Spring made a brief appearance on Sunday so we took advantage of it to go for a short walk.  Blue’s leg has been behaving as we have not him run around so we thought a short walk, on a lead, would be fine.  On this Sunday each year we have always walked in Deep Dale near Sheldon to see the early purple orchids and cowslips.  Usually we walk from the door down to the Wye Valley via Kirkdale, along the river and up Deep Dale to Sheldon then home.  This year we did half the walk and drove to the Whiteladies car park and walked home from there.  The car park was very busy but as it is also a point from which to walk into Monsal Dale it is not surprising.  Once we turned into Deep Dale the crowds disappeared and we were delighted to see that the cowslips and orchids were starting to appear, they are not quite at their best but we were not sure if they were even going to be out.  For the first time since we have walked Deep Dale there was even a stream of water.  Along the way we met one of our postmen who is a keen birdwatcher and photographer so we stopped and had a chat.  It was strange to have the dogs on the leads and even more unusual not to meet another dog!  When we took the path from the dale up to to Sheldon we stopped at the brow of the hill to have lunch with a couple of DOE groups passing us on the way.  It’s that time of year again.  We then headed to Sheldon, skirting the village to pick up the path to our peak district cottages.  When we reached the fields behind ours we stopped to watch an aerial display by a plane over Chatsworth.  Once home and changed we then drove back round to Sheldon as they were serving afternoon tea in the Village Hall.  We then collected my car from Whiteladies before a quiet evening in.