Monday 19 November 2012

Short Drive in the Peak District

Hello Readers,
This will be another short post as we didn't do much exploring this week. 

The Better Halves Club met at The Bank Bar (link) this week.  There ended up being four of us as two members were in the States and another was sick.  The restaurant write up sounded like a sports bar type place but didn't look like any sports bars I have been to in the States.  I did pass on the Japanese Wagyu Beef, thirty pounds for an eight ounce sirloin or ribeye was a little rich for my blood.  Maybe we will go back some other time when we are celebrating an event worthy of a thirty pound (forty-eight dollar) steak.  Instead I had Lamb Rogan Josh, an Indian dish that was pretty tasty although the portion size was so big I couldn't finish it.

A Carol Seppane Book Update.  I started Element Zero by James Knapp, 368 pages.  This is the final book in the revivor (technically reanimated corpses) trilogy I started a while back.  I am about halfway through and it is starting to get interesting again so I will probably end up shirking all of my housely (it's a word Aunt Joanie, promise) duties and ignoring everyone today until I have finished the book.  Overall all of the books have been intriguing reads for me, an interesting blend of the present and future in a well written setting.

On Saturday we laid around like tired slugs.

On Sunday we took a scenic drive through the Peak District.  I took the kids on a similar drive last year when Lori was back in the States and took Bob and Lona on a similar drive while they were here but Lori hasn't seen any of it yet so we picked Sunday as the nicer weekend driving day and piled into the car.  Our drive itinerary was Flash, Bakewell, Nine Ladies Stone Circle walk, Eyam, Chesterfield and Matlock.  Good plan, horrible execution.

Yup that's frost.  Not the thick hard to scrape frost, more of the thin barely there frost.  At least it looked like it as Lori had the car windows scraped clean in a couple of minutes - you go girl! 
 
The car said 2 C (36 F) so I scratched the Nine Ladies walk off of the itinerary before we even left the driveway.  The start of our itinerary deviating has begun and the car isn't even warm yet.  Not a great start.

Interesting rock formation on the way to Flash. 

Ditto.  You can see some brave (and cold) climbers on the rock.

We made it to Flash.  We stopped here before so I wouldn't write about it again.  This school room is one of the seven buildings in Flash. 

On the road to Bakewell.  Pretty scenery but a little lacking with the bare trees and brown vegetation.

Jim Seppanen Pic - A stream along the Monsal Trail (link), maybe we will make it up in springtime to walk the trail.

Zoomed in view down Wye Dale, looking right from a pull off parking spot.

View down Wye Dale, looking left from same parking spot. 
 
After driving for a while we made it to Bakewell, home of the world famous Bakewell Tart.

I keep wanting to try rarebit but wasn't quite sure what it was.  Now I know.

Dana Johnson Pic - Rarebit is basically an open faced sandwich.  Tasted okay but not anything special.  I planned on having a Bakewell Tart until my on-the-ball wife asked what was in it and found out that almonds were in the filling.  Cross Bakewell Tart from Bakewell off my bucket list.

View down Bakewell, a quaint little town that didn't inspire us to stay.  Nice place but nothing special.  See a theme forming yet?
 
Up next was Eyam, Wiki link, a village famous for shutting itself in during the plague.  Unfortunately road construction in a village called Hassop closed the road so instead of detouring around who-knows-where to Eyam we opted for Chesterfield.

The Crooked Spire, read about on Wiki.
 
Our last stop on our tour was Matlock but after punching in the Matlock time then Matlock to Home time into the SatNav we opted to head home instead.  The grocery we wanted to stop at closes at 4:30 PM on a Sunday (seriously) so we called it a day in order to pick up a few required items before the store closed.  It was a nice, leisurely sightseeing day but we ended up missing a couple places so we'll have to go back at a later date.
 
Final item - a Jeff Seppanen Sports Update.  Football is back baby!  Steve and Jeff came over to watch the lucky Packers beat the under-achieving Lions.  Steve also stayed to watch half of the second game, his beloved Colts and the hated Patriots.  Lucky for him he left at halftime before the Colts showed their youth and inexperience.  At least they held the Pats under 60 I guess.  On a high note my boy RG3 had a fantastic day, now to give him a defense to play with.  Oh well, beggars and horses. right?

The American football viewing set up.
 
Thanks for listening,
Jay

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