>Derwent Reservoir

>I tried to upload these pictures yesterday but Blogger and Photobucket were having none of it. I use Photobucket for these pictures because they take up too much room on the server space we’re allocated at Blogger.

And so yesterday I drove to Derwent Reservoir in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside. It’s only 25 miles from where I live and there are lots of different walks of different lengths and for different abilities. This was an easy, 1.25 mile walk that took me just over 1 hour – and that’s with dawdling and taking pictures and just enjoying the view (when I go with the Ramblers it’s head down full throttle forward). I walked just over 3,900 steps and burned off 117 calories – feel like that should be more.

The new shoes were brilliant. They did rub, but not to the extent that I had to stop and I didn’t have to dress the feet until I got back to the car. The weather was kind; it rained all the way there, held off for my walk, then came down with a vengeance when I was back in the car eating my picnic.

Here then is the top of the (actually quite steep) beginning to the walk:

And to prove I was there – and to show off that I finally found the self timer on my wonderful Panasonic camera – here I am modeling Goldigger combats, Lonsdale T, and USA-Pro jacket. I managed to cut my lovely new shoes off:

Foxglove:

There are 2 benches on the hillside overlooking the Derwent reservoir. Here is what one had carved into it:

And this is the view:

The dam, close up:

The memorial stone to Tip the sheepdog:

I was really disappointed that I couldn’t get closer to the commemoration stone to the 617 “dambusters” squadron. This is behind a locked gate at the entrance to the dam, but it is opened on occasions when there is also a small museum exhibition on display:

This is the bridge we have to cross in order to get close to the dam wall – and we can get very close:

Such a pity it wasn’t in operation, as the sight and sound must be phenomenal:

This is a nature trail off the walk I’d opted for, but I just had to get a closer look at those statues:

And here I am again to give you some perspective – hey, you can see my shoes in this one:

I had a lovely walk in the fresh air, my feet aren’t at all sore today, and when I bragged about it on my Facebook, I discovered 2 friends that want to come with me next time, which is great. So this Sunday, we’re doing a canal walk in the Vale of York. I’m keeping the walks short and easy at the moment while I break in the shoes.

When I got back to the car I drafted up my “walk” article while it was still so fresh in my mind. I’ll probably gather a few together and maybe send half a dozen off at once, on spec.

This morning I spent over an hour shredding. This is why even mundane tasks need to be scheduled in. My next chore is going through a pile of clutter and making a new shredding pile. Then I have some correspondence to deal with and some publicity material to sort out.

Enjoy the pictures.