That's more like it

The weather improved over the last couple of days. The Botanical Gardens were duly visited yesterday -- with a pause in town when I got some shots of the Wheel; the roses weren't up to much and the waterlilies weren't in evidence, but there was no shortage of things in bloom otherwise, including a passion-flower vine in the glasshouses.

Today we walked from Grindleford Station to Hathersage Station -- about two miles as the crow flies but rather farther and more interesting by the route we took, up Padley Gorge and the Burbage Valley and over Stanage Edge and down past North Lees Hall (believed to be the inspiration for Thornfield in Jane Eyre. The sky was delicately marbled with high, thin clouds and streaks of contrail; the heather was just starting to come out, and we saw several different kind of butterfly and one rather fine caterpillar, velvety black with orange rings. My new hiking shoes performed well, and my knees didn't do too badly once I got going.