Weymouth calling...

Autumn is now truly upon us and I'm aware that daily walks take a bit of organising in that the weather App needs consulting prior to departure

When the heavens open here it comes with little warning being surrounded by hills

A nice route from the RV is that through Riber with beautiful views over valleys of Matlock and Matlock Bath

Black clouds loom ominously

A lovely afternoon spent with Mandy & Simon near Loxley, her home village near Sheffield

A great pub lunch locally followed by a trip to Bradfield Brewery and a wander around Low Bradfield and of course the local Tea Rooms...

That time of year again and Nina serves up a Birthday Breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled egg with chives on a Derbyshire oatcake..Yum Yum!

Mick the farmer presents me with a very nice whisky that he'd kept locked away for years but never opened. Well now's the time mate!

A few days later Tasca is fired in to life and driven a full 250 miles down to Weymouth of all places for an MOT and full chassis lube/inspection

Having sounded out the guys at ABM Automotive a while ago we elected to have the MOT done there and build a relationship with them for future maintenance of the RV

Their customer care, knowledge and honesty was welcomed hugely and we were very pleased when the RV sailed through the test with no issues on the 'mechanical horizon'

The day of the test saw us catching the local bus in to Weymouth and having a touristy look around

The sun shone and we sat outside a quayside pub enjoying some rare warmth and dreamed of the day we could continue our travels

Next day we enjoyed our extra time on the site by walking down to the lagoon situated behind Chesil Beach and just did something we always took for granted....followed a footpath over uneven terrain

This was the first time Nina had left flat ground and she coped admirably on her crutches. She aint gonna jump stiles any time soon but the feeling of progress was immense!

A fitting end to a few days stolen in Weymouth

The SP on the RV was summed up nicely by Adi the owner of the garage...

"It screams of being stood for years and not used"

Mechanically sound and in need of being used for the purpose intended, seeing our part of the world

Reassuring to hear from an independent source that the RV was sound after many years of being stood idle in France

So we return to Derbyshire in good spirits and hunker down now for the winter ahead with an eye on returning to our former nomadic lifestyle next Spring

Colours change....days shorten

 Late summer and some superbly warm days are spent out on the trails building those muscles, mopping that brow and cussing those muppet cyclists that as ever think its fun to buzz walkers from behind without warning. Inevitably 'Weekend Warriors' keen to load up their Argos bikes, bully their usually inactive kids to engage then head off in their masses to our locality

Numerous tales of contra temps to be had of us but why bother explaining multi use trail etiquette to them eh? Can't change em, mostly plain ignorant and as Blackie put it eloquently "Like putting wheels on a tomato Baldrick....Time consuming and utterly pointless"

We resign ourselves to only using these oh so fit for purpose walking trails to midweek use

The Monsal Head Trail

Sat with the sun on our faces here it wasn't hard closing our eyes and recalling the views over the Med

How symbolic is this?

Definitely says it all

The 'Nobbies' arrive and stay six days with us at Dethick

The weather was kind to us and we got out a bit mixing short picnic walks and a few interesting refreshment stops along the way

The Sycamore Inn at Parwich not too far from the High Peak Trail

As ever always good to catch up and bounce ideas off each other and we wish them well on their travels overseas. How we miss not going Guys...

A day pass is granted for me to go biking so I meet up with Malc & Bobby at their place and set off for a cafe stop at Market Rasen

Having realised that the ride could be extended a little they go along with the idea that Cleethorpes of all places would be a good additional destination

Our just rewards for what turned out to be a cracking ride albeit a full day out

Would this be the last proper ride of the summer?

Nina advertising Costa Coffee on a very warm day in Swaffham

(Taken from my Instagram account #petehudson0810)

A recent bereavement in the family sees us representing my late Mum and my poorly sister at my Auntie's funeral in Cromer. We seize the opportunity to have a couple of nights away and stay at the Black Swan Inn which albeit in sad circumstances was a real tonic for us both

Shortly afterwards Pat & Jane invite us over for a regular get together and take the chance at visiting a local hostelry for some proper 'pub grub'

The Staunton Arms at Staunton in the Vale is prebooked by ever efficient Pat and we enjoy a Covid Safe meal involving the best cuts of half a cow washed down with real ale

Girlies clearly enjoying the calm atmos....

The following week they bring 'Cis' their twin axle MH to Dethick for the first time to see what all the fuss is about and we spend a very pleasant three nights in their company

My return salvo in the 'Steak Wars' was to book us in to one of our locals namely The Boat Inn at Cromford which proved a hit involving a trio of stimulants

1. Providing the entertainment by way of having to return 10 miles up the road to the last pub to retrieve my man bag after dropping the crew off at the Boat
2. Battling on after entering the pub with two of the Dalton brothers sat chirping away at my stupidity and general heckling
3. The arrival of some seriously tasty steak (Tomahawks) which although not as tender as the week before put up a good show and covered the porcelain....

All good fun and cracking banter with the bonus of some free beer courtesy of Mick 

Grey hair abounds...I remember when we both had flowing youthful bonnets

An evening was spent with Pat and Jane trying desperately to learn Canasta their weapon of choice in card games. Every now and then a crucial game rule was tossed our way and we soaked it up only to find at the end our heads were fried and on some occasions I'd gone totally blank!

Really interesting though and apparently we were above average for newbies on the first attempt

No doubt it will be a feature of future get togethers so I'm thinking of investing in a croupier's peak!

"The Green Light"

Blessed with decent weather we settle in to life back on the farm 

Some are more settled than others and its easy to wander to the local of an afternoon!

After a very favourable consultation at the hospital Nina is told to get out there and do her stuff ("the green light")

Thats two crutches, a windy trail, one brave girl and a hell of a lot of grit and determination to try to grab back her former life

Very painful and of course slow progress but she's out there doing it. Some days far too much tbh leaving her in a wrecked state but all good for the muscles and bone growth

I take tea down to the brothers one day and get involved in dry stone wall repairs for a couple of hours

Back in to my late evening walking regime sadly still alone but listening to podcasts and planning future bike related tours keeps the spirits up

Part way through an evening's fun at Baz's van

The bike is loaded up and taken out in the Peaks to further improve my skills. No problems stopping for coffee and chatting with fellow bikers but really missing Nina on the back

She's been a real star sending me out on the bike and any opportunity is readily taken up

Her idea at this stage is to concentrate on building up her leg strength, follow the physiotherapy programme which includes visits to QMC and hopefully walk with the use of a stick

This is some way off but she's getting there. Any attempt at mounting the bike will be done when she can confidently stand on the busted leg and apply full weight. There's a set way of getting on and this needs to be done confidently come the day. The main issue we have is her muscles having suffered impact trauma and of course being unused for such a long time are weak. Her intensive physio will hopefully improve the situation

We drop in to a routine of going out most days armed with a flask and sandwiches and drive up to the High Peak Trail

Some beautiful scenery along the route of the old railway

A 'Walkers' lunch

Several car parks along the many miles of trails means we can visit different parts to break up the days

Not all hard graft....many evenings are spent relaxing on the sunny bench overlooking our temporary home

Making memories again but in a different way I suppose

Nina's mobile garden of which she's very proud!