One Sunny Day

Hello Lovelies,

How are you? Thank you for your comments on my latest posts. Today I bring you some sunshine :0)

April may have seemed unremittingly wet at times, but there have been a couple of bright days. These photos were from one such day. A really lovely walk around the Charnwood Forest. I love this area of Leicestershire so much. It's a totally different landscape to most of the East Midlands. It has proper hills and stone walls. 

This walk started with paths I hadn't walked before, around Broombriggs Farm.

We walked and quietly enjoyed the beauty and the fine views...as instructed. I hope you enjoy them too :0)

Ooooh a windmill.

Sadly it's very much shortened these days.

If I take a picture like this you could think it's still lovely and tall. Oh, I've just googled it and if you scroll down HERE you can see that it had a wooden top. That explains why only this bit is left standing.

The next part of our walk was through lovely sunlit woodland.

past grazing cattle

loved this one's wonky horns

To a blue sky view.

and a tasty snack

This is my kind of Coffee stop

This view is familiar but it still makes me smile

then it was back through woodland to the car

On the way back we decided to stop at a heritage railway station we have passed many times. I was thrilled to discover it's free to explore and it looked simply gorgeous on this beautiful day.

 I loved all the period details. So much work has gone into this and it's heartening to see how well supported this must be.

I took quiet a lot of pictures :0)

I do hope you enjoyed them.

Jacquie x

Walkers in the Mist

Hello again Lovelies,
Thank you for all your kind comments on my previous post.
The weather continues to be pretty damp around here. Today a few of my walking group travelled to Derbyshire to admire the views....or maybe not.
Truth be told we couldn't really see much but It honestly didn't bother me. It wasn't actually raining and we were out in the fresh air. How does that saying go?...something like "Better a wet day in the hills than a sunny one in the office"....this is so true for me :0)

 I felt sorry for the lady who had put together this lovely walk because she had had to alter the route due to flooding and excessive mud, and then we got the murkiest day to walk it.  But we still got out in the hills. We still saw lambs and stone walls and signs of spring. We got a good workout climbing the steep hillsides and practised our balance skills fording submerged stepping stones. It was fun.

We started from Belper.

Where the river Derwent falls over an impressive curved weir.

At first the visibility wasn't too bad.

I loved this stone cottage with free range eggs for sale.

Egg producers :0)

more prettiness.

Oh look, little lambs.

More "Sheep in the mist" than "Gorillas in the mist" :0)

Hello.

Here's a fine view...well it might be.

And another.

There was lots of water in the valley and we looked for a safe place to cross this stream.

Some opted for a bit of tree climbing.

But the stepping stones didn't look too bad to me.

Thankfully nobody got wet feet.

Further along we were trying to avoid the boggiest bits.

And we were once again wondering what secrets the mist was hiding.

So lovely to see fresh green buds.

It was certainly atmospheric and I was very glad our leader knew where she was going. I didn't fancy getting lost today.

Ahh, civilisation.

and a handy footbridge bridge.

I loved the colour here.

This was at the top of the last hill. A quick coffee stop to admire the views.

Yup.....

The name of this stone cottage made me smile.

And it actually had an interesting history.

Nearly back...spot the squirrel.

And the mill.

A final look at the swollen river and debris caught on the weir.

How I loved this walk.

One of the group commented that it was better to be outside on such a gloomy day than stuck inside looking out. I couldn't have agreed more.
 As a bonus we all felt we could do this walk again as we were left intrigued as to what we had missed in the mist :0)
Jacquie x