The Peak District

(picture above courtesy of Tim)

After finishing a draft to my thesis (due THIS Thursday!!!) I decided that a day off, fresh air and some excellent good company were just what the doctor ordered. So with a full pack of food (flapjacks, fruit, sandwiches... the works!) I caught my train to Hope Valley. It is so easy to catch the train from Leeds to the Peak District and I was in the mountains in less than an hour and a half. I only wish I would have realized this fact earlier in my stay, I would have happily made many more ventures to the Valley of Hope. :) Tim and I rendezvoused in Bamford and took a bus up to a reservoir and had a nice walk around.

I spotted this really dashing fellow overlooking the Dam.He was kind enough to take his picture with me ;-)
You can't really tell from the photo, but the rainfall combined with the spray from the dam really tested out our waterproof jackets! Verdict? They work. Excellent.

While we were walking around the reservoir, I fully experienced why they are called rain showers... for a portion of our walk every 10 minutes the waterproof went on...the waterproof came off...waterproof on...waterproof off. It was quite amusing. Overall we had spectacular weather... a few gusts of wind and rain showers and a whole lot of sunshine :)

After walking around the reservoir we headed to Castleton and had a cup of tea rested our feet. We wandered around the town a bit before eating some dinner. From Castleton we walked through these idyllic fields with grazing sheep on our way to Hope, where we caught our respective trains home. A very relaxing and rejuvenating day.