David's 2022 Walk - Lands'End to John o'Groats

Having arrived yesterday evening, Sally was ready for the off and we were joined today by David Crabtree. He and I worked together at Kier and Mace.  David and Ann have a place in Derbyshire so they'd driven over to join us - in bright sunshine. A relief after the weather of yesterday. The Crescent Over breakfast, we'd plotted a route that initially climbed out of Buxton on a busy road but we were soon free of that and through farms into open countryside. No morning would be right without the animal interest or more correctly, interested animals Fields of wonderful buttercups. To break the peace, over the horizon we came upon an immense limestone quarry  - apparently 'Tunstead Superquarry' is the largest limestone quarry in the UK. It was fascinating to watch. David and I tried to discern the various processes that were being used to convert rocks into tankers of cement and lime. ...

The weather forecast for the day didn't bode well with rain for most of the day. With a shorter walk planned for the day, I had time after breakfast to have a look around the town in the daylight. After popping in to the Town Hall to have a look at an exhibition by East Cheshire arts society, and the obligatory coffee and cake - elevenses- I eventually set off. On the long hill eastwards from the railway station it was good to see that the Coop had retained some attractive glass and faience tiles from the original building. I eventually crossed the Macclesfield Canal. Built in the 1820s to connect to the Trent and Mersea canal near Sheffield. I walked an attractive stretch with some.lovely bridges and met a small team of men doing some heavy manual work repairing the canal wall and tow path. Marian moved here from Romania 8 years ago. Originally in Essex his £650/month rent gave him a room in a shared house and shared bath...