Coniston circle

I set a new record today by walking 31,703 steps on my fancy step counter. I achieved this because we are in the Lake District and we did a 16 k circular walk from our campsite.
It was basically up, up, up, then flattish along the ridge of five separate peaks, then down, down and down.
Elaine and Mark leant us a book called 'Great British Ridge Walks' and we followed number 11 to the letter - but we had to walk quite a distance to get to the starting point, so it was quite a lot longer than the recommendation. 
Also, I must be a bit thick, but I didn't realise that a ridge walk was along the top of the hills with a sharp drop either side, so it was a bit of a shock. Fortunately, that section was completely covered in thick, wet cloud, so I couldn't see how steep the sides were.
They also warned us to take lots of warm clothes - just in case - and I ended up wearing it all. Teeshirt and sunhat on the way up, thermals, gloves and woolly hat along the top and then back to the first outfit on the way down.
We were pleased with our new boots as we stomped through mini streams and over rocks. At one point they were very useful as we took a wrong turning and had to climb a high stone wall and then drop the other side into waist high bracken.
Great day out, hoping to try another one from the book very soon.
Ps, if you are interested, the peaks were Brown Pike, Buck Pike,  Dow Crag, Goat's Hawse, Brim Fell and Coniston Old Man.

Bakewell in boots

We are getting ready for a trip up north, and my sister will be pleased to see that we have both bought some proper hiking boots. Here we are modelling them - hope you can guess whose legs are in the shorts.
We put the boots to a mini test this afternoon by marching around Bakewell, although it wasn't very strenuous, or technical. The worst we had to contend with was walking around fancy cookware and camping gear shops, where the floors were all flat and boulder free.
We also window shopped the tart and pudding outlets, but managed to resist temptation.
The conclusion with the boots was that they made our feet hot and Darren preferred his flip flops, but we hope to put them to good use very soon.

Drama at the Tour de France

All of the family waited patiently on the roadside on the outskirts of London today for the Tour de France to pass by.
We had chairs, blanket, wine and a picnic, and enjoyed watching the tour caravan go past. My favourites were the giant Miffy's, and huge chip packets, although a crazy balloon crept into the final picture.
The riders cycled over 153 kilometres today and I  expected them to whizz by in a few seconds. Unfortunately, about 10 metres before they reached us, a spectator stood in the road to take a photo and a rider hit him. The rider then ricocheted into others in the peloton, and two riders crashed right in front of us.
They were both lying in the middle of the road, but no one else hit them. Once all of the riders had passed by, they both gingerly stood up, and number 54 threw his water bottle, (probably in a temper),which sprayed all of us.
The bottle landed in the road, and Darren picked it up, so we ended up with a souvenir of the day.
After that, their bikes were repaired and they set off after their friends, and the spectator was put in an ambulance and taken away.

Bletchley Park - part two

'Don't help the enemy!  Careless talk may give away vital secrets.'
Secrecy was the key at Bletchley and at its peak during World War 2, 10,000 people were working there. They decoded all of the enemies secret communications, then shut down after the war, and non of them spoke a word about it for decades.
We visited Bletchley Park last November and enjoyed it, but there was a lot of building work going on, and not too much to see.
This time was totally different and the whole place was open, and full of things to see and learn about. The 1940's have been recreated and it just looks as if the workers have stepped outside for a few minutes, and then we went in and had a good nosey around.
Also, saw a few of the original Enigma machines and saw some amazing examples of how complicated it was to break their codes.

Wrekin and Ercall Hills

Once upon a time there was a wicked giant from Wales who carried a huge spade full of earth towards Shrewsbury. He met a cobbler who told him that it was so far away that all his shoes had worn out.  The giant then decided to give up on his plan and dropped the earth on the ground where he stood, making Wrekin Hill.  He then scraped all the mud off his boots, creating Ercall Hill.
We weren't going to cycle around them today, but we stopped for a picnic, and I left my gloves behind by mistake. I didn't realise for a few miles and by the time we had ridden back to collect them, we changed our plans and took the shortcut home.
I can testify that the giant carried a lot of soil, as it was so steep that I had to get off and walk to the top.
Nice day out on well signposted quiet roads. I also found Christine Avenue so stopped for a photo .
Is that a bit weird?

Ironbridge Gorge

It was a lovely day today, so we set off from our campsite on a circular walk to visit the Ironbridge Gorge.
I learnt about it at school, and I was very keen to visit.
Ironbridge is thought of as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, and it was where the first large scale production of cast iron was produced.
It was also the site of the world's first iron bridge,  completed in 1779, which was built to show the world the superior skills of the local workers.
Our walk was very long, and complicated by the fact that although the 'visitironbridge' map was beautifully drawn, there was very few signposts along the way.
We also followed their recommendation to climb loads of steps to a viewpoint, only to find that large trees had grown so high that we couldn't see anything.
It was very interesting and all good exercise though.