A life on the edge

What a wonderful place to be a sheep!

Going direct

Stanage Edge was very popular last Saturday. Wherever I looked, there were bodies scaling rock; little children in full body harnesses, athletic young men climbing without ropes, seasoned crag rats, comfortable in their abilities, beginners working out the next move.

In spite of the busy-ness, everyone was cheerful and helpful and there was very little waiting for a turn. Partly, this is because Stanage has so many routes on offer; partly because the four climbers in our group were only looking at the harder stuff.

Highlight of the day were the 'directs'.

First up, Flying Buttress Direct, HVS 5b

a bold route, highly rated and tackled well by both Alex... 

and Mark.

Followed by Tippler Direct, E3 6a

Completed by both Rhys

and Ben.

All in all, a lovely day :)

A very short stretch of the Limestone Way

Our walk up to Cratcliffe crag takes us along the Limestone Way. We walk a whole 300ish metres of the 50 mile long path.

Starting in Castleton, the Limestone Way winds its way down through Derbyshire until it crosses the county border to reach the town of Rochester, where it joins the Staffordshire Way.

The path was created by Derbyshire Dales District Council to enable the walker to experience the best of the limestone scenery. Ironic then, that we use it to reach a gritstone tor!

In the fields alongside the approach, these calves seemed torn between curiosity and caution; approaching just so far and then skittering away at the smallest movement.

This laid back fellow just looked as though the whole thing was waaaaaay too much effort!

At the top of the hill, is this bench. Whoever Hilary was, she obviously liked this spot

where she could enjoy a typical limestone country view.

Cratcliffe sheep

Sleepy sheep

Protective sheep

Itchy sheep

Inquisitive sheep

Shedding sheep

Sheep sheddings

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Amble over to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday if you would like to see other less contrived offerings for the letter A.

Milestone

For the last three months, I've been actively thinking that I must hunt down some photos of these for my blog. The problem is that I'm usually in the car and there's usually no-where to pull over.

Finally, one while I was walking!

In Britain, the practice of erecting milestones originated with the Romans. Roman milestones were stone obelisks, often with no inscription other than the name of the emperor, erected at one mile intervals along the road. In Rome itself, there was a golden milestone, being the point from which the vastness of the Roman Empire was measured.

Mostly superseded by modern road signs, milestones are less common than they once were, but there are still some to be found; though not always in such good condition as this one. I will strive to photograph more whenever I can.

Do such things exist in your neck of the woods?

A Minni walk

Some of our London family came to stay over the weekend. We had a lovely time, including doing a short walk on Saturday afternoon. A 5 mile loop took us from Melbourne church, up to Breedon on the Hill and back through the fields to Melbourne Pool.

(© Steve M)

The local livestock seemed interested in our passing!

(© Lily M)

Cows have incredibly rough tongues. It's like been licked with dribbly sandpaper :)

(© Lily M)

The oilseed rape is in full flower, making many fields bright yellow and turning the landscape into a patchwork. The name rape comes from the Latin rapum, meaning turnip, because the rape is the flower of the turnip and swede.

Rape is not new to the UK, but since the 1970's, it has become increasingly popular and is grown as part of crop rotation because it improves the soil for the crop that follows it. The seeds from oilseed rape provide vegetable oil which can be used in cooking.

Other fields and roadside verges are yellow with dandelions. Normally considered a weed because they grow so prolifically, dandelions have a bright yellow flower and the most delicate of seed heads.

(© Lily M)

Dozens of tiny seeds, each with its own mini parachute, waiting to be carried on the breeze to create more flowers just like themselves.

They're extremely good at that!

In the copse, the bluebells are blooming.

Dappled sunlight streams through the trees.

By Melbourne Pool, we encountered this family of goslings.

No, he isn't out of focus, he really is that fuzzy :)

Waiting for fish'n'chips

After a long day of climbing, two somebodies were somewhat hungry, so we stopped off at Darley Dale for fish and chips.

We had to wait all of ten minutes for the fish to cook, during which time the lads amused themselves with...

double decker planks

single arm balances...

and the scaling of the e-tree (much to the amusement of the young lady in the upstairs window!)