New Year's Day is for waxing lyrical and I saw the old year out by going for a couple of days walking in the Derbyshire Dales. Staying at Hartington YHA which was a stunning and atmospheric building. I had started using the accommodation provided by YHA when I studied for my Masters in Playwriting in Salford back in 2013 and I have been a convert to the charity movement ever since. It is said that Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed at Hartington Hall on his way to Derby from Scotland. I wonder if he played chess in the snow. On the Friday, the snow had come down heavy in the night and only 4X4's and Land Rovers were getting through. It appeared that Land Rovers were the required mode of transport for Peak People.
Hartington village was particularly picturesque in the snow and the above picture of the Union Jack and the British Legion sign could have been from any era had it not been for the cars in the background. The Devonshire Arms in the village was without doubt the most welcoming hostelry I had ever been in and when you go in make sure you ask for the Soup of the Day. I was fortunate that on my day the soup was 'Mushroom & Stilton'. Bendigedig as they say in Welsh. My walking companion (who shall remain nameless for security purposes) and I managed to complete two circular routes, one of 8km and one of 12km and we also had time for a flying visit to the Spa Town of Buxton where I had last visited as a snotty nosed, miserable teenager with my parents back in the early 1980's. We had visited Little John's grave in Hathersage back then and a woman had heard us talking in Welsh and told us in the same language where the gravestone was. This time, towards the end of the first circular walk, a young lady, who was sat on a rock clearing her head, heard myself and my companion chatting in Welsh and she engaged us in conversation. Alex from Bangor and her boyfriend George from Athens were on a mini break in Hartington and they offered us a lift in to Buxton in the afternoon. Bendigedig again a diolch iddynt am y cymwynas!
Wimbledon Common.
What really impressed us about the Peak District was the people. Peak people were down to earth and welcoming. On our journey home we got to waxing lyrical about the English. We cheered every time we saw a flag of St George and booed every time we saw the Union Jack. The Union Jack is a very presumptuous banner with a history to make Guardianistas squirm. In 2018 as visitors and tourists to England, we urge you to promote England and Englishness, your distinctive cultural identity rather than Britishness and we hope that you will reciprocate when you visit Wales by encouraging us to identify as Cymry rather than British. As Welsh Nationalists we are very loathe to praise others other than our own people, for all their Belisha Beacon faults like voting for Brexit, but in my opinion the Peak People were nicer than the Welsh so stick that in your clay pipe to keep your plague away.
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