Trespassing

In 1932, hundreds of walkers committed a 'mass trespass' as an act of civil disobedience, by trekking across this high plateau called Kinder Scout. They were protesting the lack of access for people to walk over areas of open land. The mass trepass eventually lead to the establishment of National Parks and the legalisation for legal rights of way which now allow people to wander on pathways that cross private land all over England. We have done quite a lot of that sort of wandering here.

We did a 16 km day walk along the eastern edge of Kinder Scout that began with a steep climb up a heather-clad hillside.

 The first of many weird rock formations...

 And great views...

Morning tea time.

Peat - black spongey stuff that lies beneath the heather and other low vegetation. It is plant material on its way to becoming coal, and can be dried and burnt in fire places. It is revealed in numerous eroded sections along the track, often a couple of metres in depth. It is also known for being potentially deadly when rain soaked, as it becomes a bog that can suck people down into it, never to be seen again.

Looking back down to Edale in the valley.

Looking across the plateau.

One of the streams that tumble over the edge of Kinder Scout and down into the valley.

Rabbits?

Giant snails?

Whale or rabbit's head?

The Woolpacks. That is what they are called. They look like a huge Henry Moore sculpture park.

Noe's Stool.

On the way down, quite steep grassy hill sides.

Lovely stream and stone bridge.

Around the corner, we were rewarded by a farm selling icecreams, before the final approximately 2 kms of walking through fields, back to our start point of Edale train station. A fantastic day!

The biggest plughole

Two plugholes, each 24m in diameter! They are the over flow (spill way) outlets for a dam.

Ladybower Dam was constructed between 1935 and 1945. WWII delayed its progress. When it was finally completed it drowned two villages. It is part of a three dam system in the Derwent Valley. One of the other dams is where the Dambusters pilots practiced before bombing a dam in Germany, as shown in the old movie "The Dambusters."

The dams supply drinking water for the East Midlands and are surrounded by lots of walking, cycling and mountain biking trails, and a couple of pubs. If we'd known more before we went, we would have hired bikes, but we just had lunch at a pub and went for a bit of a walk around the dam.

Grindsbrook

Only nature, or God, could plant such an exquisite garden: heather, bracken, soft grass, birch and pines, tumbling streams and rockeries, beneath rocky gritstone ridges.

Ridge walking

Something I really wanted to do in Britain was a ridge walk, which is a walk along a ridge, with views on both sides. This is quite an easy walk (about 11 km) First we walked along the valley and climbed Mam Tor.

How do the sheep not fall off? This is the almost vertical face of Mam Tor, created by a series of land slides, that finally resulted in the main road being permanently closed in 1979.

View along the ridge from the top of Mam Tor. Mam Tor means Mother Hill. It is also lnown as the Shivering Mountain due the unstable nature of its geology and frequent landslides.

Looking back to Mam Tor from Back Tor, about two thirds of the way along.

Great views!

Castleton

Castleton - home for ten days

Castleton is a small village in the Peaks district, about 2 1/2 hours north of London by train, and, yes, it is a castle town. Its castle was built in 1080 by William Peveril, an illegitimate son of King William I.

Castleton lies in the Hope Valley and is surrounded by bare hills.

It is a very pretty village with six pubs and even more cafes.

 St Edmunds church was built in 1100.

 A stream runs through the village which used to have cotton mills.

Our house is just off the market square, which is actually a triangle.

 Our front door.

It is an old terrace house that has been  beautifully renovated. We have beams in the lounge.

 Mr White, whose name might also be Oscar the Grouch, visits each morning for a pat and some milk. I don't know who owns him, or thinks they own him, as he definitely thinks he owns whoever he wants, as long as you feed him and don't try to pick him up.

Behind our house we can walk up through Cave Dale, behind the castle. Cave Dale was formed by a collapsed cave. This is limestone cave country and there are a number of caves here that you can do tours through. But we won't bother, as we have good caves in Australia and we'd rather walk up the hills anyway.

My last royal palace

Part of Kensington Palace is open to the public as a museum telling the story of the royals who lived there from 1690 to the present time. It is small modest building compared to Buckingham Palace.

Nice views into Hyde Park.

The gate that was surrounded by flowers when Princess Diana died.

Imagine having to wear this when attending court on 1690. And having to dance in it.

Queen Victoria's coronation gown.

Green velvet and pink dresses worn by Dianna.

Queen Elizabeth looks good in yellow.

One of the young Queen Elizabeth's dresses.

Diana wallpaper in the hallway on the loos.