September 06th, 2017

Today was a different sort of day to normal, we woke and it was pouring with rain but then cleared up, we had already decided that we would travel over to the peak District and do a little homework in advance of the walk starting Friday. The ground conditions weren't bad as the limestone in the park tends to drain very well and I don't think we will have any problems as the paths and trails are well marked and the guide to the Peak Pilgrimage walk gives very detailed instructions. Mandy wanted to have a good idea of the locations as she is providing logistical support and now knows most of the first two days route and where road access occurs.

There are some very beautiful places although the miserable weather in Staffordshire did little to enhance it. Certainly the walk along the banks of the River Dove would be wonderful but in drizzle perhaps slightly less so. There were still hordes of walkers about, I don't think we shall be alone much on this stretch. We stopped and had a liquid lunch and later my favourite cafe in Bakewell next to the chocolate shop which has the best tarts of all, the actual Bakewell Tart shop is always a disappointment to people. It took ages to get around and I only ticked off five of the churches we pass en route and I think there are 13 in total, those doing the route by car on the Sunday will be very busy possibly likewise the cyclists although they have less parking problems to worry about.

I took a number of photos to give everyone a taste of what we shall enjoy, our digs at Biggin Hall look interesting, a very ancient building if nothing else and a bit out of the way. I thought the pub next door looked a bit dour. The second batch of photos takes us back to the East of England trip and the lorries of Lincolnshire. We shall be going to film buses in Leicester tomorrow followed by Loughborough. Friday Saturday and Sunday we shall obviously be away in the peak District. Next week the weather looks as if it will be equally mixed but I'm sure we shall get out and about at some stage. Remember our still photo sales on our Smugmug site via links page, very underused and we started it as we got requests for copies of our photos, so why aren't people using it?