EXTREME BBQing!!!!

PLEASE! IIF YOU DO TAKE A BBQ INTO THE WILDS, MAKE SURE YOU PUT IT OUT, TAKE ALL LITTER HOME, AND LEAVE NO TRACE.

Today I re-visited Cronksley moor. It's only three weeks since I was up there last, but Colin (my brother) came walking today, and we decided to carry a BBQ, with all the accoutrements, over 14 miles, and up 2400 plus feet of climb. We decided we had started a new craze - extreme BBQing!!! I'll tell you what - I had all the food, and I really knew I was carrying it, as my shoulders ached with the extra weight. Colin took charge of the wine.

Talk about lunatics, and asylums HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Anyway, here we go. The day dawned just as the weather man had predicted, a nice day. We set off from Fairholmes visitors centre on Ladybower reservoir.

We walked up the left hand side (looking up the reservoir), and stopped for a look in at the Dambusters museum, which is housed in one of the dam turrets. This is a privately run museum, and is open Sundays, and bank holidays. It's free to look round, and is a great place to learn all about the dambusters, the bouncing bombs, and also the building of the dams. There's a wealth of photo's, artefacts and nostalgic pieces in the museum, and the guy that runs it is always helpful and chatty. Some of the photo's are from private collections, never seen before and unpublished. If in the area, please take time to look in.


This is what the bombers would look though when they dropped the bouncing bombs to destroy the Rhur dams.

A replica of the actual bouncing bomb.

Some of the contents of the museum.

This memorial is to Tip, the faithful dog, who's master died up on the moors.
Tip stayed by the side of his body for FIFTEEN WEEKS in the depths of winter.

With all the damp weather we've had lately, the fungi is starting to sprout, now it's warming up a bit.
This is a fly agaric. Pretty, poisonous, and very hallucinogenic!

I don't know what these are called, but they look lovely.

THIS was our goal, the shooting cabin. I know it doesn't look much, and it's not, it's VERY basic, but on a wet day, there's no more welcome sight. Today though, the weather was perfect, so we soon set about rustling up lunch!

WAITER......WAITER - where's my lunch????
(Notice - wine already poured)

COMING right up, sir!

First course, garlic, ginger and blue cheese stuffed Portobello mushrooms, with French bread.

Main course - lemon chicken kebabs, sirloin steak, roasted baby peppers.

(Yes - the peppers are SUPPOSED to be black - you just peel off the blackened skin to reveal the sweet, juicy flesh, and boy, they taste GREAT!)

THIS is the life!

After the meal, we set about walking back. You can see a short video here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40D4A05ZxQ

There are a few berries showing on the moors.
We saw some bilberries, and these, which I thought were lovely.

The river Derwent below us. Not nearly as much of a torrent as three weeks ago.

Colin deftly negotiates a crossing. Again, three weeks ago, you couldn't see those stones he's treading on.

A gaggle of Canada geese.

After this, it began to rain lightly, then turned heavier. Luckily, Colin had a new brolly, so that kept us dry until we got back to the car. 

A really good day, leaving me pleasantly tired. This kind of tired is great, satisfying, and makes you feel like you've actually DONE something with your day. Hope you enjoyed the pics.
Les