Blogs from Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 21

Its 11 pm on Friday night, 3 days before I start to do my pilgrimage and the count down has started. What I haven't got I'll have to go without. You've all been incredibly supportive and the amount of advice, tips and gifts/loans has been incredible. Thank you. I can't wait to get started now and attempt to keep you all posted via this blog. Hence being up at this time of night on a Friday trying to fathom out WordPress and gagging for a bottle of wine and some chocolate!... read more

There is a chinese proverb that says that you should be not afraid of growing slowly , you should be more afraid of standing still. So today was a day of not standing still. Where shall we go? We needed somewhere fairly close. We needed somewhere we had not been to before. That is getting harder and harder as we exhaust places that are within travelling distance of home. So it was that we took the book out and looked at possible places to go and visit. Haddon Hall. Just down the road from us. About 8 miles away. Good idea- but we have been there before. OK but that was over 12 years ago. Surely we can go again. So what swung it then? A two for one offer from the Caravan Club where we ... read more

Well what a momentous week! The best result you could wish for. An unexpected one at that. Life will never be the same again. A country rose up loud and proud . The Dragon roared . Victorious that's what we are. No not the referendum and Brexit . Wales coming top of the group in Euro 2016 . Finishing above England with a win over Slovakia, a thrashing of Russia and a woeful sad last minute robbing by England. To top it all we are now through to the last 8. Unexpected - yes - with a population so small we don't have the players . The players we have play in lower divisions of the English League with the exception of a handful of Premiership players and one rather special one - Gareth Bale. Despite ... read more

Off to Bakewell for some breakfast. And then on to Monsal Head, to begin the day hike on the Monsal Trail. The trail is a traffic free route for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users through some of the Peak District's most spectacular limestone dales. The trail runs along the former Midland Railway line, and River Wye, for 8.5 miles between Blackwell Mill, in Chee Dale and Coombs Road, at Bakewell. Most of the route was opened to the public in 1981 but four former railway tunnels had to remain closed due to safety reasons, with public footpaths taking people around them. These four railway tunnels - Headstone Tunnel, Cressbrook Tunnel, Litton Tunnel, Chee Tor Tunnel – opened for trail users a few years back. Our plan is to walk from Monsal Head to Wyedale, ... read more

Another year has come and gone and this 60 something has had another burpday as Sion would say if he were in conversation with this best friend Woolly Mammoth. The head still thinks its about 16 or thereabouts but the body is beginning to hate this cold weather and what seems like never ending winter . Oh Greece ..................oh sun wherefore art thou? Today of all days I feel the need to get Suzy on the road and head off into the blue yonder where the sun shines every day. Where every day has a new view to behold. Where each morning I wake up to sunshine, to croissants, espresso coffees, where I am in food heaven all the time. Gnocci, cream cakes, sangria , churro and chocolate . Suzy is in the process of being ... read more