over the hill, but far from down and out

It's official.  Steve's gone over the hill.  Not just any old hill, but Lantern Pike in the Peak District, which is just a tad bigger than most of the hills round here. He was not alone - we were traveling an enthusiastic group of walkers all out to help our friend Andy over the hill of reaching the young age of 60!  It wasn't just a climb, but an 8 mile walk across the moors, with a picnic lunch overlooking Kinder Reservoir in a bracing wind (but thankfully, no rain!).  We were amongst the diminishing band of those who made it all the way round.

I'm very proud of Steve, and delighted that he decided to take part - only the weekend before he had been complaining about the continuing tingling and numbness in his toes. But that seems to have improved a little, so we decided to go for it!  Not only did he do the walk....The day before he had driven from Oxford to Bristol to deliver me to a meeting in the office, while he did the return trip to Bath to collect and deliver prints to the RPS headquarters. A brief pit stop at son Jack's house for lunch after my meeting was over, then braving horrendous traffic on the road to Huddersfield, where we spent the night.  

That gave us an opportunity to meet up with daughter Katie and her partner George, and go out for a meal Friday evening, and have a much shorter trip the next day to the Peak District for Andy's birthday walk.  Andy and Dave did us proud with an excellent birthday buffet tea, which set us up well for the journey back to Oxford on Saturday night. What a lot to pack in to two days! Be sure to let us know when the grand child arrives, Andy!


It's been relatively quiet since then, by comparison.  I've had my head down working very hard on a report, which is due to be submitted later in April. Steve has been busy catching up with cataloguing a HUGE backlog of photos. 


However, there's been more good news on the photography front. A picture has been selected as a "notable" image in an American photography contest. If you are anywhere near Sacramento June 2010 - May 2011, visit the California Railroad Museum and see whether you can spot the tracks at Didcot Railway Centre in the exhibition "Beyond the Locomotive"!  If you are in Oxford on the weekend of 5-7 June, drop into Carluccio's where we'll have some prints exhibited as part of Oxford Castle's 1st Garden and Flower Festival. The following weekend, the pictures will go up to the Nuffield Hospital, where they'll be on show until mid-August.


Easter is just around the corner, so I expect it will be snowing again soon!  Enjoy the long break and take care. With so much chocolate in the offing and lots to celebrate, I think we'll have to do quite a bit of walking to burn off all those calories....