Down Deep Dale

A good day, meeting up with a very old friend (Marie).  Marie is a retired teacher, and for some time she's been leading walks for the Ramblers organisation, some in the UK and some (pre-Covid) elsewhere in Europe.  Today she offered to map us out a route in the White Peak, the limestone area of the Derbyshire Peak District.  We went to Deep Dale. The main picture is from above the Dale itself; the two extras are flower/grass close-ups.

We knew that the real burst of spring and summer flowers would be over. But this has left the lovely shapes of seedheads, grasses, walls and trees to enjoy. And we found cranesbill, achillea, harebells and lovely fluffy-headed thistles. We also saw and heard a juvenile woodpecker, quite close by.

A lovely walk, some good chats, some catching up about our respective families. Marie's daughter Naomi has severe asthma, and so the Covid period has been very hard for her. Recently Naomi caught Covid herself, a potentially very dangerous situation. Fortunately she had both jabs earlier in the year; it turned out to be very unpleasant, but not dangerous enough to take her into hospital. Thankfully.

Tomorrow's jobs... packing, and finishing off some garden work...