Gelly Babes: Darley Dale Delights

A nip in the air and a nip elsewhere!

12th April 2019

Meeting up 'fashionably late' was the order of the day for some of us. Whilst Lynn, Maggie and Alison adhered to the schedule, Helen J and Pam arrived just in time for Lynn to order her second coffee at the Terrace Café in the Whitworth Centre. It was a little nippy for sitting outside but maybe a little bit breezy inside, unless Maggie was practising flicking her hair to show off her latest shampoo.

Looking lush, Maggie. xx

Talk of the table was definitely about pets! And whilst we were all excited about meeting the latest GB puppy; family cats, budgies and guinea pigs et al, triggered a few cherished stories and a lot of laughter, but obviously we didn't laugh about the pet pigeon which got its head jammed in the door, or the budgie which crashed into window, or a different budgie which fell off its perch. Note: only two out of these three survived!

Whilst in the Whitworth Centre we chatted about how the building and park had been gifted to the good folk of Darley Dale to be enjoyed by many for years to come. Such wonderful generosity: an indoor swimming pool, hall, library, billiards room, £10 annual payment to the local school (probably bought a whole teacher back-in -the-day!) ......and so much more

renamed Babe Whitworth, another historical woman sharing our values

It was soon time for Alison's much planned walk to take place but such are the vagaries of planning ahead, a little GB adjustment was made. Pam would go off with Lynn for a puppy cuddle, whilst the rest of us set off with a view to meeting Pam coming towards us from Caudwell Mill at some point...... hmmm.

A nearby care home resident chooses careful method of escape ....

A nip in the air; the sun has fallen out of the sky.

Maggie, Alison and Helen set off to find the route beside the railway track.

Signalling that the route starts somewhere over here

Not the most glamorous of walks but definitely a bit historical. Here are some of the prettier views.....

Our talk turned to matters of the environment and how to save the planet. Keeping our hair clean (bottle, soap bar or not all) provided quite a lot of anguish, as did learning that brown paper packaging can be more harmful than plastic! Oh dear, back to the 'small print'....

So, we did what we could for the immediate future and rescued a tired looking bee

from the path of the next cyclist ....

some graphics of the bee's route post-rest!

Conscious of the time, we cracked on at a good pace, wondering when we would meet Pam.

A tempting path, but we need to meet Pam.

Surely Pam will be round the corner?

And before we knew it, we were right by the bridges near Caudwell Mill

Mr and Mrs Mandarin Duck

Carefree and single grey heron

Still no sign of Pam. Time to check What's App...

1231 Pam: Hi. Where are you now? What's the ETA Caudwell Mill?

1233 Us: We are here by your car. Heading towards café... birding

1235 Pam: Ok.. meet you in the café I am on the path by the river, must have missed you...

Us.... Pam was tempted by the tempting path. Aww, she's such a free spirit ....

So, we order our lunch and wait. And arriving 'fashionably late', first Pam and then Helen M. A lovely lunch overlooking the meadows where we spied our first swallow of the summer and then a few more, and then a few more.... summer must be a-comin' in. As Friday 12th April may have been a significant day in the calendar, we briefly worried about life outside the EU, naughty driving habits, the state of our health and our veggie patches (not a euphemism!) before turning towards more important gossipy matters involving a forthcoming baby and a wedding.

It was soon time for Pam to leave us again and we wished her well with her next adventure in Ilkeston. Whilst continuing our walk was our intention, a lift with Helen M to meet the puppy was a bit more tempting and, without breaking any speed limits, we arrived at Lynn's new house.