Derwent Dam.

I took this video when I was out walking last Saturday. As is usually the case with my photography it's nowhere near as impressive as the real thing was, I'll show you though incase anyone fancies going to see for themselves one day.

Highlander Sandwich Box.

Last Saturday I stopped for my lunch at Back Tor which I must confess was a pretty miserable affair as lunch breaks on the moors go. Even a massive outcrop of rock such as this offered up very little protection from the ever present rain but never the less I made the best of it searching out and finding a place less wet than any other I had seen thus far. My mum had packed up my lunch and I think she thought I was going on a coach trip or something because when I took out my sandwiches they were wrapped only in tin foil which was okay except when I opened them two of the four cheese sandwiches leapt to freedom landing in the mud at my feet. I swore there and then that the minute I got home I would seek out a proper sandwich box. I know that's no guarantee the same thing won't happen again but I feel had they been contained in something more rigid my cold wet hands would have stood a better chance of keeping them under control.

Click the images for a better view.

So true to my word I looked for a sandwich box and this is what I came up with.

It's made of aluminium so will hopefully take some bashing around.

The top is held in place by metal clips which carry rubber rollers so they just roll over the edge and firmly clip the lid in to place, I think they will be easy to use with cold fingers or even without the need to remove gloves if worn.

All the way around the inside of the lid is a rubber seal so this should stop the food from drying out and so remain fresh until needed.

Inside there is enough room for four standard size pieces of bread, in the picture is one piece of bread that has been folded over. So now that I have seen the item I am going to order another one because as well as four sandwiches I also like to take a piece of cake and some fruit. The box weighs next to nothing.

I bought mine through Ebay, its brand new so unused and the cost was £7.99 including postage Highlander sandwich box This seller has a shop selling a variety of other outdoor gear.

Derwent Edge/Ladybower walk details.

This is my first attempt at posting about a walk so I may refine the format over time. I don’t plan on giving a blow by blow account of my walk preferring instead to add information to help others so to those ends I will post details recorded by my satnav so that at least you can be confident that what I post is accurate

My starting point for this walk was the Fairholmes car park between the Ladybower and Derwent reservoirs. The cost for a day’s parking is £4, I think the parking areas along the road are free if you can get in them. The car parking area at Fairholmes would appear to offer good security if that is a concern to you. Also there are toilets and a place to buy snacks. The grid reference for the car park is SK 172 893

The route I took was basically along the east shore road of the Derwent Reservoir to Abbey Bank which I climbed and kept on climbing to Lost Lad and then Back Tor. Here I followed the Derwent Edge south until it dropped down to the A57 road and from there I walked the east shore of the Ladybower Reservoir back to Fairholmes. See the map below for more detail.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Below is a profile of my route, as you will see the morning was much harder than the afternoon. I reached the high point in time for lunch at Back Tor. The rest of the day was all downhill or at least pretty level.

Below is a summary of the walk the information being obtained via my satnav all I will add to that is that my moving average was recorded at 3.2 mph and my overall average was 1.7 mph. I’m not especially fit at the moment and the weather was terrible so the whole walk was completed in waterproofs.

Introduction to trekking.

My grandpa was the one who introduced me to the pleasures of walking for pleasure. I can remember that from the earliest times in my life he would take me out walking. It started on Sunday mornings when mum and gran were getting dinner ready he would take me off in his car to Monsal Head and we would walk down the path to the river under the viaduct and then back up the hill again. Then as I got older I progressed to whole day walks on the moors both here in the Peak District and the North York Moors during summer holidays. Eventually when I reached the age of 15 we spent the week walking the Cleveland Way, we have done parts of it many times but this time we did the whole walk backpacking and sleeping in our tents which was awesome to say the least. When I was 17 we walked the Pennine Way and enjoyed every step but unfortunately this was to be my last walk with my grandpa as not long afterwards he died of a heart attack in his sleep. I was absolutely devastated and still am if I think about it long enough. Since then my boots have been sitting in the store cupboard, for no other reason than being discouraged by everyone that it isn’t safe to go alone. I say my boots have been sitting in the cupboard for two years but to be truthful they have been out four times when I have persuaded someone to go with me and I went with the Ramblers once but that definitely wasn’t for me even though everyone was very nice and welcoming. The thing is the other week I had a dream I was out walking with grandpa and it was so real, he didn’t actually tell me to take up my walking again or anything like that but during the next days I just sort of got this attitude that although it’s sensible to take advice I shouldn’t be put off from doing something I enjoy because of it, I need to take it on board and work with it rather than let it stop me. So yesterday was penned in to be the first day of solo walking… whatever you want to call it.

As far as walking goes that’s me really, I will post something about yesterday’s walk in my next post.