Sledging

I don't think all that many words are required, really.

It snowed quite a lot in Sheffield on Friday night.


However, by the time we got up the next morning (oh, okay, afternoon) it had almost all melted. So we determined to go hunt some down, and headed into the Peak District - in fact, back to Castleton, the place of the lead mine and the pass. We seem to have a bit of a fondness for it. And who wouldn't? It is a magnificent pass. Especially in snow...why did they need to film LotR in New Zealand, I ask you?


I kind of love it, on snowy days, when the landscape and the sky just merge with no skyline:


Anyway, the real purpose of our trip was to a) jump around in the snow like maniacs and throw snowballs at each other, and b) sledge. Lauren has one of those circular sledges that are totally impossible to control (although, being two engineers, we managed to at least get ourselves going sideways rather than backwards...well, after a few undignified test runs, anyway).

Down below the overhanging snow I put up on flickr, our test run had developed a bit of a bump, causing interesting effects when we went over it.


The snow really was incredibly deep for Britain - when we decided we would go looking for slopes with greater adrenaline potential, we climbed up the hill a little and found ourselves getting rather stuck. Although that looks like Lauren's left foot sticking out behind her, it's not - it's the sledge. The snow really is above her knees.


Eventually, however, after an hour or so of dangerous fun (at least at theme parks you know the rides should be safe...), our trousers were totally soaked through, our hands had lost all feeling, our cameras were beginning to get a bit damp (and there's nothing like rolling head over heels with your camera in your pocket to make you wonder how on earth any of your electrical equipment ever survives around you), and both the dusk and the cloud were closing in.


So we got in the car, drove to Hope (no, seriously - in Castleton there is a sign which says Public Footpath to Hope. It amuses me every time) and had hot treacle tart with ice cream and hot chocolate. Oh yeah.