Time to go, sadly...

Given the way the sea has looked at times over the last three weeks, we were incredibly lucky with our sailing today:



We stopped again in Heysham village for some lunch (at The Hoof, who do excellent sausage and bacon in ciabatta) and a bit of a walk.



We took the opportunity to pop in again at Mrs Kirkham's, so that we wouldn't arrive at our next destination cheeseless (a fate best avoided).

Then we put in a few tedious hours on the motorways. Ms G. Maps told us not to go a particular way because there'd been an accident. By the time we got to the recommended alternative there'd been an accident there too. And the rain was coming down very heavily at times.

Never mind. We arrived safely in Milford, Derbyshire, just half an hour behind schedule.

Which meant we had plenty of time to drink to our new home with a bottle of red and some of the cheese we'd acquired (Baron Bigod Brie and Stichelton -- both delicious).

It's an interesting little place, this one. We look out across the Derwent Valley, which is deep and steep in these parts:


We're all on one level, tucked away beneath the owner's place. The front room looks out onto the above view. The bedroom, at the back, is dug into the side of the hill, like a little cave... The ceiling is vaulted, as though it has once been used for storage. But it's warm and dry and cosy and hobbit-like. No complaints.


Today was wall-to-wall rain, but we shlipped into the shlup-shlups, and walked up to Belper, our nearest town:





Breakfast at the Belper branch of the Book Cafe would make up for any amount of rain:



We'd briefly visited Belper back in 2020, just before the dreaded pandemic struck. It's a very interesting and picturesque little place:



And of course the foliage is exquisite at the moment, even in the rain:




Looking forward to exploring further.