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Published: August 27th 2017
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Not exactly in the Hope Valley but we are pretty close. Actually we're in Great Hucklow but only those in Little Hucklow know where Great Hucklow is. Why it's great is still a bit of a secret but as I sit in the beer garden of the Queen Anne and have a couple of ciders and chat with the locals it is getting better and better. The fact that everything just goes on the tab is a little deceptive and makes it appear that drinks and meals are free here. We haven't paid for anything for 2 days here! The shock will come as I sober up tomorrow! The locals are delightful here and even better I can still understand them! We are actually staying in an old pub. It's been an inn since the 1600‘s so it sure qualifies as old. Our room is sort of a bungalow so no steps, modern plumbing and qiuite quite. It's quant and old worldly and the owner is something of a character. He's been to Oz a couple of times so we chatted well for a while which is just as well as he has a reputation for calling 'a spade a spade'
and apparently if guests upset him he simply kicks them out. So far we're still here! But I am a bit they about cricket, rugby ... so I'm playing it safe and only debating religion, politics and our sex lives.
Today was walking day. Delightful weather and a 12 mile circular route starting and finishing in Castleton. It's a lovely town, really on the tourist map as the centre of the Peak District hence lots of walkers and famous for 'Blue John' an unusual but attractive stone that is only mined locally. It's a long weekend throughout England so everyone who was t at Bourton on the Water was here. There are bikes, motor bikes, walkers, tourists, campers and dogs, dogs, dogs, and dogs. The dogs I can put up with! We drive for about two a half hours tomorrow and I'm worried that will stretch to considerably more. Hopefully going against the traffic will work in our favour as we are heading to a tourist hotspot. My walk today took me up Losehill, named because the ground slides so frequently, along the Great Ridge (it is pretty good) and up to Mam Tor, which translates as 'shivering Mountain
(detect a theme here?). Lovely walk with an ascent of just over 500 m which means nothing to most but something to my sister. Obviously with a circular walk the descent was the same! I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and it's good to have a little training for Ben Nevis which will not be easy to tackle in a day. It's an 8 hour hike (6 up and 2 down from reports) and I need good weather, certainly not a given in Scotland, to tackle it. It has a scary reputation for extreme changes in conditions and it can be quite dangerous so I do need to be careful and a little sensible. We have 3 or 4 days in the locality so I'm hoping things go my way.
Tonight we eat here at the Queen Anne despite the place being overrun as they have 60 for evening meal! It's not a big place and kitchen may even need my help! We are eating with a couple who were originally from Moscow but now work in London who we met at breakfast. Looking forward to it but we have booked just prior to the big rush.
So it's
pre meals cider time (as distinct from afternoon cider time and a cider with the locals time) and time to go.
Rob.
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