I did the Great Ridge Walk from Castleton today, the first time I've done it for several years. Just to make sure that I couldn't escape from the real world and the coronavirus the bus driver was wearing a face mask that looked like something out of a science fiction film...and more was to come later.
I headed out through Cave Dale and then across to Mam Tor and along the ridge to Lose Hill, and finished at Hope with a pot of tea and a delicious moist fruit flapjack.
My dad rang me on my mobile when I was on the Great Ridge; he very rarely phones me at all, even on the landline. Naturally I was concerned when I answered - he was worried and a bit flustered and initially just asked me what was going on and then proceeded to tell me about the large crowds at the shops and all the shouting and arguing, pushing and barging as people grabbed things off the shelves. Even though I've been telling him about the coronavirus and the forthcoming lockdown he's not really taking in the gravity of the situation; he just thinks it's a bit of a laugh. I'm due to be meeting him in a pub in town, plus my brother and a friend who's also vulnerable and we'll be having an emergency briefing...it could well be the last time for many months that we'll all see each other. After tomorrow there'll most likely be nothing else I can do for any of them. I'm ready, and have been for five years because I anticipated something like this happening...but I'm not sure about them, any of them.
I bought the final few essential items yesterday that I consider I'll need, including a spare tin opener, some nail clippers, and two packets of vegetable plant seeds.
The toilets at the Old Hall Tea Rooms in Hope are inside the pub, guarded by a suit of armour carrying a halberd.
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