Walks in 2006

2006 was the year we discovered the joys of walking long-distance footpaths in the UK, having done something similar in the French alps a few years previously. We wanted to do something 'different' to celebrate Helen's 18th birthday, Richard's 50th birthday and our silver wedding anniversary; walking the Offa's Dyke Path in a heatwave in July provided an enjoyable and very memorable celebration. Richard and I walked the Herriot Way at Easter to help us to decide which long distance path to follow in the summer and to check that we could cope; the Herriot Way was wonderful and it prepared us for all aspects of the summer walk apart from the weather - at Easter we were walking in the snow!

On returning from the Herriot Way we wanted to keep fit so we started on the Peddars Way/Norfolk Coast Path in a series of one-day stages, returning home to Denver each evening. We started the Peddars' Way on Easter Sunday, 16th April, and completed it on 5th September, our 25th wedding anniversary. We started the Norfolk Coast part of the walk during the summer (on a couple of hot days when we felt it would be cooler at the coast than inland) but we didn't complete it until 2007. Between times we continued to enjoy local walks, including two legs of the Nar Valley Way between Souldham Warren and Setchey.

Celebration was also the theme of several of our long weekends away. To enable us to spend some time with Michael close to his 21st birthday, we spent a pleasant long weekend in the Peak District in September, staying at Bank Top Cottage. The cottage is described as being in the oldest part of Hathersage, as described in 'Jane Eyre' . It was all extremly pretty; the only problem was that the cottage was right next to the church, with chimes every 15 minutes, day and night. We took Michael out for a very enjoyable birthday lunch at the The Walnut Club, followed by a trip to Treak Cliff Cavern. We also enjoyed walks on the Longshaw Estate and around Tideswell.

In November, Richard and I spent a weekend at the Dormy House Hotel (quite an upmarket place) in the Cotswolds, with some lovely meals and enjoyable walks around Broadway, from Stanton to Stanway and Snowshill and around Blockley. The weather was glorious and the Cotswold stone was beautiful, but it was frequently muddy underfoot.

I had been to the Causeway Coast for a conference in May, so decided to book a surprise trip back to the Causeway Hotel for Richard's birthday. It was lovely to be able to spend some time as a family and we were extremely well fed at the Causeway Hotel. We had good weather for the first two days, for trips to the Giant's Causeway itself and Glenariff Forest Park - and back just in time for a visit to the Bushmills Distellery. It was rather foggy on the final day, which made for difficult driving conditions (whose stupid idea was it to go Northern Ireland in December) - and flights from Belfast International to some destinations were cancelled. However the Giant's Causeway was extremely atmospheric in the fog and we got home without difficulty, with a spectacular sunset visible from the plane.

Walks in 2007