Sometimes I just have to get out for a country walk. Even if I am only planning a mile or two, it's often as if my body and mind combined crave some walking.
On Sunday evening, as the sun was descending to the western horizon I completed a nearby circuit that I worked out years ago and have plodded many times. I blogged about it here (2015) and here (just last month). I took yet another picture of "The Cricket Inn" at Totley Bents and here it is:-
The same urge to walk happened yesterday afternoon so Clint and I nipped out of the city - up to The Dale road south of Stanage Edge. Blustery but with sunshine flooding the landscape between scudding clouds, I walked a mile along the rocky escarpment before descending to the ocean of green bracken below. Then I headed back under the edge observing rock climbers negotiating various crags.
"Where the hell have you been?" said Clint when I got back to the parking strip alongside The Dale. All other vehicles had left but as I was taking off my boots a minibus pulled up in front of Clint and a dozen Chinese people of various ages clambered out.
Each one of them held a camera, i-phone or tablet and they all proceeded to snap pictures of their surroundings. What a mad world.
An attractive female member of the party asked me, "Wha-this-place-ca?"
I pointed at the nearby rocks, "That's Stanage Edge and over there that's the village of Hathersage."
"Ha-tha-say."
"No. Hathersage," I repeated - this time more slowly.
Inside Clint, I pressed the "Home" button and came back to make a nice stir fry using leftover chicken from our Sunday dinner - with wholewheat noodles, chopped onion, sweet red pepper and a courgette that Frances and Stew grew down in London. It was a gift.
I like the shapes of the rocks - seems like the Flinstones have been there. We have a similar area in Verona called "Le Sfingi della Lessinia”, in the Valley of the Sphinxes.
ReplyDeleteLovely the last photo with the heather growing around the rocks. Wonderful view.
Greetings Maria x
I searched Google for "Le Sfingi della Lessinia” and I can easily see why you made that connection Maria. Thanks for calling by again. You always leave pleasant, supportive comments.
DeleteI miss walking but did a lot over the last week. Not so easy in all this heat though
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I like walking in heat - wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I also plonk a hat on my head and take some water with me. Thanks for calling by again ADDY.
DeleteI like the deep shadow in the foreground of the first photo. Very striking.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could get out and walk - it's been far too hot and humid here to do so safely. We have another heat wave on the way starting today.
I must admit that when I think about Nova Scotia the word "heatwave" is not the first one that springs to mind
DeleteSummers have been increasingly hot and this one just doesn't seem to want to moderate. It's been mostly in the mid-30C range with the humidex "feels like" temperature at least 5 degrees more for the whole month of July. It's been rough.
DeleteMillstones?
ReplyDeleteYes they are Travel - abandoned by quarrymen around the time of World War One.
DeleteBeautiful stones! What a scenic place for a walk.
ReplyDeleteIt's been so hot here that walking isn't much fun right now. We did have a good one last night though. A lot of storms blew through the area over the weekend and it was a little bit cooler. Even the dogs were happy to be out walking (they hate it when it's too hot outside).
Walking in big heat can be very energy sapping so I don't blame you for sheltering from The South Carolina Oven!
DeleteWhat a great place to go for a ramble!
ReplyDeleteI would love to walk a couple of miles with you Red then enjoy a beer together in a cosy English pub.
DeleteAh yes, more millstones! It's cool that the Chinese tourists were curious enough to want to know where they were, even if they couldn't quite pronounce "Hathersage."
ReplyDeleteYup! It is cool to want to know where you are. Didn't Buzz Aldrin ask Neil Armstrong, "Where the hell are we?"
DeleteI know exactly what you mean about craving a walk! I know I need regular walks to keep sane, both mentally and physically. Right now, it is 34C in Ludwigsburg, and the day at the office (with no a/c) was nearly unbearably hot and stuffy. I am glad to have only 26.6C in my flat. But I do want to walk! Just not tonight, I think.
ReplyDeleteThe rock in the last picture has a face, looking at you like a big calm animal, quietly resting there and wondering who the man with the camera is.
I didn't see that face until you mentioned it. It's like an earless cat curled up. Sorry to hear it is uncomfortably warm in Ludwigsburg. Yorkshire is a little cooler just now but more hot weather is coming.
DeleteI love all of those craggy rocks you have littered all over the countryside, we don't have those down here, I wonder why?
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
Thatcher had all your rocks taken away. I blame her.
DeleteThe photo of the climber looks as though he is about to move up a few more inches immediately, as long as I keep watching. How did you get this photo? Were you waiting at the top of their climb?
ReplyDeleteAlphie
I was lining up a shot through that rock "window" when the fellow magically climbed up into the picture. Pure accident.
DeleteI love the photo of the rocks. And, dinner sounds delish!
ReplyDeleteI invited you and Big Bear round for dinner but you didn't turn up.
DeleteWonderful photos depicting a stunning area...thanks. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Lee.
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