Water, water everywhere

Wednesday we drove to the Derwent Valley to walk alongside the Derwent Reservoir.  At the car park is the towering dam wall of Derwent Dam with water cascading over the top as the reservoir was full the other side.  The noise was deafening and I can only imagine how much water roars over the dam every day.  This place is the setting for the famous scene of the wartime film ‘The Dambusters’ where RAF’s Squadron 617 practiced bombing the dams at night before their mission to destroy the Ruhr valley dams in Germany.  I am not a great lover of war films but I like the films from this era such as ‘The Battle of Britain’ – very ‘jolly hockey sticks’ and ‘stiff upper lips chaps’! 

There is a footpath that goes around the whole of the area, snaking round the three reservoirs – Ladybower, Derwent and Howden.  These were built just after the turn of the last century and supplies water to most of Derbyshire, Sheffield, Leicester and Nottingham.  It was quite a dull day so the photos didn’t come out well but it didn’t rain.  Also in my excitement to pack for our trip I omitted to pack the charger for the camera battery so we were trying to conserve the battery life and not take too many photos.  We walked on the right hand side of the Derwent Reservoir to the next dam which was also cascading with water, stopped to have some nibbles and a flask of coffee and retraced our steps back.

 

In the evening we went to the Anchor Inn in Tideswell and had a meal that wasn’t worth writing about.  We were the only guests in the pub – draw your own conclusions.  Although we did see a good idea on top of the wood burner which we might try at home – an eco fan which distributes the heat a bit more around the room.  More snow whilst driving back to the cottage, however we were soon back inside warm and cosy.

Thursday dawned with rain which didn’t really stop until the afternoon.  We decided not to walk anywhere today as there is nothing worse (I think) than walking in the rain & mud, which round here there is plenty of.  We had a delicious cooked breakfast in The Bean & Bag in Bakewell (I had the veggie version), wandered around the shops buying a few bits and pieces for the people who are looking after Rocky for us whilst we are away.  We drove back to the cottage and had a really lazy time, reading, surfing the internet (free wifi here!), drawing (Nigel) & me knitting & crocheting.  About 2pm it finally stopped raining so we took Tillie out for a walk alongside the river in Partington Woods in Lathkill Dale.  Once back in the car we drove around looking for somewhere nice to eat later on and ended up in Castleton again and ate at the Cheshire Cheese Inn which again was what we call very ‘bog’ standard.  Back to the cottage again for a nice quiet evening apart from the guests staying below us having their TV on loud.  I didn’t come all this way to listen to someone else’s TV.