I got off the bus at Baslow only seventy five minutes after having stepped on the train at Doncaster Station. Although it was bright and sunny as the bus passed over the higher parts of the moors it was still misty down at Baslow and Chatsworth Park. I was hoping that it would soon brighten up though...and it did.
I started with a bit of deer stalking. This was the best shot I got; my camera was struggling to focus in the misty conditions.
I then headed straight for Stand Wood and the Hunting Tower. At this altitude the mist was already lifting and I could see the rays of sun catching the upper storeys of the building; I didn't take any photos because the family that had rented it as a holiday cottage seemed to be just getting up. I just sat on one of the benches, which both face away from any windows.
I ate one of my sandwiches and then after a few minutes made my move, down the steep, slippery steps which lead down to the car park at the back of the stable block.
The estate workers were re-laying the paving in several areas and had positioned a temporary all-weather path as a diversion across the grass, meaning that I could get some photographs of the frontage of the stable block from a different angle; none of them was very good though.
I still had a few minutes to wait until the garden opened at eleven o'clock and so I wandered down towards the river and got some nice shots of some wonderful-looking trees, and Queen Mary's Bower.
I spent an hour and a half in the garden at Chatsworth and took a lot of photographs.
I walked over to Edensor, but by this time it was clouding over a bit; so I'm only able to include a couple of photographs.
Although I could have caught the bus at Edensor Gates I walked back to the bus stop at Chatsworth House and waited for the 1:40 bus. I wanted to get back to Doncaster before the evening rush hour and with enough time to be able to get in a bit of shopping, especially something nice for my tea. I was feeling a bit lethargic today and so something tasty and nourishing inside me should make me feel a lot better. Maybe it's something to do with my diabetes or vitamin D deficiency - my bet however is that it's the after-effects of putting the clocks back at the weekend. This happens to me every year, twice every year actually, when I feel a bit unwell for about a fortnight when the clocks are put forward or back each spring and autumn...surely I can't be the only person who suffers with this?
When I got back to Doncaster I was nearly knocked over by a security guard as he was in the process of rugby-tackling a female shoplifter.
