From Ten Minutes Away To Fifteen Minutes Away.

A ten minute walk from home became a fifteen minute walk from home. The steps outward, tentative.  Each step, delicate, unsure, nervous yet inspired with the knowledge of a further adventure. The pathway beckoned downward.   A beckoning for another day.  Just to the right, a hidden route, obscured by overgrowth.  I headed right,  An eager dog scurried ahead.

An open field of golden grass filled my eyes with hopeful vision.  

Houses in the solitude.  Rolling hills in the background.

We circled around and backtracked to the left, to the west, to view the north.  And to the north, two picture views of The Roaches.  Rocky ridges of such contrast with the surrounding countryside. 

Continuing back westward.  See how the greenery has become more pronounced.

Even more greenery.

A couple more panoramic views as we continue back westward.  Can you see the wind mill on yonder hill? 

We are nearly back to that original pathway.  An adventure that lasted two hours.  Two hours in my progress of getting back out there as I battle with ongoing exhaustion.  

Spot, the dog.  No, not a dog named, Spot.  Spot the dog?  Yep, somewhere in there is Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar!  Can you spot the dog?

A Cacophony Of Confusing Chatter.

For too long, I've been feeling like I'm the solitary figure, sitting in a crowded room.  Off in the corner, listening to the voices, blending together like garbled gibberish.   Not one voice discernible amongst the cacophony of confusing chatter.  

Yet, I felt this way as I sat alone in my living room, trying to battle against the negative energy that has battered my fragile ego.  I needed calm.  I needed peace.  I needed the mixed up voices of the inner critic to hush and let me breathe again.  Then I remembered just how beautiful it is in the world just outside my front door.  I needed to go out.  The above photo is a view of  The Roaches, just four miles from the town of Leek.  The photograph was taken from a vantage point just a few minutes walk from where I live.  

 Three miles north of where I live, you can get this magnificent view of Rudyard Lake in the foreground and a hill named, The Cloud, in the background.   You can click to enlarge any of the photos.

And now I observe the view on offer from the road that runs along the side of The Roaches.  Off in the distance, the sleepy town of Leek can be seen.  

You may be aware just how sunny and warm it has been here in Britain.  Here is the sun almost set beyond yonder hill.  The view from The Roaches, on this most gorgeous of days, left me feeling alive and refreshed.

 The sun had almost sunk beyond the horizon.  I sat there alone and reflected upon the day, that glorious day I decided to go out and learn to breathe again.  The cacophony of confusing chatter had been replaced by the soothing calm of a gentle voice.  The voice that told me that the negative energy would never defeat me.  

And tomorrow?  Well, based on today, I shall endeavour to live my life embracing the magic of a positive reality.    

Twilight In Leek.

It was twilight.  A glowing sun cast reddish hues upon the town of Leek.  In the centre of the photograph is Waterloo Mill,  now converted apartments, once a thriving silk mill.  In the background is the cliff formation known as 'The Roaches'.  

And as the sun dipped over the western horizon, I stood on the hill, not far from my home and I soaked in the beauty of twilight.  Twilight at the end of a warm and sunny day.  The church you see is named 'St. Edwards'.

To the north and the east, the shadows of darkness enveloped the sleepy little town of Leek.  Leek, 'The Queen of the Moorlands' and just a few miles away from the magnificence that is the Peak District National Park.

I looked off into the distance.  The twinkling lights, the remaining embers of a reddish pink sky, were  reminders that is was to time to head home.
I do almost everything on my own.  I sit in the living room, listen to the ticking of the clock, as the pendulum gently sways back and forth, back and forth.  I sit here alone and in between the chatter that torments my mind, I hear the beating of my troubled heart.  Gentle music plays sweetly in the background.  I listen to the sounds and reach for the comfort of a melodic tune.
Soon, I will go to bed.  Another restless night of staring at the waving shadows that dance and play on the bedroom wall.  And I will wonder, yes I will wonder, will the dawn, the calling of the morning birds, ease my worried mind.  Everyday is a new day, a new chance, a new hope that my sadness will end.  And through my darkness, way off in the distance, maybe, just maybe, I will see the flickering remains of my beacon of hope.

The Roaches.

Pull yourself together.  What?  How can I do that when I'm 'beside myself'?  Yeah I know.  Let's tie that in with all those other lines I've used in the past, such as, I'm 'in bits', 'all over the place', 'cracking up' and 'falling to pieces'.  No wonder I'm feeling 'shattered'.
Maybe you can relate to this.  I can spend so much time worrying about others that it starts to take its toll on my mental health well being.  I know, just like you know, that we must take care and be gentle with ourselves.  That is not selfish for we all need 'me' time.
Thus I went out again today and took a few photographs of a nearby beauty spot.  I would very much like to share with you a few moments of my day.

About four miles north of Leek, Staffordshire, on the road heading towards Buxton, Derbyshire, are a series of long rocky ridges named collectively as 'The Roaches'.

Here is a closer view of part of The Roaches.  Now I realise that you might be thinking of 'Roaches' as in the slang term for the end part of one those 'cigarettes' that makes you feel kinda'....well...different.  Or you might have visualised one of those most amazing of bugs, the legendary, 'CockRoach'.  Well actually, the name, 'The Roaches', for these magnificent gritstone escarpments, comes from the French language, as in 'les roches', which means, 'the rocks'.  As a note of interest, there have evidently been sightings of Wallabies hopping around The Roaches.  Did I mention something about a funny cigarettes?

Here is another view of The Roaches.  The highest point in The Roaches is 1657 feet.   Awesome views of Leek and the surrounding countryside can be seen from these wonders of nature.

All these photographs were taken from a place named 'Tittesworth Reservoir'.  The reservoir holds up to 1.4 billion gallons of water and is the primary supply for the 'Severn Trent Water Company'.  I realise you can have loads of fun with the name 'Tittesworth'.

I took one more photograph as the setting sun cast shadows on the landscape.  Do you see that house in the centre of the picture?  What a fantastic location that is.
This little journey out had been respite from my personal sadness.  I challenge my depression.  Today has been a very good day.  
I hoped you like these photographs.  Please take care and be gentle with yourself.