Even though we appear to be having a very wintery Spring with a quite heavy snowfall on Saturday night, there have been some glorious days. It is so uplifting to feel the sun on your face and to be able to go out and really enjoy the outdoors. I love this time of year, it seems full of possibilities and I missed that last year. Rather than it being a relaxing time, looking forward to the end of term and more time in the craft room, it was an endless series of meetings and worries, both personally and professionally.

Therefore, I am doubly grateful for Spring this year, I have people I can spend time with and a beautiful place to be. Last weekend Ellen and I went over to the other valley, only about 20 minutes from me, where there are a number of other beautiful reservoirs and walks. Although this area does meet the moors, it is more sheltered with lots of pine forests and so provides a very different type of walk.

We met quite a few other walkers as it was such a beautiful day, and came across some motorbike scramblers and mountain bikers. We also had a heart stopping few minutes watching four Landrovers negotiate this very rocky track with large holes. We were sure one of them was going to topple over, it was such bad terrain.

The views from the top were stunning, we are so lucky to live here and what we have is equally as beautiful as the Dales of the Lake District, albeit that our water areas have all been artificially created.

We really enjoy looking at all the engineering that goes into the reservoirs with the spillways and overflow structures. Most of these were built in the late Victorian era to provide water to the growing textile industry and there are lots of mills still in the area, few are still in production now though.

Our route took us past two reservoirs, through some woodland and down to the bottom of the valley, before climbing back up and across to the other side of the reservoir. It was quite a long way, we were out for about 2 and a half hours and on the way back even managed to get a takeaway ice cream in the nearby village!

I will be back next weekend hopefully with some lovely pictures of the Dales for you, maybe even the Dales in snow. The forecast is quite cold but dry so fingers crossed we will be able to go on some good adventures. I am so looking forward to more time spent outside, and getting my mobility back, this last few months has involved far too much being indoors!

Take care, have fun, stay safe and thanks for visiting.