Monday 28 July 2014

How Did We Find Derby?

"Would you like me to bring my satnav?" I asked my good friend, and fellow scrappy blogger, Lesley when she arrived to collect me for our jaunt to Derby, via Castleton and Eyam.
"No thanks, I've got one" she replied, "and anyway I've printed out the directions!"

Unfortunately a list of Google maps directions from A to B only work if you actually start at A ... and if the list includes place names on the way as well as road numbers ... and if you have a compass ... and perhaps a map ...

"Erm, do you have a map? I'm struggling to work out where we are on this list!"
"No.  There are bound to be signs"

Only the signs seemed few and far between, almost as if the locals didn't want any tourists!

"I'm sure we've been past those cows before"
"Perhaps we should have turned left back there after all ..."
"Do you want to turn around or shall we just see what happens?"
"Let's just see ..."

We did see Castleton (along with a lot more Derbyshire countryside than we'd anticipated) and what's more, we were still smiling when we got there:

Jimjams - photo - Castleton

On the hunt for lunch we snapped a few fellow tourists ...

Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 4 Tourists
#4 A Group Of Tourists
Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 9 Bakery
#9 A Bakery
... and I zoomed in (for the 30th time) to add a bakery to my scavenger hunt finds.  The tourist information centre had postcards too:

Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 5 Rack Of Postcards
#5 A Rack Of Postcards
It might have been prudent to pick up a map while we were there, because travelling from B to C didn't get any easier with the next list of directions!  So we stopped off to check the satnav in Lesley's smartphone and admire Ashford-in-the-Water  ...

Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 9 Rural Landscape
#9 A Rural Landscape
... before finally finding Eyam, still smiling:

Jimjams - photo - Eyam Hall

After that, we knew what to expect on the final leg of the journey from C to D ... but by now I'd almost got the hang of Lesley's smartphone and we only got lost twice or three times!  Our hotel happened to tick off another Scavenger Hunt item by being close to:

Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 9 A Parade
#9 A Parade
The next day we explored the centre of Derby and found something quite unexpected:

Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 18 Waterfall
#18 A Waterfall
After lunch, we managed to locate Kedleston Hall reasonably well, but only the grounds were open on Fridays (beginning to see a jaunty lack of coherent planning from either of us?) so we took photos of the sheep ...

Jimjams - photo - Kedeston

...one of whom was very interested in Lesley's camera:

Scavenger Hunt 2014 # 10 Photo Bomb
#10 A Bride & Groom Bombing My Curious Sheep Photo
We topped off our Derby diversions by needing THREE attempts to find the ruins of Duffield Castle which was barely signposted (I'm sure the locals didn't want it found) ...

Jimjams - photo - Duffield Castle

.. before ending our jaunt by meeting up for a meal with our scrappy friend Nat:

Jimjams - photo - Dinner at Seven

P.S. I found a handy place to store those Google maps directions before heading home and we didn't get lost once!!

Jimjams - photo - Dierctions


23 comments:

misteejay said...

**Chuckling**
What a fab day out and lots more items ticked off your scavenger hunt.
Toni xx

Lesley G said...

Who needs a map OR a satnav, we had sooooo much more fun without - didn't we?
Great photos and a great few days :) xx

scrappyjacky said...

Sounds like you had a far better journey 'mapless'

Michele said...

Sounds like you had a great time and lots of laughs -you took some great photos for your scavenger hunt too! I love your storage place for the Google maps lol!

Missus Wookie said...

Great day out and I have to say I approve of your map storage... love my sat nav :)

Beverly said...

I love journeys like this but it is totally about having the right attitude and going with the flow :) You got the most amazing scavenger hunt shots, I especially love the bride and groom photobomb.

alexa said...

What a super trip and great photos! I wish I'd known you were going to be twenty minutes down the road at one point :).

Anonymous said...

love all your finds..but the bride and groom photobombing is the best!!!

kjjc said...

Fab tale. Sounds like you had a fun time. Great photos too.

Chidkid said...

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Love the photo-bomb and what a clever 'Parade' shot too.. love my satnav.. wouldn't be without it.. but I bet it's way more fun your way!

Lesley G said...

You see Jemma everybody agrees that we had FUN FUN FUN without a satnav :) :P

Sandra said...

This is so funny .. I can just picture it lol

Carmen said...

That is the best photo bomb yet! :-)

Lou said...

ha ha...sounds like a good day!

Becky said...

Great waterfall and I love your take on the parade!

Miriam said...

What a lovely, funny post, some great finds and 10/10 for your take on Parade. Genius!!

Amanda said...

Some great finds here, especially the Parade. Loved reading the story too.

Maria Ontiveros said...

Great finds! I love the parade sign and the sheep. Thanks for linking up.
Rinda

~*~Patty S said...

What fun your photo bomb photo is and all of your pix are super...it's not getting lost as long as you're having fun ;-)
Greetings from Virginia USA

MiniOwner said...

What a great post, Jemma! Made me laugh and your photos are brilliant.
Sue x

Karen said...

What a great post, and great scavenger hunt finds as well!

Cheri said...

What a fun day? Do you remember the days when you would actually use paper maps and plot your own course from Point A to Point B? My kids can't believe that was ever an option. You really ticked a lot of photos off the list too!

ForgedinPaper said...

Great story and well done on the photo finds. Happy Hunting.