Jane Eyre country
It was time for another mini-break and although I was heading to the Lake District, I couldn't resist the chance to stop off in the Peak District for a stroll along Stanage Edge.
Now when I say stroll... obviously to get up there was a bit of a scramble (for those who don't know, it's a gritstone edge, basically a small cliff, there were many people rockclimbing there). Walking along the top it's fairly flat, although rather rocky, but there was a bit of a breeze that seemed determined to completely push me over - luckily not over the edge, it just kept trying to blow me across the moors.
I wanted to do a Jane Eyre/Elizabeth Bennett impression - standing on top of the Edge with my skirt billowing & my hair elegantly blowing in the wind - but a) I wasn't wearing a skirt; b) if I had been, it probably would've been ripped off me & lost amongst the heather; and c) has my hair even been known to be elegant?
But it was, nonetheless, absolutely fabulous. The view across the Derbyshire Dales was stunning, and of course I was in country I'd only ever read about (or seen on tv) in Jane Austen & Charlotte Bronte. In fact I walked past North Lees, which is the house that Bronte based Thornfield on in Jane Eyre (much smaller than you'd expect).
I really feel that a walk through the hills & the fields & the moors of Derbyshire is enough to make anybody's heart light & carefree - it's good for the soul.
