District, Peak

Hey Peoples. Not too much to write about these days as I am spending all my time joining Cameron's Big Society. I may have some free time for myself next year. I think all of this just re-enforces my hatred for Nick Clegg.

On Saturday, Heather and I got up early (kind of) and set off to the main railway station with no real destination in mind. We decided on a town called Buxton, which is in the middle of the Peak District. It only took us an hour and 8 poundies return to get there. Good choice.

I'm sure that I could write a whole bunch on how the peaks in the UK must have a bad case of penis envy, but I'm not going to. They are not high, or mighty, but are fantastic. It was funny how much at home I felt as soon as the azimuth was higher than my head. Straight from the heart comfort.

There was a great market in Buxton and we got a delicious potato and chickpea curry for lunch and had a little picnic in the park. We also bagged some better than wicked-awesome mature cheddar. I know cheese isn't that exciting, but it is that good. Other goodies we picked up: a ginger and lemon cookie, farmer made potato chips, fresh veggies, and an organic pork roast. We didn't even go for the shopping.

It was kind of hard to find information on the walks, but we tracked some down and headed out from the market. It was a quick walk through town to the start of the 'walk' up the mountain. We hiked up on Poole's Trail. The walk itself was supposed to be two hours return. We made it up in about 15 minutes. The summit was very cool. The whole area is limestone, and in the 16-17th century is was a major lime producing area. Back then, they dug these big pits and burnt different materials for three days in them before breaking the ovens apart and harvesting the lime. Quite the industrial mess I think. A duke in the late 17th century got sick of looking at the mess and ordered trees to be planted on the hill/quarry so he didn't have to look at it anymore and it became a park with this walk. Kind of fun. At the top, was a little castle/tower to increase the sights.

You can see the remains of all the pits and some limestone cliffs in the background.

This is cute Buxton and the other peaks!

We might have chosen the wrong path back down and ended up walking through a sheep paddock getting some very wet feet in the process, but we did get to see the other side of the mountain and the different trees. They were creepy. I wish I had brought my other camera with us to fully capture the lighting, but was lazy and only brought the little guy. Here is the best I could do.

Not the creepiest pictures, I know.

Mystery shot in the Blas-ter from the Past-er! Who is it?

....and who doesn't want to see some more Manny Cats? I'm calling him Two-Tone Steve.