Goyt

An early start this morning, taking Malcolm's mum to Manchester airport, via Chesterfield, to pick up her friend Mary on the way. As usual, all went well until we got to Stockport, where the A6 meets the M60. There is no 'proper' junction at this point, instead, you are directed all around the back-streets of Stockport, trying to dodge bus lanes, cycle lanes, parked vehicles, pedestrians and goodness-knows-what. All this would be OK if it were not for the total lack of intelligible roadsigns.
Eventually, we got to the airport and after dropping off Pat and Mary, we headed home via Macclesfield and the 'Cat and Fiddle' road over the moors towards Buxton. We stopped for a walk and a coffee at the Goyt Valley.

The name of the valley is associated with the dialect word goyt or goit for stream or watercourse, which comes from the Old English word gota.

Around 280 to 350 million years ago, mud gravel and sand were washed down to the Peak District area by a vast river from what is now the highlands of Scotland. These layers of mud and sand were laid down in the waters of the estuary of the river. Over millions of years the mud and sand were compressed to become layers of shale and grit-stone rock.
Successive Ice Ages shaped the exposed shale and grit-stone and later still the river Goyt started to carve out the valley as we see it today. The layers of carboniferous grits and shales reach their highest point at Shining Tor (1800ft).

An increased demand for drinking water in the early 20th century led Stockport Corporation Waterworks to acquire Goyt Valley for the building of two reservoirs. By 1930 the farms and houses were empty and demolished in order to provide an uncontaminated water catchment area.
The whole area is picturesque and, on days like today, silent - except for the singing birds, babbling water and, surprisingly this morning, a Tawny Owl hooting!

Hunted

Walking around the area yesterday, we spotted two magnificent hunters going about their business, silently and stealthily looking for their prey. The first was a pair of Buzzards (Buteo buteo). Circling and soaring, gaining height in the warming air, they made a awe-inspiring sight - if a little difficult to photograph.

More difficult to see and much more tricky to photograph, was a master of stealth and the surprise attack. This time, the Pike (Esox lucius). The record weight for a Pike stands at 67lb and about 5ft long. Luckily, this one was only about 1ft long and a bit too small to be too much of a threat to the Rudd which were swimming around, well within striking distance of the Pike. A truly magnificent predator, it lies in wait, not moving a muscle until it strikes at it's prey with lightning-quick acceleration.

On a lighter note, back to the flowers which are in evidence at the moment. The Lesser Celandines (Ranunculus ficaria) are members of the Buttercup family and are always a great indication of the onset of Spring. These were shining brightly on the dark floor of the wooded, canal-side walk.

Lastly, two plants which look different, but are in fact, the same species. Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum) can have plain, green leaves or they can be spotted with brownish/purple spots. Both types were in evidence yesterday, as I have remarked recently, there seem to be a lot more of them about this year.
Spotted...

...And spotless.....

Glorious

Malcolm and I had a lovely walk around Shipley Park this morning. The sun was shining, it was beautifully warm, the birds were singing and all was right with the world (hold on! I'm in danger of NOT sounding like the grumpy old git I really am!).
The blossoms are all now starting to open in the sunshine.

It seems that the trees are competing with each other to get their flowers open first and are in a hurry to catch up from the late start they have had this year.

Around the pond at Straw's Bridge, the swans, ducks and geese are oblivious to the blossom and only interested in the bread bags - as usual!

Back home and as Malcolm got lunch ready, I "pottered" in the garden and took some more pictures - here of the Hyacinths which are now in full bloom and filling the air with their heady scent.

Everything is getting back to normal with the computer too. It's now just a case of getting rid of all the programmes I don't need and downloading all the programmes I DO need. You forget just how much you make your computer your own, until it is put back to 'factory settings' and you lose everything and have to start from scratch again. Oh well, it's all coming together again now.

Getting there!

Just a quick update today.  Still having problems with the virus, it has proved impossible to get rid of, so I have had to re-start my computer back to factory settings, which means of course, losing everything on it.  BUT, as luck would have it, I did manage to save everything before the re-start, so it's now just a case of getting everything back onto the hard drive and try to get everything back to normal.
At least it seems that I have at last got rid of the virus (touch wood, fingers crossed and all the usual stuff).  So, hopefully I will be back to normal again very soon.

Home again

Not much of an update today.  My computer has a virus AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!  So will be attempting to get rid of that for a while.  I am using Malcolm's old (and very slow) laptop to do this.  Don't you just love computers?
Malcolm and I got back this lunch-time, from our trip to Calais, to stock up on cheap wine and it's nice to see the under-stairs cupboard filled to bursting point with glorious 'vino'.
Still, enough of all that, back my computer to see why the anti-virus software I have installed, doesn't seem to want to get rid of this blasted virus!  See you soon - I hope.....Crack open the wine, I may need a glass or two before this is over.

Difference

Last year, on this day, I was waxing lyrical about the delights of the Maple Tree flowers and those of the Andromeda - or Pieris - which were in full bloom. SEE HERE
This year, the trees are barely showing any green shoots at all and there is almost no sign of blossom. This morning, we counted no more than a handful of flowers on the Blackthorn bushes over the whole of our walk. What there do seem to be a lot more of this year however, are Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum) - these will, in time produce those wonderful, pale creamy-white spathes above glossy, green leaves.

The roots of these plants were once used as a source of starch in the days when collars and cuffs had to be stiffened before wearing.

Why there seem to be so many showing through the leaf-litter this year, I cannot think, but lets just be grateful they are and look forward to the show when the flowers appear.

Maundy Thursday

This morning, Malcolm and I took our two mum's out for the morning to Matlock Bath.

Getting there fairly early in the morning, meant that we were able to park on the roadside for an hour while we had a walk along the river-front.

The weather remained good for our walk, although the wind was cold. Thankfully, the forecast was wrong (again) and it didn't rain on us. The river Derwent was dark and swirling and rushing along in great torrents after all the wet weather we have recently had.

Before heading back to the car, we had a quick look at the Koi, swimming around in the ornamental pond and fountain near the Mining Museum.

Then it was on to Masson Mill for a little retail therapy and a coffee, before heading off to get some lunch.