Derbyshire again

[fanf]

We went up for the whole weekend this time, Friday evening to Sunnday evening, camping near Hope. We started off with breakfast at Longlands Eating House, then went to check the rocks in the old quarry at Lawrence Field for climbability. Unfortunately they were saturated by rain and remained so because the weather didn't clear up; we couldn't climb so we had to find other things to do. Lawrence Field has a beautiful lawn wooded with silver birch and grazed by sheep, which we could easily imagine to be populated by elves as we walked around it. We then went to see a couple of the caves near Castleton, namely Blue John Cavern (which is spectacular) and Speedwell Cavern (which includes an underground boat ride but is otherwise disappointing). On Sunday we did some walking around the Derwent Reservoir (where they tested the bouncing bomb), and went to see the Dambusters museum which is housed in one of the towers in the dam.

Maybe next time the weather will be better.

Comments

[kaet.livejournal.com]

Maybe next time the weather will be better.

This is the Peak District we're talking about here! I've never known a sunny day. I suppose I could just have lived nearby during an unlucky four years! But it's a lovely place, and it adds to the character that it's always pissing it down. Perhaps it's Stockholm Syndrome and it builds character like ruggery and buggery at the 'best' public schools, but I came to quite like the drizzle, and even appreciate the occasional downpour.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Last time I visited, I got sunburnt. That was, er, probably about 3 years ago, perhaps you'd left by then?

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

Heh, did you get the motormouth Speedwell Cavern guide with the shaggy dog stories about the local beer and the results of the water testing they did there?

(Never noticed the dambusters museum when we went..)

[fanf]

No beer story, but a rather off-colour joke about the gents' loos above and the drips below.

The dambusters museum isn't obvious when it's closed, since it's inside a fortified dam tower. Incidentally this weekend was the 60th anniversary of the first raids, on the night of the 16th/17th May 1943.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Hah. Last time we were in the area (Oct/Nov 2001?), we did offer to take you along to Speedwell Cavern, but you declined.

I liked it - but we didn't see Blue John as well, so we didn't have the contrast.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Blue John Cavern -- gorgeous! Fond memories of visiting that (and various other places in the Peaks) as a kid. I probably still have some souvenir pieces of Blue John kicking around, too. :-)

*sigh* I really do miss living within easy driving distance of mountains.