Summer came in May!

Well, we've had some amazing weather so far this year. Long may it continue! This weekend has been wall to wall blue skies and nearly 80 degrees. We did a walk of about 10 miles locally today. It was very warm but the scenery just glorious - we live in such a lovely part of the world.

From Tenbury Summer in May!

To enable us to get away walking more often, we've decided to buy a new VW van and convert it to a camper. Hotels and other costs like food etc are quite expensive when you do it nearly every weekend and we'd rather spend that money on something else. Anyway, we're just deciding on the spec etc. so maybe we can get one converted before the end of the summer.

It's been too hot to use it this weekend but I bought a new bike! I had to put a very uncool saddle on it - I am old and need comfort, or I wont get on it very often!

It's now busy busy busy for 10 days before we take an 8 day break in Switzerland. It'll be my 50th birthday whilst we are there, so that will be nice. Simon's sister and husband are coming with us and her birthday is the day before mine, so we have every right to spoil ourselves!

The Peak District

We took a weekend in the Peak District a fortnight ago. We hadn't been to the area for years and when we got there I wondered why - it's beautiful!  We stayed in a lovely B&B River Cottage in Ashford in the Water. We arrived around noon, dumped the car and set off for Monsal Head. It was a gloious day and the views lovely. We stopped for lunch at the Monsal Head Hotel before walking into Bakewell via the Monsal Trail for a look around before walking back the the B&B. We covered 8-10 miles but it didn't feel like it because the weather and the views were so good. We met friends at the B&B a little later and enjoyed drinks sitting alongside the River Wye whilst feeding the trout.

The next day we took a 10 mile circular walk (which probably turned into 12 with detours!) that included Chatsworth House, Beeley, Rowsley and Bakewell. We had lunch enroute at the lovely Old Smithy in Beeley, where we had lovely sandwiches and tea in lovely china teacups and saucers. After some ablutions once back at the B&B (and some Ibruprofen!) we sampled the dinner menu at the Bulls Head in Ashford and we weren't disappointed. All in all a great weekend, assisted by the glorious weather. We'll be back!

From Peak District

Catching up.....

Well, I blinked and like 2 months went by! We've been busy as usual. A couple of weekends ago we had the pleasure of having Simon's niece Erica to stay for a few days, whilst she was over from Vancouver for a vacation. We'll be catching up with her during our September Canadian holiday when we visit her on Vancouver Island. Whilst she was here we showed her some of this part of the world. We went to Much Wenlock in Shropshire one a beautiful day and looked at the Old Priory. We found a property called Bastard Hall on the way, which was funny.....

We also took her to Chester, on another beautiful day. I didn't take my camera either day so I will have to nab some photos from her. She did post this one on Facebook which I found hilarious....

We walked around Chester's famous rows, had lunch and then walked all around the walls in beautiful sunshine.