Friday, May 29, 2009

Longshaw Estates - eventually - glorious day - 80F

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The weather when we awoke was so lovely we decided to take advantage of it and risk a trip into Derbyshire.

Carpe diem and all that jazz. All thanks to Horace originally.

Y suggested we try somewhere where we had WoW-ed and Longshaw Estates fitted in. Our route was, to say the least, circuitous, but resulted in an impressive scenic tour. Our big mistake was using Google-Maps and printing-off their suggested route.

Chesterfield is OK but .........

Anyway, we saw grass being mown for hay and 'wuffled' which produced that unforgettable smell.

Bottom left of the 'collage' was the view from where we stopped for coffee (our own and delicious).

When we finally arrived at Longshaw it was busy (school holidays etc.) but well lived up to expectations. I managed a fairly long walk with my wheels and reached the pond/lake on the way to Padley Gorge. - Grindleford. We stopped and talked to a very pleasant couple who were regular visitors and recommended a handier car-park for me in future.

On our arrival back at the Visitor's Centre we had tea and a nice piece of cake - and a lovely long chat to the NT 'volunteer' tea-lady and learned lots of insider-information about Longshaw and in particular the 'old house' which has been converted into up-market apartments.

When we arrived home the garden still looked in it's pristine post-Karen state.

As I sat on my bed to unload my 'bits and bobs' I noticed this interesting picture featuring my bottle-stopper lens.

Apart from adjusting my position to maximise the juxtaposition of the diagonal lines the picture is fiddle-free.

My replies to your comments

Bob ..... As you noted a couple of days ago, the weather seems consistently inconsistent. An old red pullover that I haven't worn for years has become my bosom companion (please excuse the word-play).

Tesco is excellent for good quality and extremely cheap electrical goods. Your new telly will doubtless give excellent service. My bedroom hot-water jug/kettle was under £3 and I can't fault it.

Glad we've sorted out the misunderstanding about the Toyota lights.

The AA man was quite witty about our Yaris Verso. He described it as a 'normal Yaris with a loft-conversion'.

Yvonne .... I think you do wonderfully well to play Cricket and Football with the grand-children, especially if you aren't allowed time on 'the bench'.

I'm glad you have actually seen the Lidl ad for the 'swimming-goggles' and they seem OK. Big difference between £2.79 and around £15 at Decathlon.

Thanks for your kind words about my gardening efforts. I intend a further couple of hours before the weekend is over.

jbw .... Archery isn't my forte although the subject interests me - particularly the English 'long bow'. Such romantic connotations and history.

Doug is very interesting to listen to on the subject and an excellent bowman himself.

Going back into the animation to alter it is easier said than done I'm afraid. Although I couldn't do it myself, I know a man who could .... as they say. But I have no intention of troubling him with this one. Sorry if that sounds abrupt because it isn't my intention. It is good to have your comments on the blog - so keep them coming .....

.......................................

Quotation time .....
"Hark! I hear their drum.
Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen!
Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!




"Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow"






2 comments:

bob said...

I like all your very green photos today, especially the bottletop.

We had a very different day from yours, attending the funeral of a customer/friend from Durham Ox days.
A keen do-it-(for)-yourself-and-for-others former miner he died as he would have wished; at work building himself a new workshed. He had a host of friends of all ages from diverse backgrounds.
He’d left instructions for the occasion. Wellow church (not cold, for once) was overcrowded, many having to stand. And the wake, too huge for the Red Lion, was in the Village Hall.
The partner of his tall and elegant 40yr-old daughter has a rock band who performed extremely well and she sang a couple of great songs, very impressively, in Amy Winehouse mode.
Free booze (real ale) plus excellent (Red Lion) buffet helped make it memorable and I’m sure most of those present contributed very generously to Heart Foundation collection at the bar.
A great send off; Roy would have loved it.

I hope Tesco telly meets your glowing reference.
The Netto ‘water-blaster’ was useless (any comparison would be coarse) but I managed to find the receipt in the waste bin!

Unknown said...

Sports Desk: Chelsea, Chelsea! Excellent result with a superb second goal from Lampard. But Everton were certainly not disgraced - played a very competitive game and scoring within the first minute - WOW!

After our extremely scenic trip to Longshaw yesterday, we have at last bought a satnav - the one David has recommended. So looking forward to using it though we usually enjoy getting lost!

Watching the final of 'Britain's Got Talent' ....... Oh dear, oh dear ......