The Peak is dry, we hardly saw a puddle all day, Steve managed to find a smelly bog at the top of the Woodhead. So he stuck his foot in it. Windleden resevoir is in the background.
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Kate does not like this picture for at least seven reasons, she listed them!.

Family are easily fooled, light a fire, get out some sparklers and they think it is November the 5th.
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A lot of things need doing in our house and garden. We do not know any plumbers, plasters or electicians but we do know a tree surgeon so that is the work that gets done!

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Mediterranean cafes in Marsden “who’d have thought that was possible?”

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Castleton Cement Factory incongruous or what?

Beautiful day, beautiful scenery and a great cycle ride but what is this cement factory doing here in a National Park that serves millions of people.

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I have spent a few hard weeks getting to this stage.
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The first fruits of my summer’s labour are beginning to appear. Movable type has been installed on a server in our City Learning Centre at Trinity. I expect to be training staff and creating weblogs at the rate of one a week for the foreseeable future.
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View from the moor above Mottram Rise looking down over Stalybridge and Greater Manchester

The ride that starts from the house, crosses the A628 – Woodhead pass road – and passes the Swineshaw reservoirs is now virtually legal. The ride takes you on the very edge of open country with views of Stalybridge, Ashton and Manchester in one direction, Stockport in another, Oldham to the right in fact most of Greater Manchester.
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Well that was the holiday, now real life resumes. The best part of seven weeks is all the time in the world to get used to different patterns of behaviour that now have to be disregarded in a jolt. It is a shock, a culture shock, to return to school after this length of time. Mind you I have a friend who went to the Leeds festival with his son, for a weekend. He talks of re-entry after that short space of time. Re-entry has proved not to be one hundred percent successful. I hope it was in his case and that Jack White, of the White Stripes gets better soon.

It could have been a mistake to go for a long cycle ride with two lads whose combined ages were considerably less than either Steve or
myself on its own. I trust Steve, and thankfully they had weaknesses that he had recognised at an early stage in the invitation process. The trouble
was they were relatively minor.
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