It's been Bakewell Christmas Market this weekend and so I needed to make sure I stayed well away from the crowds when I decided where to go walking today.
I was the only person who got off the bus at Cutthroat Bridge. I was rather disappointed that there was no snow on the ground; yesterday I'd been watching the live webcam streams from various locations in the Peak District and there was plenty to be seen then. I walked alongside the road for a short distance until I reached the path up on the Bamford Moor and it wasn't long until I got my first glimpse of some of the snow left from yesterday; you can just about see it on the summit of Win Hill in this photo.
It's easier to make out much more snow on Kinder Scout and Great Ridge in this shot taken a few minutes later.
As I climbed higher I soon got my first view of Ladybower Reservoir.
It started sleeting at this point, only light and lasting only a couple of minutes; a trend that continued for most of the walk until I was approaching Hathersage when it changed into light drizzle.
Higher, and further on still, and Ashopton Viaduct came into view.
I waited here for a while, hoping to catch the sun lighting up the viaduct for the opportunity to take the perfect shot...but it never happened. It was windy and quite an exposed location and I started to feel uncomfortably cold and so moved on.
On the way down to the road a park ranger called me over and said he was concerned about a quite frail old man who he had recently passed; he asked if I could look out for him and try to persuade him not to go any further. I met the gentleman a few minutes later and suggested to him that he might like to continue for about half a mile further to enjoy the view looking down at the reservoir and the snow on the distant hills but then he ought to return to his car because the weather wasn't looking very promising and further on, beyond the viewpoint, where I'd already walked it was quite difficult in places, steep, muddy, boggy and possibly quite dangerous. He seemed quite amenable to this idea, but I don't know what he did in the end though.
I'd been taking my gloves off a lot in order to use the camera and by the time I'd reached the road I couldn't get my fingers inside of them; the lining had worked loose and had swollen into a soggy, gooey, sticky foam blob so I used the barbed wire fence to rip open the lining and pull it apart...job done!
It was a few hundred yards until the next path, heading down towards Hathersage, then a walk across the fields using a concessionary footpath - there are some nice views along here.
I finished the walk by walking down Coggers Lane into Hathersage; it was quite misty by now and so the only things I could find to photograph were some roadside signs.
As I reached the centre of the village the sun briefly popped out and I looked over my shoulder to the west. A thought immediately sprung to mind, ' Looks like it's getting a bit brighter.' A few seconds later a middle-aged couple appeared from around a corner and the woman said to the man, "Looks like it's getting a bit brighter."
It's happened again: sometimes I really scare myself when I think about things that happen...I'd scare other people a lot more though if I actually told them.
The matrix isn't broken - it's just an illusion.
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