Derbyshire 100 - Chesterfield - my five a day challenge/100 who would have believed it? /closed footpaths

---

Reaching Blog 100 on Chesterfield - who would have believed it ? Not me. Sometimes I would write something about my home town. Most of the time though blogs were about somewhere else . Covid 19 has scuppered any chance of a blog from out of town for a while yet . So did I get my five a day challenge yesterday . Not really. I thought I was good at the Plank . A few attempts at my new version and I realised quite quickly just how out of condition I was . More practice required today. Neither did I pick Les Mis . I did pick up a Norse book and put it down again without opening a page . Perhaps today I will perfect my Plank or read that book. So did I do much yesterday afternoon . I managed another walk down to the chemist . The village was buzzing . Covid 19 was no longer keeping the locals in. The late afternoon sun had brought up the dog walkers , the mums, dads and children . Not the time of day I enjoyed walking .

Sipping tea I planned the day like a military exercise . The sun was shining but it was chilly . A walk planned. Not sure where but following my nose I would find somewhere with hopefully something to catch my attention . Home , coffee , plank , definately look at yoga, try to buy tomato plants . Failed miserably yesterday . On the appropriately named Eden Street usually outside a house are trays of tomato plants . The grower having too many put them in front of his drive for sale . Not now - rare as hens teeth. Back down to the chemist . Have you ever tried to split a tablet in half when it is shiny and slippery and without a identation?. Knives don't work . Smashing it with a hammer fails . Bits of tablet are found round the floor for weeks . I need a tablet cutter . So that is the afternoon sorted. Find a tablet cutter . The little things make the day don't they? Seriously though the call to the chemist resulted in a conversation around why they could not provide me with the correct tablet of the right dosage . It seems they get what they get and sometimes they will be easily split but most of the time well you need a cutter .

I pondered these thoughts on the walk . Downhill first I bumped into my neighbour . He was well he told me . I walked in search of the tomatoes . No luck. More downhill to the sheep wash . Today the lone jogger ran past me with his head down . Listening to music . I may as well not have been there for all the notice he took of me, We have come downhill from 150metres to 100 above sea level . A 50 metre drop in a few minutes walking . Across the road we will climb back up that 50 metres . I have chosen the old road that used to run up to the quarry. I have walked it halfway but never walked the entire length . Along it I meet an old lady walking her dog . A second car parked up but with no sign of the owner. On their own walk somewhere out of the way. In a few weeks the lane will be full of wild roses. There are signs of life in the shape of tiny buds . At the top we climb higher . I had to hold my nose . A farm with the stench of cattle manure . I picked my way gingerly through piles of it . Left behind after the farmer had taken his flock to the fields . The views were lovely though at the top . I could have carried on . I stopped by the stone wall and peered over . The valley lay before me . Salem Chapel and the Great Pond of Stubbing in the distance . A coase fishery was advertised further up the lane. I think I may have found the walk back to Top Road but the farmer had strung a fence across the path . Illegal no doubt but given it was lambing season it was understandable. Time to head back . The village is there is the distance . It is downhill for a while before the long haul back uphill.

I thought about missing work . The mileage challenge that probably had been abandoned. We would have won that with my walking and my colleagues half marathons . Creating Easter bonnets . A heron flew by . An ungainly creature but graceful in flight with its long legs trailing behind . Up to the village hall . A 1960's monstrosity . The height of modernity at the time . Next door what was the old Victorian school . I had never noticed it before .

Soon home was in sight . The plank next - perhaps not . Coffee first . I need to work up to the exercise .

A treat today - our tree peony has opened its flowers . A real delight . The flowers don't last sadly . For a few days we enjoy the blooms before they fall . "Wild Peonies . Now at their peak in glorious full bloom: Too precious to pick . Too precious not to pick " Ryokan Taigu

---

Comments

[Home and Away]

Questions and Answers...
What is a plank? What is the maximum number of people who can congregate at once...here it is 10? When will your swimming pool open and under what conditions...ours is still closed? Yes, I have had difficulty splitting a tablet as you have described. I got a tablet cutter.

[JenGog]

the plank
An awful exercise loved by gym instructors !!!! We cannot have meetings at all and although there are no numbers for people meeting the information we are given is that we should exercise on our own. only go out with members of our household and not to meet up with others . I have little idea when the gyms might open . gut feeling not for a long time. I think they could move equipment around to distance us and limit numbers and time in the gym. The showers might be problematic. We will know more on Sunday but I feel that nothign will change . We are weary of it but we have had a death in our village so it is on our doorstep .

[Jackie Harrison]

Tomato Plants
We have loads!! Bought loads of seeds from Tamar Organic and six different varieties x 25 from Primrose! I think I shall end up making a lot of tomato and basil soup!!!

[JenGog]

tomatoes
Hi Picked up three varieties of tomato plants for Glenn yesterday, £1 each outside someones house . He put them in the cold frame . He had some wood delivered this morning to make a trellis . Should keep him busy for a couple of days . I have had 64 hours of my holidays given back to me . My boss said it was OK - bit of a surprise to be honest I was not expecting it . I lost 16 for March but I thought it better not to argue for the 80 and accept 64. You cannot win them all . I am working from home and had a telekit this afternoon and a long catch up with my manager . I have found work to do for tomorrow risk assessments and other stuff . I think I might be Ok next week too. Wont be working too hard especially if the sun comes out . My first husband was thrown in at the deep end and never learned to swim . Glenn cannot swim . I never went with school . Linda my daughter used to do synchro and also Lifeguarding . She was very good . Not sure she bothers now . The soup sounds good to me . I had a load of tomatoes and apples last year made chutney . Had to throw a lot away when we thought we were moving house . The storage area never would have kept them xx