Hey, it's Dalis!: We're Peaking!

Last weekend Houston and I drove 2 hours to the Peak District in Derbyshire. This national park is located between Sheffield and Manchester, 2 of the busiest and most industrial cities in England. This area is the most visited and I can see why. It's not as rugged as the Dales, more subtle and softer, with more trees. There are miles and miles of trails and that's what the people come for. Of course, the villages are winsome and pleasant too.

Houston on our first hike. On the right notice all the *%&^!<~#* stinging nettles! They are taking over the country! Unfortunately the ruminants don't like them. And they HURT! I'm allergic to them so I'm very careful when passing them. I kinda whine like a girl.

This old castle was built high on the hill above the village of Castleton in 1175 to oversee the King's Royal Forest (most of which is gone now due to sheep grazing).

I awoke early and set off up this trail about 6:30. I found a nice rock outcropping to sit upon and brought out my knitting. Sheep were munching away nearby and these next few photos are of the view I had while knitting my sock. And all this before coffee! Pinch me, this is just too awesome of a place to be knitting!

While on our hike, it was chilly, damp and windy. I didn't have my sarong (damn!) with me and my neck was cold. My hood wouldn't fit tight around my neck and I wished I had a string or section of yarn. Viola! There in the field was a fist full of wool. I started spinning it and made a length of yarn to tie my fleece hood around my neck. Ahhhhh!

We thought that 'Wool and Thistle' would make a good name for a pub. My favorite is 'Brew and Ewe' though.

This is the village of Castleton where we spent the night.

This Celtic cross is from 800!

We visited the village of Bakewell, appropriately named because it is host to the famous 'Bakewell Puddings'. Puddings are a generic term for dessert here in the UK. Bakewell really means 'bath spring' as there are many springs around. But, there is a controversy still going on about these puddings. There are 2 bakeries in town claiming to have the original recipe and they're still bickering about it. Bicker on, but keep baking these delicious puds. The lore goes that back in 1860 an inexperienced baker's helper omitted the egg and sugar for the crust. He spread jam on the crust, then realized his mistake and put the egg and sugar mixture on the top instead. The rest is history. In the summer months over 12,000 of these are sold per week! Of course, we had to buy both of them to judge for ourselves which was better.