Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Woofy wintry wharf walks

20th March 2017
 
Cromford


 
Today marked the celebration of International day of Happiness and what better way to spend it than with other babes.  With attempts to wave winter away thwarted, the babes had to settle for some mini-wet-walks sandwiched between sustenance and rather a lot of newsworthy news.
 
Walk number one, to satisfy the wee one, took place exactly on time starting at Cromford Wharf.  With Betty sporting a rather fancy fleece lined jacket, Maggie and the Helens set off in clothing to match the mood of the day.  Maggie, fresh from Crufts, had waggy tales of her own to tell and we all agreed that Betty would probably end up being a YouTube star for all the wrong reasons!  Sadly no photos as it was just too darned wet!
 
Our first coffee of the day at the Wharf café  saw us sighing with Alison, sporting a light ski tan, at the endless holiday possibilities to which Bubbles is invited. But, please take note of Alison’s advice: make sure you don't take out Bubbles' passport in error,
 
or you could be done for identity fraud ...
 
How many stamps will Bubbles achieve on her eastern tour with Jo?
 
However, Helen J not to be outdone just yet, and whilst already booked up for this year, somehow came away from a chance meeting in the café and ended up with a trip to Italy in the offing.  The cheek of it and she conveniently forgot to mention that she would only go if the babes came with her.

With the weather not brightening up at all, we ventured out on walk number two and marvelled at how lovely the views were even in the rain.  With a little bit of flower spotting, dog’s violet being Betty’s favourite,  we managed to get to the High Peak Junction  before a quick turn around, as lunch was beckoning.

 
Somehow Lynn managed to book a table at Parkery’s Eatery (what a mouthful),  timing it perfectly so that we missed out ..
 
on a right royal do...
 
 
But, whilst waiting for our lunch, Maggie brazenly announced a good way to get Senior Citizen discounts…’ just pretend to be older’…
 
Which clearly wouldn’t work on the Helens….
 
Note: Picture enlarged using the mobile phone magnifier,
for those who haven't got their glasses on! 
 
 
And, with impeccable timing,  Pam arrived.
 
 
Not at all excited about her Very Recent news!
 
 We mostly listened to Pam outlining  how she and others have managed to pull off this great feat and quietly wondered whether we would see Pam more or less from September and decided it would be ‘more-or-less’ the same.
 
Halo, halo, halo...six glam babes in the café..
 
After a fantastic leek soup with garlicky croutons, plans are definitely in the pipeline for another meet up here, with some tempted by the toppling tower of afternoon tea, but this isn’t every babe’s cuppa tea. Even the thought of it made us attempt another jaunt to ‘walk off those futuristic calories’ but not before frisking Lynn who had looked rather lovingly at the cutlery far too many times.
 
So walk number three started again back at the Wharf with only a slight delay whilst waiting
 
for Lynn to stop chatting to everyone she knows in Cromford.
 
It’s silhouette competition time!
 
‘If you are going to march properly, Pam,
take your hands out of your pocket!’
 
 
But, this time, even though the rain had virtually stopped, it was just one bridge too far and time preyed on those who needed to leave. So, with a quick ‘about turn’ we retreated back to… guess where?  And anyway, even Betty was experiencing a bit of deja-vu-vu-vu…
 
So with cheerios to Lynn and Helen M, a very creative decision was made: we walked in the other direction! 
 
Should have walked this way earlier…
the sun was out all the time!
 
It was at this precise point, that Pam revealed her latest venture.  Combining her teaching skills, film knowledge and community mindedness, Pam ‘s home is now her new business centre.  With offers of excellent value-for-money lessons, constant coffee and a very warm home, there is a bit of a concern about her strategic planning but as long as someone doesn’t trip on the stair carpet she’ll be fine.. or fined! For some reason, Pam rejected suggestions of what to call her new enterprise:  Aiming  High at Alton View (bit too like a mission statement), Pam’s Galactics (HJ’s reference at SLT calendar meetings… true), ‘Pam’ll push you real good’ (oh, really!!)
 
Ending up at the Arkwright Mill, we played ‘spot the’ and ‘try to remember the’ ex-pupils and then the conversation took a bit of a nose dive as we talked about rumours of dodgy activities by various teachers (none, at Gell we hasten to add!!)  But the view out of the window was good, even if the coffee was not up to standard (Never ‘eard of a cortado before, Miss, would you like a filter instead?).
 With daylight dwindling, we set off home, knowing that we had made the best of the last day of winter and looked forward to a proper Spring morning.
 
Birds for the day:
 
canada geese
coot
great tit
grey wagtail*
jackdaw*
magpie
mallard
moorhen
pied wagtail
robin
song thrush (heard)
treecreeper*
tufted duck
wood pigeon
 A very good 14 for the day with 3* new for the year.  Running total of 91…
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

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