Day 260 Arbor Low & Hartington

We had a slow start today as we were distracted by the Ireland Australia rugby World Cup game.  Anne & Bill are leaving today so packed their stuff, checked out of their room &  then came over to our van.  We watched the end of the game & post match commentary as Ireland had put in a surprise performance and won against the odds.  Dodging the showers we then visited Arbor Low, a 6,000 year old henge just up the road from us.  The stones have all been toppled and lay flat on the ground but it must have been very impressive in its day.  Visiting places like this always makes me think of the lives of the people who built it.  People like us with the same feelings and emotions but with such different and hard lives.

Next stop was the village of Hartington where we thought there was a cheese factory that we could visit.  the factory, which made Stilton cheese, closed three years ago but the village was very pretty.  There's still a cheese shop, so we bought some local cheese, & two pubs.  We had a super ploughman's lunch in the Devonshire Arms & lingered there over coffee while waiting for the showers to pass.  Back at the van, mid afternoon we said goodbye to A & B.  We've had a quiet time since then.  At least I've been able to sort through yesterdays photos.

I only took a couple of shots today.  My main one is of one of the showers surrounding us at Arbor Low and the other a view of the henge itself.

Showers

Arbor Low Henge

Day 259 Arkwright's Mills

The weather forecast wasn't good for today, with frequent heavy showers predicted. It seemed a good opportunity to sample some of Derbyshire's history - indoors.  Just a few miles from here is the small but historically very important town of Cromford.  This is where Richard Arkwright built his first large water powered cotton mill, one of the worlds first factories using innovative machinery for the bulk of the processing and division of labour of the workforce.  It was a major development at the start of the industrial revolution that transformed Britain and subsequently the rest of the world. Although Arkwright was an astute businessman he stole and patented other peoples ideas and of course the cotton trade was founded on slavery.  Very thought provoking.

Anyway we went to his first mill there which was more of an archaeological dig but nonetheless very interesting. Next we visited Masson Mills which has a museum of textile industry with the various equipment in situ and explanations.  It was a fantastic place for photography though somewhat dark & gloomy.  I really could have done with using a tripod.  I took loads of photos, particularly of the repetitive shapes and patterns there. Later, back at Rivendale Campsite we had a nice meal in the campsite pub - The Prancing Pony.  This is a really cosy stone built pub but only opens at weekends in the low season. Fortunately there were no Nazguls to bother us! The day ended back at the van with us teaching our friends the card game Cheat. I haven't played it for years and years. It's a silly game but a fun way to end a good day.

I took so many photos I've done two compilations, one of the mills interior and one of shapes and colours.  My main photo is a black and white conversion of a shot of some cogs.

Masson & Cromford Mills

   

Day 258 The Tissington Trail

With the bonus of sunny autumnal weather we had a pleasant day out on the bikes today. Our friends hired two bikes in Ashbourne where the Tissington Trail begins and we had a leisurely cycle northwards and uphill along it. We had a picnic lunch en route and a cup of tea in the teashop at Tissington on the way back. It was a linear route so once we turned around we had a lovely long freewheel back to the car. I only took a couple of snaps of us cycling so I'll have to think of an interesting photo later. Time now to start cooking our sausage supper!

Didn't get round to taking any arty photos so here's a couple of shots of us on our cycle ride.

Day 257 Old Friends

Today we were joined by some very good friends who are staying in the B&B at the campsite for a few days. We last met them in February when we stayed at Kingsbury Water Park so had a lot of catching up to do. After lunch we thought a short walk was in order and donned our walking boots and rucksacks.  from the campsite we were able to walk down into the upper reaches of Dovedale and then had a lovely stroll upstream  alongside the river.  We were followed by a couple of very persistent ducks, obviously hoping for some food.  They swam walked and flew to keep up with us and only left us when we turned away from the river to head home up Biggin Dale. The route back was a bit longer than anticipated and we were all glad to get back to the campsite.

The evening was fun with one of Ian's paellas the star of the meal.  Rather too much alcohol was consumed as we chatted over the dominoes and playing cards but we had a great time

Sunny Intervals

Ducky Follower

Autumn Toadstools

Day 256 Carsington Water

Tuesday 13 September

We had a wonderful cycle ride today, from Tissington Village along quiet lanes to Carsington Water.  There was an 8 mile cycle path around the reservoir which had some quite steep sections and proved to be rather more testing than we had anticipated. I was quite relieved to arrive at the visitors centre for a cup of tea and a rather nice sausage & onion bap for lunch.  Our legs had gone a bit wobbly so we walked up the steep uphill sections of the lane as we returned to Tissington car park. It was a very pleasant ride of about 18 miles. We picked up some superb pork steaks at the local butcher for a really tasty evening meal back at the van.

Crossing the Ford.....

....And Again!

Carsington Water 

Day 255 Wind!

The tail end of what America experienced as Hurricane Katrina reached the UK today.   The worst of the weather was north of us but even so we had some strong gusts & a generally windy day.  We had known this was coming and on arriving here thought twice about putting up the awning.  The campsite is in a disused quarry and is very sheltered so we went ahead and erected it.  The problem with being in a quarry is the very rocky floor and despite using rock pegs we'd been unable to get as many in as we would have liked and some were only in the ground a short distance.  Consequently when we felt strong gusts of wind this morning, which shook the caravan as well as the awning, we decided we'd better stay close by.  We enjoyed lounging in our pyjamas, watching day time tv, reading & catching up with the internet in general and our blogs and photos in particular. Intermittently we'd go and hammer at the pegs a bit.  Ian then popped into Ashbourne and I attempted to get photos of wind blown trees on the campsite, the best of which is below. Later we set off to Haddon Hall, a nearby stately home but decided we'd left it too late and instead continued on to Bakewell.  There Ian bought himself a new pillow as he's been uncomfortable with the ones we have in the van and we treated ourselves to the local delicacy of a Bakewell Pudding.  I was going to put a photo of it on here but I forgot & we ate it !  Delicious!

Blowing in the Wind

Day 254 Internet Frustration

Sunday 11 September

I left Ian watching the rugby ( Wales v South Africa – Rugby World Cup Qualifiers) & went off to hunt down the internet. So far, despite an assortment of different SIM cards we’d not been able to get online at the caravan and our only phone was an old one that we’d put an Orange SIM card in.  The Vodafone iphones had no reception at all. Once I reached Ashbourne 6 miles away I had a slow connection on the iphone but nothing on the mifi which we’d hoped to use with the ipad and macbook.  I’m going to get very behind with my blog at this rate!  Back at the van Ian was despondent as Wales had lost by one point. Suprisingly and presumably because the campsite had emptied of weekend campers , the mifi now had an intermittent signal.  It’s still frustrating but at least we can get online.  We can pay for wifi on site too but its only available around the café which closes at 5.00  As I usually go online in the evening that means sitting outside in the cold and dark. It might be worthwhile but first lets see how we get on  with the mifi.

We both went into Ashbourne for some shopping, had a nap back at the van then set off on the bikes.  We did a gentle short ride on the nearby Tissington trail, along a disused railway line, to Tissington village and back – about 10 miles. Had a nice meal at the van and waited for moonlight. It's near full moon and here, it rises over a cliff with interesting tree shapes that would make good silhouettes.  Like the sun on Friday the moon didn’t appear so todays photo is of the only one I took of the view from the bike trail

Day 253 To the Peak District

Ian watched the rugby on tv this morning ( England v Argentina in the world cup) then we packed up the van and headed north to the Peak District. We at a nice campsite just north of Ashbourne. One we camped in several years ago when attending the motogp at Donington. It's a lovely site but with very poor phone and Internet reception so apologies if my posting is a bit erratic for the next week! I can intermittently post text but photos are more problematic & may have to be added later. Photo of the oak sapling by our pitch