Shepherds Wheel

On our walk through the woods on Sunday, we happened upon the Shepherds Wheel on the Porter Brook which has recently been restored by volunteers and enthusiasts.

The wheel was working.
Inside, a volunteer told us all about the work that the men would have undertaken in this little hamlet. They used to grind knives and blades of all kinds. The contraption below is called a mule and the man would sit on it in the saddle and the grinding stone in front would have been turning really fast.

The wheels were wurring away really fast, but apparently they would have been going 3 times faster in the olden days.

It had turned fairly cold outside, and the roaring fire inside was hard to leave!

A walk in the park

On Sunday the Dancing Queen and I spent a lovely day walking through the parks in Sheffield that eventually lead out to the Peak District.

We started off after a breakfast butty through Endcliffe Park which was chocca block full of families enjoying the day.

Each park that you walk through has a personality of its own. They get more like woodlands as you head out towards the moors.
I loved her company. Hubby was at work and she had the day off as the shops were shut. We chatted and laughed for hours. We both enjoyed the exercise and fresh air.

I love the way she takes the same amount of pleasure as I do from the tiniest of details.

And finally...

We had to say goodbye to Cumbria. We had loved it so much. We chose out hotel on the lakeside because it had a pool and spa and when we booked it, way back in January, we thought it would give us something to do should it rain for the whole 3 days - we never saw a cloud!

It is the first time that we have had more than 1 night away without the kids - and we enjoyed the time, walking and talking and making exciting plans for the next stage of our lives together. It felt like we were staring out all over again.


Bowness was wonderful to stay in. It was surprisingly busy and a little crowded by day, but you could easily find a walk to take you away from the crowds, and by evening it had a fabulous continental feel with many gorgeous restaurants to eat in, just a short stroll from our hotel.
We enjoyed a boat trip - so relaxing.
The scenery is stunning everywhere you look.


The valleys are also a training ground for fighter jets and army helicopters - the jets fly very low and make you jump out of your skin, then make your heart stop as you wait to make sure that they make it over the hills.



Bowness was the first place that hubby and I went away together to 23 years ago. I had quite forgotten that until we were there. We won't be leaving it another 23 years to return - we'd never get up those hills!

Climb every mountain

The reason we had chosen the Lake District for our mini break was that hubby fancied a bit of hill walking - with me tagging along. Because we didn't want to use the car very much, we chose to walk from Bowness up to Windermere, and walk up and around School Knott - about 7 miles in total.

The walk was as you can imagine extremely picturesque.
And luckily, it was a very steady climb up around the back of the hill.
We were rewarded at the top of the hill with a gorgeous "tarn" where we sat watching the antics of hundreds of toads!
It was truly beautiful and so silent.

Then, just over the hill was the summit.

I so wish I had a better camera, because the view down to Lake Windermere was absolutely gorgeous. We sat and ate our lunch declaring it one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Eventually we descended down back to ground level.

And sat and cooled our feet in the crystal clear stream.
And rewarded ourselves at the first pub with a beer garden that we could find! Well, we deserved it.

More Cuckoo Way

Hubby and I took ourselves off to walk more of the Cuckoo Way along the Chesterfield Canal today. We parked by the canal in an area of North Nottinghamshire called Rhodesia and walked into Worksop.

It was a very misty start to the day.....
which made for some atmospheric shots.


On our way back, the sun came out and it got very hot very quickly! I'm hoping that some local Worksop resident can tell me what this fabulous building was in its hey day. Any body know?
I loved the old industrial buildings alongside the canal.
The old flour mill is still in production - can you see all the flour blown on the side of the building? It has a very modern and large extension alongside it. Its great to see somewhere in our area still manufacturing.
We saw a couple of narrowboats as we walked along.

On our way back, we took a stroll through Worksop itself. It has a lovely little market.
We had wanted to walk to Retford, but it seemed a long way, so we went to Retford in the car. We decided that next time, we would walk into Retford and then catch a bus back.

Retford was just winding down after market day.
The market square is lovely and has a very grand town hall (newly restored by the looks of it!)
We found the canal again, and found you a very interesting fact!
All in all a perfect (and fairly flat) stroll on a lovely day.