Lathkill Dale - fabulous :-)

So, at last, after a few ‘warm up’ hikes over the last few weeks to check out the state of my knee which I injured last August, I went hiking ‘for real’ today.  It was brilliant :-)
 
Oh, my knee aches a bit when going over difficult stiles or climbing down awkward rocky bits, but I think that is just lack of strenuous use for the last 6 or 7 months.  I think it will improve now that I'm doing longer walks again.
 
The Lathkill Dale walk isn’t the most difficult walk in my ‘repertoire’, or the longest either, but it is over 12.5 miles and includes one rather strenuous climb, several rock bits which are a bit of a scramble, and a lot of very uneven paths.  So I am quite pleased with myself for completing it in roughly my usual time - and without any problems.
 
I had a very interesting lunch too – grapes, baked beans and yogurt.  This combination really is underrated – it was much nicer than it sounds ;-)  There was a reason for  the odd combination – I nearly always have a yogurt for lunch, so that just went in the rucksack, the grapes needed eating up, and I have recently bought a squat thermos flask, with a ‘built-in’ spoon and a wider than normal opening at the top, which is designed for food rather than just a hot drink.  One of the volunteers at Hare Hill has one, and it prompted me to get one too.  Today was its trial run – worked well, and beans on a hike makes a nice change.
 
I also bought myself a fitness monitor last Thursday afternoon, just to see …  So today, up till now, is 27,555 steps.  Yesterday was 14,048 steps, the day before 11,280 steps, and Thursday (when I bought it, so the measurement is for less than half a day) was 6,152 steps – and none of those, bar perhaps today, were doing anything special to get the count up.  There are recommendations that you should do 10,000 steps a day – maybe I’ll have to slow down a little ;-)