I was ten minutes down the A50 this morning when I realised that I hadn't put my waterproof over-trousers in the car, and it was pouring with rain... but it was too late to go back. 

When I was almost at the start point I realised that I'd gone wrong and pulled my glasses out to look at the map only to find the case empty, no specs...  I have no idea what's happened to them**.  So at that point I got the satnav out of the glove box and arrived with ten minutes to spare.

There were thirteen of us, so not a bad turnout for a very wet walk, with plenty of boggy bits and slippery tree roots and stiles.  In fact we found a huge variety of stiles and gates as we wended our way in and out of the deer park near Oakamoor, we had to breathe in a lot and lift our legs very high on occasion.  We saw several herds of deer, lots of sheep, and three ponies who were hopeful we were going to take them inside to a dry stable and walked alongside us, until they were sadly disappointed.

It's been a while since I walked with 'my' walking group and it's been lovely to catch up.

**That's two things I've lost in the last week, the glasses and a belay glove.  The glove was lost on Thursday when a friend wanted to see them while we were at Alter Rock climbing wall.  I popped out to the car and fetched them in for her to try on, she handed them back to me and.... well that's the last I saw of the left one.

8.11 miles
3 hours 2 minutes
1087 feet ascent