25/11/08
Bridget and I took off to a wee cottage in the middle of the Peak district the other week to celebrate our one year anniversary and to chill for a weekend.
Loads of pubs in the middle of nowhere, although I'm not sure what the owner was thinking when he named this pub the "Duke of Dork"... Guess he got beaten up heaps at school:
On Sat, it was crap weather, so we went to a town called Castleton, which has loads of caves around it to explore:
The first cave we went to was carved out by miners, was full of water and had to cruise down it in a boat:
Got pretty low in places:
Ok, so the miners cave was pretty boring truth be told, so we went to another one, called Blue John:
That was much more interesting to check out:
Here's some "Blue John", which is Britain's rarest mineral:
Some huge rock which fell down, only supported by a couple of tiny points (fortunately, it's heavy enough so that if I accidently shove it to see how firm it came to rest, it doesn't tip over and crash down the tunnel crushing tourists):
My "Man of the cave" pose:
Some "miners snot", doesn't taste that great:
Bridget showing how strong she is after eating Wheetbix for breakfast:
After checking out the caves, Bridge and I went for a wander on the hills above the caves, checking out Castleton in the distance and on the lookout for any strange animals that might stick their head out of the ground:
Went to the local pub that night for dinner and to participate in the local KKK meeting:
What's the time, Bridget? HAHAHAHAHAHA:
I ordered the pie, this is how it came out:
I do have to say, it tasted bl00dy fantastic, despite the complete lack of the outside of the pie!
Next day, we went for another wander up on the hills:
and headed towards Bakewell, where we checked out the local toy display:
Which was quite dangerous:
And headed off to Chatsworth House, which was certainly the highlight of the weekend away. Basically, it's an awesome, totally over the top, English manor:
The grounds were amazing:
This statue stole my naked "how YOU doin?" pose, I was not amused:
Fantastic, sunny but chilly, blue sky weather to check out the area:
The gardens varied heaps:
Me testing the strength of a bridge in the distance:
Read on for more pics: