Gone but not forgotten

My mum would have been 76 years old today. I think I posted this photograph of her earlier in the year but for me it captures mum's spirit perfectly

Weather watch

Stef and I spent the weekend in the Peak District. Stef's Bob Graham starts at midnight on Friday so we aren't training to mean anything at present but we did do a nice seven mile walk on Bank Holiday Monday around the Miller's Dale area starting and finishing in Litton. We had a sandwich and a drink in the Red Lion after the walk and I've made a mental note to go back sometime, because it's an excellent pub! 

This week is mainly about planning, logistics and watching various weather forecasts for the Lake District. The forecasts at present suggest a band of wet weather coming off the Atlantic on Thursday and into Friday but no-one seems to want to predict with much certainity yet what will happen on Saturday. I'm just praying Stef has the confidence to go for it and the luck to get conditions which are manageable  

Mum

My twin brother took mum on a helicopter ride from the Cat and Fiddle over the dams at Ladybower etc last summer as part of her 75th birthday celebrations. This photo was taken then. Mum loved the High Peak and passed this love on to all three of her sons. She enjoyed the helicopter ride and the day 'up in Derbyshire' immensely 

A delightful weekend in the country

Stef and I met up in Great Longstone last weekend and had a really nice weekend in the White Peak. On Saturday we went to Chatsworth to see the Christmas lights and Christmas market before calling in at Bakewell for a mooch round. A pair of pints from the local Thornbridge Brewery were taken in the Packhorse in Little Longstone before dinner. On Sunday we did one of my favourite walks, from Monyash down Lathkill Dale, on to Bradford Dale, then back via Youlgreave and the Limestone Way We went into the church in Youlgreave to see the stained glass window designed by Burne-Jones. I heard about it in a Mike Harding book but it's the first time I'd seen it. It is really wonderful! The bull in the photo was in a field beside Moor Lane on the way out of Youlgreave and he was working the barbed wire and dry-stone wall very nicely

A busy weekend

This was Stef's last weekend with me before returning to Southampton and going back to work today. We had a terrific and relatively busy weekend. On Friday afternoon Stef had a job interview, which she felt went well. In the evening we went to the Swan and had their tapas; very tasty and good value was our verdict (the deal includes a free bottle of wine)

We called in at Accelerate in Sheffield to buy new running shoes on Saturday morning. What we thought wouldn't take long did(!) but we were both very impressed with the service offered by the staff in the very well stocked shop. After shoe shopping we went down to see my brother at his new home in Derbyshire and managed a walk around Carsington Water near Wirksworth too

Yesterday we drove down to Southampton and in the afternoon had a couple of very enjoyable hours bird watching around Lymmington. Twelve species of wader were noted along with our first Brent geese of the winter and about six or seven very smart Pintail drakes