Chinley Churn, South Head, Darjeeling

Stuart and I headed out from the house early, flasks a-brimming, socks a-warming, rucksacks a-weighing, to Hayfield, in Derbyshire, nestling picturesquely in the foothills of the Peak District. We left the car and set off for the Summit of Chinley Churn at about 1100 which we reached about an hour and a half later after taking some rather interesting detours trying to achieve this undoubtedly obvious task. Anyway we took in the view and had our first cuppa. Here we are enjoying the fresh air:

So after a refreshing sit down we set off toward Chinley in search of sustenance. As we descended into the village we saw a beardy lady who directed us to a Deli Cafe, but it must be said that at this point alarm bells were ringing as she was sweeping her wall(!?). In answer to our request for suggestions she had waved her arms down the road in the direction of the afore mentioned eatery and proceeded to give directions. It was, however, visible from outside her house. So there opposite the Post Office in Chinley we had happened upon probably the best sandwhich shop outside of Salisbury (see previous post).

As we munched our hot sandwiches we walked past her again and she asked of our opinion of our sandwiches which, we told her in between facefulls, were delicious. And on out of this delightful village full of friendly people we set a course for South Head. As we went we saw that many of the houses were for sale and it tended to sadden me because I felt as though this almost untouched family village full of similar people to the beardy lady was slowly declining into commuters' ville. A shame.

South Head we reached after a fairly long and snaking road out of the valley. The final few hundred meters before the summit was indeed a steep drag. Once there I felt as though I were about to fall off as the summit is only a few square yards and surrounded by steep drops on all sides. Not only that but we were being blown away by a sixty knot wind. After hurriedly taking in the view and a quick sit down we scurried away in search of some shelter.

Quickly we found a spot on the lee side of a wall and drained the flask of its final few drops of water which was, by this point, 6 hours out of the kettle and was at that six hours in a flask being sloshed around temperature and texture. We ate our Mars bars, cunningly purchased in Chinley, and heeded the warning of the dusky sky setting out for Hayfield once more.

We reached there a short time later and after a not altogether unpleasant promenade through a forest edge and by a small river. Hayfield seemed to be a wonderful place to live and with an absolutely awesome looking slide! There were too many people about to really have a bash on it. As we meandered back to the car through the few streets of Hayfield we mused about how lovely it would be to live in the village and go every night to the local pub which serves cream teas it would seem.

And so our expedition drew to a close. In the car home we discussed what we would do to entertain ourselves in the evening and played spot the commuter alone in his 4x4, which Stuart won with 1,204 to my 942 (but I was driving). It was decided that we should take in a film, Stuart suggested "The Darjeeling Limited" which we did eventually see. The film is not bad but it was annoyingly full of obvious metaphors and seemed far too over considered. I was just very aware that I was watching a film and it didn't draw me into the story. Well done Stuart.

I'll leave you with some more pictures of the lovely Derbyshire hills taken on this sunny day (I think I forgot to mention the weather):