New place, new space . . .

Long time no blog . . .

Well it's been a while and in that while a lots happened.

We've moved, leaving behind the lovely countryside and mountain landscape of Cumbria to move to the Peak District, an area that we don't know so well.

The move has mainly been in the search for work that was sadly lacking in Cumbria.

But its not just our location that has changed, but our martial status changed just a few weeks ago after we eventually tied the knot in a wedding that should have been last year, were it not for the car accident. What a day, I would highly recommend it if you haven't tried it before . . .

The Peak, so far, has been superb. A perfect combination for us of rolling countryside and access to plenty of outdoor pursuits, but with the urban access to Sheffield and Manchester not all that far away. Access for us to all of this countryside seems all that easier, but it can only be on a psychological level, as we could walk out of door onto the fells in the Lakes, but either way it has helped me to get a lot fitter than I have been for several years.

But for others the Peak is a lot easier to access physically than the Lakes, with Sheffield on it's doorstep where we are. With this easier access you get a different variety of weekend user than we were used to seeing, equally in much larger numbers.

You start to miss the solitude the Lakes provided, where you could be on the summit of Great Gable, with no one except your own party for company to watch the mist slowly gathering around the back of Lingmell Col.

To alleviate our pining for bigger adventures we both went for an explore of the Kinder Scout area the other week, going up along the Pennine Way, Jacob's Ladder and on to the downfall where the wind on this particular day was blowing the waterfall back up the mountain with quite impress effect, and then back across the top and down Crowden Brook. A curious landscape with the gritstone forming many fantastic shapes among the black peat, like some 60's Martian film set.

But here we missed the additional push required to reach the summits that we were used to from the Lakes and while the view across to Lancashire was impressive it didn't have that somehow untethered beauty of the Lakes.

All this aside, we think we may have found our new home here and we are falling for the area quickly, with access to some of the urban facilities, that even we missed after a decade in London, on our doorstep in Sheffield. Yet, peace and quiet at night and a blanket of stars over head when it's clear. Oh, and not to forget some very friendly folk who have made us feel nothing but welcome.

Right, I promise, not so long till the next post . . .