Monday May 23rd, and Ellie was officially on ‘study leave’. She had enjoyed the ‘leaver assembly’ at the school at the back end of the previous week, but had been caught in the cross fire of some high jinks  on the school bus on the way home, and a water bottle had left a nasty swelling on her forehead. In the evening Tricia took the Brownies swimming…. Tricia isn’t a big fan of swimming, so I hope the Brownies appreciated it.

On Tuesday Sally was in to help Tricia, she had a lot of work to do for Elliott. I was working from home as I had to pop out to the school to do an interview. Tricia was out on Wednesday evening for a pub quiz, and then on Thursday evening an ECC meeting.

Friday morning I was back in the school to do a school assembly… my subject was ‘marginal gains’, the idea of lots of small improvements adding up to significant gains. Then at around 3:30 pm Tricia and I were in the car and on our way to the Peak District. Sadly, as it was a bank holiday weekend, so was everyone else, and so it took over 3 hours to get to our b&b.

We enjoyed an evening meal at the Monsal Head, in a very quiet restaurant. Saturday we went into Castleton, parked up, and then Tricia led the way up and down hill for miles and miles :-). We walked around 10 miles, enjoyed some spectacular views, including seeing some paragliders (aka nutters). Arriving back in Castleton we enjoyed tea / coffee. Sunday we eventually managed to park in Edale, although I contravened a parking bay, and got a £25 fine :-(. We set off again, up onto Kinderscout, got lost a few times, gained a fellow walker, who was of some help, came down by Kinderfall, and eventually around to Jacobs Ladder. Again we did about 10 miles, although it felt a lot further, and harder work. The views though were spectacular. We enjoyed a meal at the Ramblers Rest before heading back. Monday, we packed, and headed for Ilam. Lovely village… and I loved the Ilam cross… very reminiscent of Eleanor crosses. We headed out towards Dovedale. I had put on my trainers thinking the walk would not be quite as rugged as the previous days…. mistake. I ended up with a sore ankle. We finished with a tea / coffee at Ilam Hall. It was then back in the car for the journey home. A good practice weekend ready for the Pennine Way.