Many of the places we’ve visited since living on the boat have been new to us, but being moored on the Peak Forest Canal allowed us to revisit somewhere we’ve been to many times when we were caravanners and even before that.

Many years ago, we were staying in a well known B&B in Castleton called the Ramblers Rest and we decided to climb Kinder Scout.

One minute we were following a long line of brightly coloured cagoules ascending the climb, when suddenly the weather ‘came in’ and there was literally no one around us. The rain was coming down so hard and the wind blowing so strongly that the Kinder Downfall waterfall was blowing upwards. The whole area was just a bog and we couldn’t see a thing.

We decided to head down to get our bearings and a Peak Forest Ranger in a Land Rover stopped to ask us where we were staying as we clearly looked lost! He was kind enough to take us back to Castleton where we tried to figure out why we’d got so lost.

Since then, we’ve been back to the Peak District many times and done lots of different walks in different areas. We’ve always loved walking hills and mountains and it felt so nostalgic to be back in Derbyshire after a few years away.

At one point, I said to Rob, ‘I feel really emotional being back here’. To which he replied with his usual empathy, ‘I’d save your energy for the climb if I were you’ 🙄

We caught the train from Strines to Edale and decided to walk up Mam Tor and around the surrounding area.

Unfortunately, when we came down from Mam Tor to continue our walk, Rob informed me we were going the wrong way and needed to go back up!

A couple who’d passed us going up as we were coming down said ‘you’re never going back up again’….words sometimes fail me 😉

All in all, we had a great day, a lovely walk and we’re hoping the CRT keep this canal open beyond July 31st so we can give our boots a few more ‘airings’ 😊