April Showers ??
Given that March was pretty much a washout , with lots of frequent heavy rains it is hardly surprising to be a little pessimistic heading in to April.
Easter weekend straddled across March and April and surprisingly there were some bright spells, sadly what this does bring is a massive influx of visitors to the Peak District , many of whom seem unwilling to use car parks that they have to pay in. Indeed whilst the influx of visitors should be a good thing for the region with people spending money with local businesses it often has to be balanced against the impact on the environment and the native wildlife.
The biggest single impact is on the number of vehicles that are badly parked and cause obstruction for emergency vehicles or local farmers to pass, with many of these vehicles causing damage to the roadside verges. Secondly is the amount of litter dropped by those who for some reason think that the countryside has a large army of litter pickers walking around constantly cleaning up after the laziness of others. Finally it is inconsiderate dog walkers , not all are to be placed in this category to make that clear , those that allow dogs to run free across field clearly signed as having either livestock or particularly vulnerable species of wildlife in them. Aligned to the inconsiderate dog walkers are the insane number of dog waste bags either just dropped on the pathways, shoved into walls, hung like bizarre Christmas decorations from trees and fences or left where a few seconds before was their own car - if you take the trouble to bag it then dispose of the bag appropriately - yes walking miles carrying a bag of dog waste isn’t fashionable but you chose to get a dog…..right rant over…
On the positive side the injury to my knee has improved significantly and that is allowing me the chance to get moving more again - firstly a trip out to Carr Vale Nature reserve on Good Friday to see what migrant birdlife had begun to return to our shores, sadly the weather was not great for brining out the best and between showers but still any time spent outdoors is better than none , or that is what we will keep telling ourselves right ?
Following this , in-between the usual visits to outlaws (sorry relatives) I managed to do a couple more walks around the local environment clocking up almost 30miles in the process and feeling as though with more time available I could have stretched each walk further giving me confidence that with only a few weeks of training left I will be in a good position for my Coast to Coast walk adventure…
So lets see where April takes us…
