Witnessing my distress, which was difficult to hide when clinging to a pipe in the middle of the roof, Debbie rang for a roofer to come out and take a look. He came out the same day and we were quoted happy for an all new rubber roof which should last for about 50 years.
On Sunday, with the leaky roof in hand, we went out for the day to Matlock. After a tasty lunch in a local pub and a walk round the beautiful park there we set of for the aquarium at Matlock Bath, the main reason we had gone down there. When we got there we found the place overrun with bikers and there wasn’t a parking space to be had, the aquarium was on the main road and looked rather like one of those sea life centres we’ve been disappointed with in the past so we decided to give it a miss.
Debbie had a flick through all the leaflets we had picked up from the tourist information place and suggested going to the Chestnut Centre. The map on the back of the leaflet didn’t look anything like the one in the road atlas but we got to where it should have been without too much trouble. The problem was that on their map, it says it’s on the A625 which is near Hathersage when on closer inspection, it’s actually on a minor road about 10 miles from there!
So we abandoned that idea too and set off to Castleton. We decided to visit one of the caverns that we had not seen before, Blue John Cavern. It was amazing inside, narrow gaps to get through and some huge caverns with Blue John round every corner. The only disappointment was that Debbie’s camera was struggling with the lack of light but she still managed to get some great shots which just needed a little tweaking in Picasa.
Click here for more pictures.
On the way home, I decided that we should bypass the traffic in Sheffield and cut through some beautiful countryside. It took a bit longer than I thought and I did have to turn round a couple of times but the fact that I didn’t have the faintest idea where I was going didn’t stop us from emerging at the place I’d planned for, albeit an hour later than I’d thought!
We’ll do the Chestnut Centre another day and we’ll read the camera manual before going to any more dark places!
Paul
7 comments:
Very nice to read about you touring my old stomping grounds.
My daughter, who lives in Sheffield, once took me to 'the Devil's Arse' which is in that neck of the woods.
Nice photos. I have done research on the Blue John stone because of previous posts in which you talked about it. I make jewelry as a hobby and was curious how hard it might be to get it here in the heartland of USA.
Jenny, I think the Devils Arse is the last one we need to go and see, probably next time we get lost!
Vickie, there's plenty of Blue John available in the gift shops over here, however,I know they have to treat it with resin to make jewelry as it's such a brittle stone. You could enquire at http://www.bluejohn-cavern.co.uk/welcome.htm
Thanks for the info. I really enjoy your blog and have been reading for about a year now. Ran across it doing research for a collectible called "Snowbabies" last summer and am so glad. Your posts of life there are interesting in comparison to what is going on over here. We all seem to be a bit "mad" here considering current events. But I love to read your posts on your daily events. Everything fromt alking about your weather, gardening, projects you work on, your journeys, your pets, etc., is so interesting. I really enjoy it.
Hi..thank you so much for the comment you left on my photo blog, really glad you enjoyed my pictures, it's one of my hobbies that i don't get much time for so most of what you see will be taken from home as and when i spot something worth taking...i'd love to be able to get out and about more with my camera...maybe one day.
Oh i haven't been to the Blue John mines since i was a kid, brought back some memories i can tell ya...lol
Don't be falling off rooves, remember that's how Emu's mate copped it!
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