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To celebrate the auspicious occasion of Eram's 30th birthday (I promise
that's the last time I'll mention that), Eram arranged for two dozen of her friends to join her at Harthill Hall cottages, near Bakewell in Derbyshire.
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| The easy start to our hike... |
After an epic journey on Friday afternoon (the place was VERY hard to find),
Eram, James and I eventually arrived at Harthill Hall to find delightful luxury cottages, fully equipped with everything we
could want for a weekend away (except enough dishwasher tablets, but that's another story!).
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| Eram negotiating the mud |
We had a quick dip in the spa/jacuzzi, with a glass of champagne and then
danced and drank the night away in "Deferrer's" cottage.
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| Taking a break, although we were not yet half way... |
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| More of that scenery stuff |
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| Almost worth the hike! |
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Saturday morning involved sleeping in before heading out for a 5-mile,
90 minute "walk". Well, that's how it was sold to us anyway... It turned into more of a trek than we expected
and recent rain had turned the ground rather muddy which provided for an adventurous, rather hysterical, afternoon of walking.
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| The mud just got muddier... |
Us City Folk sadly couldn't cut it and the real low point came after about
2.5 miles and two hours, when someone asked some nearby "ramblers" if they knew the number for a local taxi firm! Ah
yes, other than mad James, Chris and Mark who chose to run the remainder of the route, the rest of us gave up and waited for
cars to come and get us! I reckon we'd earned it though!
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| And then the hike got harder as we climbed up and up.... |
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| The view from the top - finally! |
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| In the heart of the Peak District |
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| Robin Hood's Stride, a rock formation that we felt the urge to climb up to |
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