Having said yesterday how much I love the city I have been cooped up all day in a windowless room, so I decided to post some pictures of the great outdoors.
Seen here in the first picture is the sunset over Haverigg harbour, more of that later in the week or maybe next week.
The second shot is the view across the dales from Litton, towards Tideswell.
The final picture is of a sculpture on the seashore at Haverigg, it is there to commemorate lives lost, by those who died trying to save people in peril at sea. In Haverigg there is an independent inshore lifeboat and the volunteers who man the service deserve much credit, praise and respect.
At the end of our day walking around the three dales from Litton we arrived back in the village ready to return home. What had been a sleepy village when we arrived in the morning was transformed late in the afternoon with the sounds of folk music, bells and the crack of clogs on the road.
I have to say I have always been a little bit sneery of the old tradition of Morris Dancing, it seems so out of place and I have difficulty believing that it really had much of a place in old English country life. But on this occasion we walked over to the green in front of the Red Lion Inn to watch first the Morris Men and then the ladies of the Poynton Jemmers as they performed these traditional dances and I have to say that it didn't feel out of place at all.. The dances involved some really complex moves and it was amazing to see how well the dancers kept in time with each other and of course with the music.
The bright colours, the bells, the unusual costumes, the waving of handkerchiefs and batons and the jolly folk tunes really conjured up a magical atmosphere in the perfect location. Speaking afterwards to one of the ladies it was clear that preserving the traditions is very important to them and they had just completed a whirlwind tour of the dales villages bringing these dances back to the places they would once have been a familiar sight.
I think that the expressions of the dancers show a mixture of concentration and a lot of joy, especially in the second of today's pictures which I think is my favourite shot of the day.
These three pictures were taken in Cressbrook Dale, well the third one is actually looking across the top of the dale from Litton but the first two are of the unusual rock formation at the northern end of the dale. (which is where I found the crinoid fossils shown in my blog post titled Marine Fossils)
The feature in the second picture is known as Peter's Stone and as well as the rock that my daughter climbed (much to my surprise) it is also thought to be the place of the last public hanging in this country from the gibbet.
I wasn't going to bother posting these shots because to be honest they're not particularly sharp. But I thought the quality comes in the candid nature of the pictures especially the second one where this beautiful fox was having a scratch.
Unfortunately I didn't have my long lens on camera at the time. I took these pictures and then changed lenses but as I was in the process of changing over the fox decided to disappear back over the wall and into the undergrowth.
It was a real treat to see this wonderful creature out and about in the middle of the day and something I am sure I will remember for a long time.
Walking from Litton Dale along the River Wye towards Cressbrook after some rather sharp bends the valley opens out and the river widens to form a couple of lagoons. As you round each bends these peaceful scenes come into view.
Today's shots were taken around the Derbyshire village of Litton.
At the weekend I went across to Derbyshire walking with my daughter. It was a great day and there were some great photo opportunities.
The pictures above are of what I think are fossilised Crinoid Stems in an outcrop of carboniferous limestone which was at the end of Cressbrook Dale near Litton.
