So where in the world are the intrepid travellers ? Not far. We are standing on a patch of scrubby ground on Hassocky Lane . Glenn is leaning against a gate which proudly tells us not to park there as access is needed at all times. It does not look from the state of the rusty chain and lock that anyone has used that gate for some while. I stand at the side of him pacing back and forward . We have a view across the field . The colour of late summer yellow. The path runs down the field into trees and beyond that we see the crooked spire of Chesterfield church . You cannot miss it from this height . Not that this part of Derbyshire is high but it is slightly higher than the surrounding land. After Wales it feels flat . It is 5 oclock and we are not usually out at this time on a Saturday evening. The sun is still high in the sky and we are waiting. We are looking at the sky. Waiting for something to arrive. Knowing our luck it wont arrive at all.
Temple Normanton to a spot we had picked as being as good as any. A spot of high ground we hoped would be just the right spot . Temple Normanton is old although looking at it you would never credit it. In the Domesday Survey it was in the hands of the king who later passed it to the order of the Knights Templar. When the Knights Templar were dissolved in the early 14th century, the land and property of the village passed to the Order of the Hospital of St John and Henry VIII did his usual hatchet job on the order . Our spot was one we had stood on to try to watch a flypast by a Vulcan bomber . Sadly that mission failed and it did our way. We hoped that today would be different . We made the decision to move and ended up further down the road by the gate overlooking what we hoped was Calow Hospital .
So rewind a day or two . Friday was a nothing day. So boring I took to cleaning the kitchen cupboards . We had discussed selling the house again so a Spring Clean
despite it being July was required . Plates out,. wiped over and put back . Towels taken out of cupboards and replaced . The dishwasher and washing machine cleaned . Tins in the cupboards taken out. Even the freezer got a look in on the cleaning schedule . Why is it you find that corned beef at the back unused? . Put there a while ago when I had too much to make a corned beef hash. Put away to use again but long forgotten.
So it was to bed . Saturday . Let me take you a walk . Down to the main road and past the farm. The stream was in full flow . Still shallow enough for the horses to wade through and a small bridge for me to walk across. The last walk I took this way left me thinking a half and half field . Half cut ready for the next crop. Half left because the rain over. Today the whole field was shorn. The path was sludgy and wet. My feet squelched in the mud. I was slowed down by the mud . The colours were predominently green. This point of
high summer is always green with accents of pink, mauve and crimson. I climbed down the wooden steps into the gloom of the woods . Out again into the fields where the sun was shining again . Not many butterflies . Was it the hot spring or the wet summer? A cabbage white and a Meadow Brown. Not even a glimpse yet of the red and black stripped caterpillar of the Cinnebar Moth. So many walks they now all look the same .
Home and cleaning again. Then the reason why we found ourselves standing in a rough patch of land looking skywards . A colleague posted that a Spitfire was flying over our local hospital . The underbelly with its signwriting - Thanks NHS. It over at 5.28 exactly. We just needed to find a spot and hope it came our way. We were joined by our gate when another couple turned up. We apologised that we were not sure we were even standing in the right spot . Here at Temple Normanton we hoped we were on the flight path of the Spitfire . They stood across the path doing a good job of social distancing . I paced listening to the noise of the traffic .
