Little Quest: Derbyshire

Josh braves the giant doc leaves

17th July 2010

So Little Quest number 7 (Is there really still 40 Little Quests to go?) took us to Joshs county...Derbyshire. So what do you think of when you think of Derbyshire? More than likely the Peak District...and perhaps if you are old enough you may remember a programme called Peak Practice. But hopefully you won't hold that against the people of this fine county. Sadly Josh is too young to realise what a beautiful county he was born into, but he will in time we are sure. Though hopefully he won't end up supporting any of those dodgy teams in the area!

A "Wow" moment

The little quest in Derbyshire took team Shiltonpig up a very very steep hill, you know the kind I am on about...the ones that make Mount Everest look small...and the kind that somehow you still see cyclists riding up them to try and prove "they still have it." In our humble opinion it is fair to say they don't...its madness!...its madness in a car and our 1905 1st edition Ford car nearly didn't make it to the top. At one point we made Josh get out and push, but he kept wanting a rest so he gave up. Kids today just are not made of sterner stuff....in Victorian times kids were mining coal....but our 2 year old son can't even push a car up a hill!! Tut tut!

Mother and Son sharing a moment

When we had made it safely to the top, there was a slight walk to the top of the hill. You can see Riber Castle...apparently a few years ago it used to be some kind of zoo and those nice people calling themselves animal rights movement let out some Lynx into the area, we didn't see any sadly but dark gruseome tales still exist of flesh eating cats devouring the local population. We did see a Josh however who devours food quicker than any Lynx could. When we arrived at the top of the hill, it was one of those "WOW" moments. You know the ones I mean, when you can't help but go "WOW" at what

Knocking on a Watchtowers door

you see. The whole of Matlock and the surrounding area could be seen, as well as the cliff face and Derbyshire dales. It was absolutely breathtaking, and was also pleasant in the fact that normally to see such a sight you have to walk miles uphill, but we cheated and drove. The photo above doesn't even begin to do this justice....and very very worthy of representing Derbyshire. Though to be fair Derbyshire is blessed with plenty of great places...probably to make up for the fact that some people locally calls everyone "duck or duckie". Josh took it upon himself to examine every rock and stick. This Little Quest cache has caused much debate in team Shiltonpigs household, as one half feel this is the best Little Quest cache so far and another one is still saying that Lincolnshire has the best. What is in agreement however that we have been treated to a fantastic cache and one that all should visit when in this neck of the woods. So far we have travelled 434 miles on our Little Quest journey...and we are enjoying every minute of it....we hope you are too. If not please send your complaints to the Derbyshire Tourist Board and start your petition now to get this blog offline.

Mr Shiltonpig posing with his beautiful son