Day 16 - 9 May 2013, Part 1 - The Peak District and Castleton

The doctors hadn't come up with a definitive diagnosis for Amanda's daughter so it was going to be a full day of hospital testing until they found the culprit. With that in mind, Amanda stoically carried on and picked me up at the Rutland Hotel for a day out sightseeing. I reassured her that I would be fine if she wanted to stay with her daughter. Nope! She would stay in contact by texting and if anything came up, then we could reassess.

The Peak District is just outside of Sheffield. It's extensive. And breathtakingly beautiful. We'd gone a little ways into it when Amanda pulled into a car park (seemingly in the middle of nowhere) and said, "We're taking a hike."

Okay. I bundled up and we followed a trail to a bluff overlooking the valley seen below. At first, we stood behind a low stone wall. Then, to get a better view of the views, I stepped over the wall. Amanda told me she was staying put. Fear of heights, remember? That was okay. My biggest concern was stepping in the sheep droppings. Authentic sheep droppings this time. Sorry; I didn't take a photo of those although I was tempted.

There are so many photos below because I didn't have the heart to eliminate any of them--the views were stunning. I could have stood on this bluff for an hour taking in the panorama.

See the little village to the right middle of the photo, down in the valley? After leaving this bluff, we drove through there, then on to Castleton, which is barely seen by the tiny white dots in the upper left valley.  

In the middle of the photo below you can see the trail continuing on, but we returned to the car. The low brown stuff is heather. Amanda said when it's in bloom, the hillsides are solid purple.

This is on our way back to the car. Now it's more apparent just how much heather covered the area.

 

This stand of aspen/birch trees will make it into a future painting. I'd love to see the hillsides when all the heather is in bloom.

 

 

We stopped in Castleton for lunch and also toured a small museum here. This village was so cool. Amanda told me that her husband proposed in this café where we ate--The Three Roofs Café.

 

Driving through the village--it's the village we drove through before we arrived in Castleton. I'm sorry but I can't remember its name.

The church straight ahead up on the hill was built in 1000 A.D.

 

 

After lunch we walked through Castleton. My husband and I (and our daughters) lived in Indianapolis in the 80s and early 90s--there's an area on the northeast side of Indy called Castleton. I wondered if this village was the inspiration. 

 

In the hills around there, they mine a stone called Blue John. This is the only place in the world where it's found. There are so many little jewelry stores in this village selling rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc., all made with Blue John. I bought a pair of earrings with Blue John to remember this area by. And if I didn't buy it here, where else could I get it? I also bought a malachite bracelet. They mined malachite here at one time, but the salesladies said this malachite probably came from elsewhere.

 

Sights on our walk.

Aren't the private gardens beautiful? What surprised me is how chilly it was, yet everything was in bloom!

How would you like to drive a car around this blind corner? Reminds me of a couple stretches of road I drove in the Cotswolds.

This church was built in 1100 A.D. It was quite controversial when they built it. Remember the church on the hill in the photo up above? Everyone said they already had a church in the area and the villages couldn't possibly support two churches "so close together." Something tells me they made it work.

 

After leaving Castleton, we drove on to Chatsworth House, home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. That place deserves its own blog posting, but I'll leave you with a little teaser.

And that white stuff to the left of this "house?" Yeah--enclosed scaffolding. I'm telling you, I couldn't get away from the stuff!