Walk The Walk 🌳

A good circular walk from Crich, down into the Derwent Valley and up the other side, then round to the High Peak junction and back to Crich via the war memorial at Crich Stand. Not the longest walk in the world but plenty of uppy and downy for those that like that sort of thing. 😅 Some very muddy / boggy bits (as to be expected) but the views - especially from the top of Leashaw Wood & Crich Stand - made it worthwhile. The other positive thing was that the Komoot app behaved itself. I haven't had lengthy walk in a couple of weeks and the last ones I had were blighted by the app crashing, freezing and generally being crap. But having reinstalled it and disabled the "test new features" function, it's back to working like it should. 😀 Hopefully Komoot won't just foist the new features on everyone because I'm betting that it was those that broke it.

Not the greatest weather for a walk but haven't had chance to get out much recently so...whatever! Didn't go far but it was nice to have some fresh air. Btw, if you're wondering why I was to-ing and fro-ing so much on Annesley Road, it's because I was looking for the pothole that destroyed one of our wheels a few nights ago. 🤬

A nice circular walk from Hoton, round to Wymeswold, then onto Walton on the Wolds and back to Hoton (via Prestwold Hall Estate). Some peaceful villages, pretty churches and muddy paths. Like last time, the Komoot app was total crap today. A repeat of "Multiple crashes; the whole thing freezing; the icon tracking my progress not keeping up with my actual location; pausing itself..." Rubbish. I'll uninstall, reinstall and see if that makes a difference. Whatever they've done to the app has screwed it up for me.

I made the most of a sunny (but chilly) day for a pleasant walk around Kedleston. The walk itself was fine but the Komoot app was a load of crap today. Multiple crashes; the whole thing freezing; the icon tracking my progress not keeping up with my actual location; pausing itself... So, my route looks like I went for a swim. 😨 Another gripe was that the Hall itself was closed. I don't always go into stately homes but this time I thought I would. The National Trust website said it would be open until 3pm but when I got to it (before 2:30pm), it was closed. 🤬 On the way out of the grounds, I stopped to complain at the entrance desk. The response was, "Last admission is 2:15pm". I showed them the website, showing open until 3pm, with no mention of an earlier last admission time. They said, "Oh but on the app it says it." So, she opens up her app and guess what..? Nothing about 2:15pm at all! 😂 So, disappointing. Don't trust their info. Apparently they shut early, without warning whenever they want. 🙄

A quick walk around the reservoir. Parts of the surface were frozen but that didn't seem to bother the ducks, geese or the grebe that kept diving under the ice to avoid being photographed. 😅 The path on the north side of the red was pretty muddy and slippy in places where the ice hadn't melted.

A fine and frosty walk around Hardwick Hall, taking in the ponds / lakes and Lady Spencer's Walk.

A fairly muddy but pleasant winter woodland walk.

A chilly (in the shade) Boxing Day stroll, twice around Rufford Lake.

A pleasant walk around Castle Donington on a crisp (but perfectly clear) winter's day. Lockington & Diseworth are very quant villages - old building & thatched doves galore - and they juxtaposed interestingly with the aeroplanes passing overhead, the airport buildings and the huge storage / distribution depots (e.g. Amazon). I don't know why but I expected the "airport trail" to have decent paths. Sadly the bits of it I used were mostly unpaved and just as muddy (if not more so) as everywhere else. If you're planning a similar route beware of flooding on the path crossing Diseworth Brook (west of Diseworth). I had to walk up the side of the brook to find a place to cross...and then attempt a Mission Impossible style crossing via a fallen down tree that formed a wonky bridge. It could have gone very wrong but I lived to tell the tale without being washed away. 😅