Not a thoughtful post

This was going to be one of those thoughtful posts. But it's just not been that kind of week. Between boys just plain going to bed late to boys being violently sick (that was Toby. He was absolutely fine the next day), I don't seem to have had enough space to think about much, let alone write it down.

So I thought I'd skim through the photos on the camera to see what inspiration I could gather for a quick post. Turns out the camera this month contains 382 photos of cars. Do you want to see 382 photos of cars? I think not. Or if you do, feel free to visit. Graham and Toby will happily talk you through the make, model and specifications of every single one, and I can sneak off and do some writing.

Very old car

What else? There's some very blurry / underexposed / differently angled photos taken by Theo. A collection of photos of playdough, taken by Toby. Ummm... oh, here's some pretty food. Want to see some pretty food?

These are those Jamie Oliver squash fritters I mentioned. I went all cheffy and put them in a stack, with sage butter on the top. He recommends actually coating them all in the butter, which I think would work better; the ones with no sage flavour felt like they were lacking something.

And this is cheesecake (not home made) with some of our homegrown strawberries!

Finally, yes, you can have some cute boy photos. Toby had his sports day last week, and all the photos are either intense concentration or pure delight. He had a great time.

Theo's not lacking in enthusiasm either. It's a rock!

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One hundred churches

About the middle of January, I was walking to school one afternoon when it occurred to me that I must have visited quite a few churches on my explorations. I started counting them. But I quickly ran out of fingers, so when I got home I plotted them on Google Maps. Not only was the number much higher than I was expecting, it was also tantalisingly close to one hundred. Only a few dozen to go. So of course, every walk since then has had to include at least one church! Last Monday I visited my hundredth church: St John the Baptist, Dethick. It was a beautiful little 13-century building with an unusual tower - I was glad it had claimed the 100 spot. I haven't been inside every church. Sometimes they were locked; sometimes I was in a hurry and didn't try the door. St Leonard's Church in Alton had bellringers practicing, and I almost interrupted a funeral when I stuck my head through the door of St Mary's, Marston-on-Dove. A few, such as St Oswald's, Ashbourne, and St Wys...

Derwent Valley Heritage Way: Steep drops ahead

It's been a long time since I fitted that much up and down into an eight-mile walk! 740m of steep climbs and steps. My legs were not very happy with me the next day. Between Matlock and Cromford, the Derwent River runs through a deep valley, with Matlock Bath - a landlocked town which pretends to be a seaside resort - down at the bottom. The ridge of high ground used to run all the way round to Scarthin Rock, cutting off Cromford from the rest of the valley, until somebody blasted a hole through it to build the A6. Matlock Bath: pavilion and amusement park I started in Cromford and climbed over the ridge at Harp Edge, then followed a path along through the woods, with the ground dropping sharply away to my right. There were a few small caves among the trees. At Upperwood someone had thoughtfully provided a bench. I wasn't in need of a rest just yet, though. In fact, I was feeling so bouncy that I went down an entirely unnecessary flight of steps, instead of staying on the reaso...

The Churnet Way: a wonderful walk

The loop from Oakamoor to Froghall and back was one of the most enjoyable walks I've done in a long time. It had a bit of everything: woods, ponds, rivers and railways; steep climbs and sweeping views; an unusual church, an ex-industrial wharf, and, as a final bonus, car parks with toilets. Of course, the sunny weather helped too. I parked in Oakamoor and set off along a quiet lane called Stoney Dale. This is the route of the Churnet Way, which deviates away from the river for a couple of miles. After a while I turned right and climbed up through the woods on a gravelly path, then dropped down to the B5417. a spring in Oakamoor Crossing the road, I entered Hawksmoor Nature Reserve. It has some fine gateposts commemorating John Richard Beech Masefield, "a great naturalist". I found a photo of the opening of the gateway in 1933; unsurprisingly, the trees have grown a lot since then! A track took me down through the woods to East Wall Farm. Lovely view! Nice duck pond as ...

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

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