After lunch I took advantage of a sunny interlude to go on an afternoon jaunt. I took in Little Apley Pool and Tee Lake before making my way home along the Silkin Way.

I had another encounter with a dog that wanted to be by me. I had stepped off the pathway to let the owners and their two dogs go by (with social distancing in mind). One of the dogs had other ideas. He came over to me, looked up at me and stood by my feet.

He refused all calls to go back. As he turned to his humans he buried his nose in the soggy leaves and retrieved a stick that was completed concealed to my eye, still staying at me feet. I have to confess it always makes me feel special when a dog greets me in this way

The owner came to retrieve him, apologising in my face they did so. So much for me trying to respect social distancing…

I beat a hasty retreat and continued my walk home without further incidents.

Yesterday I ventured out to Dothill Nature Reserve. I had intended to walk along the Silkin way but I came across a large puddle that caused me to have a change of plan. I skirted through the edge of Apley Woods and rejoined the Sillkin Way further along.

Whilst in the woods I took the opportunity to sit and rest a while. This gave a dog (as on a recent walk) the chance to say hello, leaving leaving a paw print on my leg.

I explored a bit of Dothill Nature Reserve that I had not visited before. As I stopped to take a photograph I noticed that I was being watched from above. The photographs of my onlooker are not the best quality due to my camera being hand held and on full zoom.

As I made my way back home I could hear the mewing sound of buzzards in flight and looked up to see three of them flying high above my head.

This morning I woke to bright sunshine which was a lovely change after the rainy windy weather that we have been having lately. I checked my phone’s weather app which advised me that it would rain later in the morning but be sunny and fine in the afternoon.

This led to a morning of household chores and holiday planning leaving the afternoon free for walking. After lunch I donned my heavy duty walking boots and set off for walk in local woodlands that I have been avoiding lately due to rain and mud.

As I walked along one of my local bridle paths I met a young lady with a young child in a pushchair and a dog by her side.

She asked me where the pathway led to, so I told her and asked her where she was trying to get to. She told me where she was heading, explaining that she was new to the area and thought she might have turned off the pathway (that I was heading towards) too soon.

I redirected her to where she should have been. She was happy that she would be able to find her way back from her newly explored pathway without turning round and retracing her steps.

After we parted I had an enjoyable walk around Apley Woods, avoiding the more muddy parts. As often happens on my walks, a dog came to say hello, leaving a tiny muddy paw-print on my leg.

As on the previous day I enjoyed chilling (with a book) out on the French balcony in the early morning sunshine whilst Mr C snoozed for a while. Our plan for the day was to visit the Alacantara Gorge on the CityBySee bus but, once again, the trip set off at lunch time leaving the morning free.

Photo taken by Mr C

As we were leaving the hotel to visit the municipal gardens, the hotel’s  resident dog took a fancy to me. He came running past Mr C and jumped up at me with a waggy tail, putting his paws on my legs. At one point the gorgeous dog put his paws on my hands.

After this delightful encounter we revisited the municipal gardens to enjoy a relaxing and tranquil morning. Shortly after we arrived Mr C realised that he had left his hat in the hotel room. While he walked back to the hotel  to retrieve his hat, I stayed in the gardens to explore them at my leisure. I enjoyed my slow paced walk around the garden, seeing things that I had missed on our previous visit.

When Mr C returned, hat in hand, we left the gardens and headed in the direction of the bus station. Our walk took us past what was described on our previous days tour as a Romantic Ruin and also the Necropolis, which is the remains of an old Byzantine cemetery, before finding a viewing platform looking out over the Isolla Bella bay.

Next to the viewing platform there was a convenient cafe, L’Oblio, it was a cafe with a view. As we were being served with drinks before our food order of aranchini arrived, the waiter somehow managed to unbalance the drinks on the tray causing mine, a fresh orange drink to be spilt. Luckily he missed me.

After enjoying lunch and the views, it was time to walk the short distance to the bus station to board the bus to the Alcantara Gorge. We were treated to amazing views and driven along many narrow almost un-navigable streets whilst listening to the interesting commentary of the various things we were seeing. The Gorge itself was beautiful and, on this brief trip, the focus was using the lift to get down to the gorge and the free wine tasting available in the shop area.

We descended to the gorge but due to time constraints we were unable to explore much more than that. We had just enough time to see the 3D video experience and to find out that the free wine tasting was only mini morsels of food and liquors. The tasting session was rushed and designed to lure tourists into buying the local produce. After the previous days experience we made sure we were back at the bus in plenty of time.

Back in Taormina, we stopped for refreshments in a cafe bar before indulging in an Italian ice cream. In the hotel I had a relaxing soak in the bath which was briefly interrupted by Mr C providing me with an unexpected glass of Prosecco!

Shortly after this  ‘room service’ provided us with biscuits after two days absence…

We dined in Le Quattro Fontane where the food and service were excellent. I chose seabass, it was served in a butterfly style and was delicious. I followed this with Cassata; all I can say is WOW!

We made our way back to the hotel for an early night to be ready for an early morning start for our visit to Etna.

We packed and were ready to set off on our travels before we went down for breakfast. We sat at the same table as for the previous day’s breakfast and dinner; it must have had our name on it. Comfortably replete we checked out of the Inn and went to Halifax to see Halifax Minster. We were greeted warmly on arrival  by a church warden and volunteer. The church was wonderful, especially with the sunshine streaming through the stained glass windows. The rays of light produced a spiritual feeling.

We decided not to visit the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment Museum and leave that for another occasion. Because of the time of year not many places were open but we found that Bramall Hall in Stockport was and that we could use our Historic Houses cards there. Our journey to Bramall Hall was scenic, providing us with stunning views.

We had lunch in the cafe which was quite chaotic so afterwards it was nice to go on the suggested short walk where we were able to view the interesting building from all aspects. The Hall was an unexpected gem with an fascinating history. When I entered one of the rooms I found it to be unexpectedly cold compared to the rest of the house. I lingered a while… When I read the guidebook later I found that this room is reputed to be haunted.

As we left the building a dog ran over to me in great excitement, jumping up and leaving muddy paw prints on my trousers. The owner turned round and smiled as I asked the dog not to jump up. It is a good job I like dogs, the owner didn’t even call the dog back!

We stopped off briefly in Handforth Dean for a cup of tea and to pick up a few essentials for our evening meal. Our journey home took us past the Twemlow Viaduct and Jodrell Bank where we witnessed a glorious sunset.