Friday

Charlie and Simon meet at Tim's and set-off in the Toyota Auris. Charlie selected a playlist that Spotify claimed had hits from four decades, the 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s - however, it seems that it may have been mis-titled as not a single 90s song was heard!

A Morrisons in Buxton provided an opportunity for some lunch and the weekend's shopping.

As they sat down for lunch, Simon received a call, clearly from a scammer. He kept her on the line for the entirety of lunch and most of the shopping - a full 18 minutes! She (the scam caller) was trying to get Simon to log-in to a platform so he could claim his 2.9 Bitcoin - but, as Simon repeatedly told her (at least 14 times), that was not possible because "I'm not at home".

The only reason Simon eventually ended the call was becasue it was time to choose his Pot Noodles. He went for these two ...

The nice lady on the till spotted that they were not children but let them through, anyway

Before reaching the cottage, they stopped for a pint at the local

The others eventually found the cottage and were back together, again.

Charlie bangs out a tune on the old-and-out-of-tune-and-some-notes-not-working-at-all piano, hoping to catch the ear of Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats"), with a view to joining the band ...

During a round of tea and initial catch-ups, Charlie hands over a present for Simon ...

We head out to another local pub, where we had a table booked

Happy Easter!

Saturday

The place.

The accommodation.

The fleet.

Our resident chef extrordinaire, along with his helper Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats"), prepared us all a full English breakfast

We gather outside, admiring the fish pond

Two orange, two black

Safe from predators (video)

Who is the occupant of these shiny boots? Why, yes - it's none other than Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats")

We head out with the aim of walking to Buxton and getting the train back but, just as wet set off, our navigator & guide, Tim, suggested doing it the other way around - so, we walked to the station.

Farmyard machinery manufacturer MOLEX chief exec says, "We need to hire a marketing agent to name our new tanker for sludge ..."

Several £000's later ... "SLUDGE TANKER"

The cricket club ground being prepared

This prompted cricketing "legend", Pete, to tell a few yarns about his career

Evidence of the continuing dam repairs

From the BBC news site, 1st August 2019 (video)

We arrive at the station

We get the tickets and get change from £30 - Yes, a 20 minute train ride through the countryside for less than a fiver!

"The train arriving at platform 1 is the 11:35 to Buxton" (video)

Looks more like a bus!

Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats") grabs a power nap ... shortly before almost knocking-out the lady (seen in background) when he dropped his heavy metal water bottle whilst getting his rucksack down from the luggage rack!

We arrived at Buxton and alighted.

Have you ever seen a "Gum Drop" before?

Buxton architecture, looking resplendent in the sun ...

MOON PLANE NEAR MISS! (video)

Tunnel end bricked-off

Lunch stop

Piercy Pot Noodle Pic

The way home ...

... and the view

The horse rider is clearly a bit star struck, seeing Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats")

There are two reservoirs running north-south along the Goyt Valley, each one dammed at its north end. This is the north end of Errwood Reservoir.

Read all about it ...

We walked the entire east side of Fernilee Reservoir

The dam at the north end

And here is footage of it, featuring none other than Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats") (video)

At this point, the A-Team took the high road and the B-Team took the low ...

And of course, the A-Team got to the pub first!

We managed to catch the end of The Grand National on the pub TV. Charlie managed to win a place bet with one of his two horses!

Dining table converted, ready for a late-night poker session, later

After tea & showers we head out to Whaley Bridge ...

... and to the local Indian restaurant ...

... where, with the entire upstairs section to ourselves, we have a great meal

We then move to the pub across the road

Pete & Simon have a game of darts

Once back at the cottage, the Match-of-the-Day tradition was obvserved (with Tim duly falling asleep within seconds, as usual) - but the other late-night tradition of tea, crisps and cake, did NOT happen. Everyone was full of curry & beer.

I N T E R M I S S I O N

Some of the flora & forna seen over the weekend

Hyacinthus orientalis    (Common Hyacinth)

Sparaxis tricolor    (Harlequin Flower)

Taraxacum    (Dandelion)

Myosotis sylvatica    (Forget-Me-Not)

Lunaria annua    (Honesty Plant)

Narcissus    (Daffodil)

Narcissus unus-in-unum    (Miniture Daffodil)       [ finger for scale ]

Aubrieta deltoidea    (Purple Rock Cress)

E N D  O F  I N T E R M I S S I O N

Sunday

Dave, who was suffering more than usual due to sun burn and tired limbs, decided to sit out

The rest of us drive out to Errwood Reservoir and embark on a circular walk

PLANE BIRD NEAR MISS!

Stone block path

Sky zip

We reach what is (arguably) the highest point in Cheshire, the summit of Shining Tor

We take advantage of the fine & clear day and take in the view. We see several recognisable landmarks such as Jodrell Bank Observatory, the City of Manchester, Manchester Airport (watching planes take-ff and land) and in the distance, Merseyside and Fiddler's Ferry power station

We head down for home ...

... stopping on the way, at the ruins of Errwood Hall

As we approached the end of descent, Tim remarked on how great it would be if there just happened to be an ice cream van in the car park upon or return - the general consensus was that being in a reasonably remote location and at the beginning of April, it was unlikely.

Just as we get sight of the car park from on high, at the front of the pack, Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats") suddenly shouts, "There IS an ice cream van!"

We drive back to the cottage, via the Drum & Monkey, of course!

After ablutions & further refreshments - and with Dave feeling a lot better after his rest & recuperation, we take a couple of cars into Buxton. We find a pizza restaurant and they take our number to call us when a table is ready. In the meantime, we find a tap house for some tasty beers (and fake beers, for the drivers)

We head back to the pizzeria ...

Charlie decides to accompany Steve (from "Steve & The Fresh Meats") in enjoying some cheesecake

Then it was back to the tap house. It's usually Simon who's last to sup-up but on this occasion it was Dave because he had been telling us all about the traumatic ordeals of his month in a north west hospital

Then we drove back to the cottage and watched the 8.5 minute highlights YouTube video of the Japanese F1 Grand Prix from Suzuka, which had been held at 5am (our time)

During their late-night poker session, Charlie produced his bottle of Havana Club 7, a 40% proof dark rum - and he & Simon proposed a toast to their mate, Dave, for enduring and surviving his extended hospital stay

Monday

We have our usual "finish-whatever-is-left" breakfast cobs before packing-up and leaving.

On their way back, Charlie, Simon & Tim, whilst travelling through Ashbourne, hear a sattling noise coming from under the car. Investiagtion found that one end of an exhaust heat shield had worn through and was hitting the pipe.

After dropping-off the guys at Tim's, Charlie popped-in to see his mate, John, who had the tools and parts required for a repair at his workshop - and the job was soon done.

Another great weekend.

It's funny to think that a simple off-the-cuff, jokey comment in the group chat ...

... has resulted in the recurring feature of this page (and what follows! ...)

The editor would like to thank the sponsor of this web site production ...

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