I've just had a lovely couple of day walking with Sunnydale on her home patch, the Derbyshire Peaks. High moorland, steep rocky paths and deep "Cloughs".

Or rather should I say, "am still having", cos I haven't gone home yet.

(Please note that to Sunnydale and some other walkers in the UK I am not known as the Ugly Fat Bastard, but instead called, "The Yeti").

Anyway, Sunnydale is very kind and brought a laptop out for me to rest on the stone gateway so I could keep in touch.

When I saw this gateway towards the end of a great six hour walk, I said, "and where are the stone steps over it?"



"Stone steps Yeti?. No. You've got to slide through between those two stone pillar things".

Gulp.




"Sunny...... What do I do now?".

"Lose some weight Yeti! ".



Sunny tells me that the food she is bringing me, (three small lettuce leafs a day) will soon make me a smaller Yeti. Then I can go home.

But I still like the UK Peaks. And the walk that took us through Bretton Clough was superb.

Photos by Sunnydale.



PPS. I didn't really know where to stick this, (as the Bishop said to the Actress), but decided against making it a humorous Custom Object to avoid infecting the core of SP with something trivial like this. In the end I thought it could come here as it is walking related and will soon slide down the page and disappear into the ether far faster than my beer gut will! And it does include Slander as my parents were both married, (but not to each other!......








yes they were really).

But you did get through?

Bryan, I think this is an ethics issue The slander and spray comes later

Your other option would be to carry some vegetable shortening . Then slather your legs with it and uh, well...

...Umm..I think this belongs in "Training & Fitness."

You look pretty American with all that extra load.

SpiderSavage wrote:...Umm..I think this belongs in "Training & Fitness."

You look pretty American with all that extra load.

Not wishing to undermine my status as SP's Ugly FAT Bastard, but I should add that my coat inside pockets were jammed full as normal with car keys, loose change, mobile phone and other bits and pieces which does rather accentuate the "swelling" in that area!

And re John's, "did I get through". Bloody cold out here today John, and Sunnydale tells me the batteries in her laptop are running down so I've got to log off now.

Another sad story. My thoughts go out to the Yeti, his family and friends. Hopefully rescuers will get to hime soon but I'm sure this will spark another heated debate about whether or not he was prepared, if he should have attempted this and who should cover the associated rescue costs. If we've learned anything here on SP please don't judge him based on speculation. Let's wait for the fats, I mean facts.

Man, I'm just a lurker usually but I want to see more of this. I'm rooting for you to pull through, Bryan, so to speak! And more pics please.

I wonder why I keep thinking of this story?

Bryan Benn wrote:...When I saw this gateway towards the end of a great six hour walk, I said, "and where are the stone steps over it?"

I love that stone fence, and all the moss.



And especially the fact that after the fence is ....wilderness, apparently! No roads, no houses, just a field, and trees, and.... off you go.

moonspots wrote:

Bryan Benn wrote:...When I saw this gateway towards the end of a great six hour walk, I said, "and where are the stone steps over it?"

I love that stone fence, and all the moss.



And especially the fact that after the fence is ....wilderness, apparently! No roads, no houses, just a field, and trees, and.... off you go.

Yes, it was actually like that! We'd started the walk near a small Peak District town called Hathersage and after passing a few farms we walked up onto Offerton Moor. That's where the desolation started. Well, desolate for England. It's a grouse moor and for a while the only noise was the grouse shouting at us to go away, (they are very territorial birds).

But it was heather moor and in all directions. We descended from that through the hamlet of Abney. Really one farm and two houses! Then into Bretton Clough, steeply sided twisty and wood lined valley where the track we took went from bottom to top several times.

We stopped for a brief lunch break in the 2 hours we took to get through the Clough and it was only as we left it, we could see a road with cars running on it in the distance. And I pointed out to Sunnydale that was the first traffic we had seen for several hours!

It was walking towards that road, (where I had parked), that I got stuck!

Sunnydale is a real expert on the area and does take a great pride and puts a lot of effort into planning the best possible walks there. She will rarely take a walking companion on a walk she has not herself tested out first to make sure it makes a good day out.

The Peaks also have some scrambles if you know where to look, and there is a lot of climbing on the rocky and vertical Edges that abound in the area. No wonder it has been a UK National Park for so long! Something for almost everyone who likes the outdoors.

Great stuff Bryan!

Even I have to laugh. The second best ever on SP.

(My old teacher told me never to use “The best” since no one would believe it.)

Great report! And I should add, a fantasitic stone wall and gate. Mybe you should take a trip down to Peru though; this doorway looks more your size :