support them, we had a pint last night in a pub in York called the 'Mason Arms' that was selling ' Black Sheep' bitter that came in a very nice pint glass that we just had to take as a souvenir!! I had roast pork and Yorkshire pudding, lashings of gravy and veg, yum, I fear that my ... read more

We organised a final training weekend to do some hiking in the Peak District over the Bank Holiday. Unfortunately we don't have any lofty mountains in England on which we can emulate the heights we will have to climb in Tanzania so the Peak District would have to do! The first day we completed a 15 mile hike which including walking along 'The Great Ridge'. It included summitting two 'peaks' but at only 462 metres (1516 ft) and 476 metres above sea level it isn't quite the same as the 5,895 metres (19,341 feet) we will be doing in Tanzania!! It was a stunning walk and one we would recommend anyone visiting the Peak District. The hike was only supposed to be 12 miles but we covered an extra 3 miles after some errors in navigation ... read more

Visit to Ecclesbourne Valley Railway at Wirksworth to travel behind their hired in steam locomotive on their recently extended line to Duffield. Enjoyed our second breakfast of tea and bacon baps in the refreshment carriage. Train quite busy as the extension only opened recently and they had the visiting loco. The scenery is pleasent rather than spectacular, the short line to Ravenstor adds a contrast. We had been a few years ago when it was all that was on offer so did not revisit the High Peak Trail, Steeple Grange Railway or the Quarrying Exhibition.... read more

Elke reden om te feesten is voldoende. Deze verjaardag wilde ik terug naar de UK; Hathersage, Baslow, Castleton, ... Een streek waar mijn hartje zich vrij en blij voelt. Op mijn verjaardag zelf vertrokken we om 2u30 richting Calais. Onze auto had pas een onderhoud gehad en in hun haast waren ze de koelvloeistof vergeten aan te vullen. Gelukkig hadden we dit snel verholpen. We misten in Calais de trein door op 'standby' te wachten tot het billboard aangaf om in te schepen. Veranderde het billboard toch zeker niet! Een uurtje later waren we toch op weg. Op de Londense ring reden we een beetje te ver. Door al de weg-werkzaamheden moet je extra goed opletten. Gelukkig verliep de rest van onze 4-daagse trip zonder noemenswaardige problemen. En we genoten van het klimmen. Mijn eerste dagje ... read more