The Weekend 'Off' in the High Peaks

Well, I say 'off'- but it turned into a  reasonably 'fit' weekend as it goes.

Friday (once we'd put the tent up and negotiated the horrendous traffic jam that kept appearing outside the entrance to Laneside park due to so called roadworks on the way out of Hope) we took a  drive out to Ladybower.
 Ladybower, to those that don't know it is actually one of connected reservoirs in the area, known for the fact that in areas, parts of the villages of Derwent and Ashopton were flooded to create them (Derwent & Ladybower), leaving the Derwent church spire spookily poking above the water, until it was destroyed to stop people swimming out to it. http://www.peaklandheritage.org.uk/index.asp?peakkey=40301621 .

If you're there when there's been little rain during the summer, as we were last year, you can walk around the foundations of various buildings including the stately home of Derwent Hall.
The old road which led into the village is still there all the time and disappears right down into the water giving you a  nice healthy chill.
Of course the other thing Derwent Dam is known for is the testing of the Bouncing Bomb in the second World War-and was shown throughout Dambusters film.
Anyway, I digress- we took a couple of hours walk there on friday afternoon.

Friday night was gorgeously warm in the tent.

Saturday we shuffled off to Edale with a  plan to follow a 10k walk but didn't for various reasons and ended up scrambling up waterfalls and shallow rivers- which was just about the most fun I've had in a  long time. Hard work, but real good fun.
By Staurday night (in the pub) we were totally shot- and probably seemed like half baked company to the people we made friends with, from another local Barnsley band.
Saturday night was unbearably cold under canvas, leaving everything inside and out drenched!

Sunday (yesterday) was Mam Tor day- so it was some kind of hill climbing. I was impressed with the way the knee had held up during the scramble- and Mam Tor was the way to go....finished off with Fish and chips in Castleton and a very tired and very reluctant drive home in the remains of the weekend's superb, sunny September weather.