Walks in 2007

I've been attending an increasing number of conferences for work, but before 2007 they were always in the UK ('International' conferences in Loughborough or Birmingham etc.). In 2007 however, my luck changed - in addition to going to Canterbury, Dawlish and Keele I found myself at conferences in Croatia, Dublin and, with Richard, in Australia.

At Easter, Helen was walking from Matlock to Edale with the Cambridge University Rambling Club, so Richard and I went to the Peak District, which gave us the opportunity to see Michael too. We stayed with Janet and Ian Smith at Crown Cottage in Eyam [in 2020 advertised as a self-catering Airbnb with the same owners] and enjoyed several walks from the Jarrold Pathfinder Guide 'Peak District Walks'. These took us around Tissington (walk number 7), on the 'Five Dales Walk' from Tideswell, extended into Monsal Dale (walk numbers 16 and 10) and from Eyam to Foolow, Bretton Clough and Eyam Moor (walk number 25). On the way home I bought some new walking boots and tried them out on a short walk along Curbar Edge.

The Australian conference was held in Sydney at the beginning of July, but we decided to fly to Melbourne a week before the conference, and to drive around the coast, staying in B&Bs. After the conference we drove back around the coast, stopping at different places. We stayed in each place for at least two nights, which gave us time to see something of the local landscape and wildlife and to do a small amount of walking. B&Bs in Australia are a similar price to the UK, but they are much less common and Australians regard it as something of a treat to stay in them - having experienced the luxury and hospitality of a selection of them we can see why. After Bayview House, our first stop out of Melbourne, and from where we spent a couple of days exploring the wonders of Wilsons Promontory National Park, we thought that everywhere else would be a disappointment - we were wrong! We have particularly fond memories of Green Gables at Tilba Tilba and of Goldsmith's in the Forest, which is indeed in the middle of a rainforest, 10 kilometres to the north of Lakes Entrance. It was the winter in Australia of course and although we had some excellent weather and Australia is facing a serious long-term drought, we'll never forget nearly getting stranded at Platypus Ponds, Cabbage Tree Creek, when the road in both directions was flooded.

We travelled to and from Melbourne via Hong Kong and got home just in time to get to Michael's graduation in Sheffield. We stayed again with Janet Smith at Crown Cottage in Eyam (Ian was away) and it was lovely to spend some time with Michael and his girlfriend Heather. On the evening before Michael's graduation we went out for a meal at Thyme Cafe.

After walking the Dales Way, I was off on my conference travels again, this time to Croatia and the wonderful town of Opatija on the Adriatic coast. I spent my 50th birthday here, swimming in the sea before breakfast and with the conference dinner (complete with local dancers and music) in the evening. I had just long enough at home for a second lot of birthday celebrations before heading to Dublin for the final conference of the year. Dublin and the conference were fine, but the Friday evening flight home was cancelled, so I had an unexpected extra night away from home, which I really didn't want (and a horrendous journey home from Stansted, by official rail-replacement bus to Cambridge and unofficial rail-replacement car from Ely, when trains just didn't seem to exist). Little did I know at the time that the saga was only just beginning - getting my out-of-pocket expenses from Ryanair proved quite a challenge, but it is one that I won. Despite this I won't be flying Ryanair again in a hurry.

In November we had a very enjoyable long weekend staying with our friends Kate and Rob in an apartment ('Crib Goch') in Llanberis, to enable us to attend Chris and Duncan's silver wedding celebrations. The Saturday evening meal was originally planned for Llanberis (hence our choice of accommodation) but the restaurant there changed hands, so the meal was moved the Courtyard Restaurant in Beaumaris - we had a super time, made even more memorable by the fact that it coincided with Beaumaris's bonfire night celebrations. Llanberis turned out to be a very good place to be staying - we spent a particularly enjoyable day exploring Padarn Country Park (in a former slate quarry) and walking round Llyn Padarn, and before heading for home Richard and I followed the Miners' Track to Glaslyn, half-way up Snowdon. The descent was pretty wet (we had come out without overtrousers) but we'd got further up the mountain than we thought we'd have time to do.