diana

Hi - I'm helping to organise an event on 27th April 2019 in aid of Action4Diabetics, a charity that supports children in SE Asia with type 1 diabetes. The event involves walking (or running!) a 50 mile loop in the Peak District, starting and finishing in Crosspool. There are also 25 and 15 mile options. You have 24 hours to complete the challenge, but however far you get, we'll come and pick you up if you want to stop at any point. Particularly encouraged are people with diabetes, families, and children (last year 3 under-12s completed over 50 miles between them!), though all are welcome! If you don't fancy walking, we also need people to volunteer just a few hours of their day or evening to help marshal the event (you need a car, but no special skills!). More info at https://www.action4diabetics.org/walk-the-peak-district-a4d-true-grit-challenge/ or drop me a message here.

Thanks to the owners for the constructive reply. I wasn't aware that Oreos etc over here are a different recipe - I've eaten them in both countries and they taste the same to me! But it's a fair point, you pay for what you get. I'm just surprised people are willing to pay so much! And yes, I'm aware you have to pay silly prices to get authentic English foods in parts of Europe - my same comment applies. I can't imagine what on earth possesses people to spend so much to get a Tetley teabag in Spain! It's not even good tea LOL. But it seems people are prepared to pay over the odds for non-native foods. I find it astonishing, that's all. Glad for you that the business is booming. I'll be waiting till I go to the US for my fix of American foods....

Not hysterical. And why does it matter how often I post? My point was simply that no matter how much I enjoy some of the American foods sold, I wouldn't personally spend that much money when it's so much more expensive than getting it in the US, and so much more expensive than similar items here. I didn't investigate closely but things like the Reese's stuff are widely available over here at much cheaper prices - the only difference I could see was that they come in different sized packs. I'm just stunned that in general, people are prepared to pay so much for these things - to pay £5 for a box of cereal, for example.

I went into the one in Chapel Walk yesterday and was shocked at the prices. It seems to be incredibly expensive! £5 for a box of cereal? £1.50 for a chocolate bar? £5 for a pack of Oreos (that cost less than half of that in Tescos, Sainsbury's etc.)? What a ripoff! You could order these things online and get them shipped from the US for far less!

Glad you all enjoyed the walk and that you missed the snow. I never said there would still be snow or that you shouldn't do the walk, incidentally, I just thought I'd mention what the conditions were like last weekend in case they *were* still bad and that - as you found out - it's quite a tough 8 miles.

Best avoid any of this lot if it hurts to laugh, never mind the walking!

Around Alport Castles, it was pretty much impossible to see the path in parts, and the snow even on the path was knee deep, off the path it was waist deep in places. But yes I imagine it will have melted a fair bit by Sunday. It's never warm up there though, even in summer, if it's at all windy! Looking forward to seeing the pictures - I wish I had taken more!

Sorry, didn't want to scare anyone off, it is a fantastic walk and I'd recommend it even in the conditions of last Sunday! I'm sure the snow will have eased a bit by then. But I just thought it might be useful to know what the conditions were like in case you want to be a bit prepared, it certainly gave me a shock that they were so bad on Sunday. PS I will now laugh if you all fall in those snow drifts :-)

Oh, one more thing. The view from Alport Castles was pretty much white with a touch of white, as opposed to the normal stunning views!

A word of warning. I did almost exactly this route two days ago on Sunday, but with a slight extension at the beginning and end, and what normally takes 5 hours took us nearly 8 hours (and we were going at a fair pace with only a short stop for lunch - it was pretty cold on the top!). The snow was quite deep much of the way (up to my knees) so it was tough walking, and there were many places around Alport Castles itself where there were snow drifts up to my waist. I fell in a few of them and ended up with icy water in my boots as a result. Made for a pleasant remaining 4 hours.... The path is pretty difficult to see as there's so much snow up there, and it was impossible to pick out the snow drifts in advance so pot luck if you fall in them or not! We left Fairholmes at 10.30am, by the time we got to Haggwater Bridge it was nearly 5pm and we decided to walk back along the main road rather than risk going back over the top in the dark. It was pretty icy on some of the ascents/descents around Fairholmes also. Now, I expect much of the snow will have melted by this Sunday so you could be OK. But be warned also that the descent from Alport Castles was pretty slippy with a lot of melting snow which had turned the ground to mud, that's going to get a lot worse if the snow does melt! Anyway, you might be fine if the conditions have improved, but I'd be prepared for the conditions to be pretty bad (and maybe take a headtorch in case it does take as long as it took us, we were very grateful for ours anyway!). I'd strongly recommend gaiters and some good windproofs as it's quite exposed at the top.

Don't understand your aversion to trainers! Maybe you are thinking of years ago but modern trainers are very light, comfortable and breathable and by far the best thing to wear in the gym! Many gyms won't let you in without trainers anyway. Running shoes are often the lightest and most comfortable kind of trainers.

If anyone's interested, there's also a mixed softball team in Sheffield. We don't start training till the weather gets a bit better, usually around March some time. We play through the summer, both for fun and in a league and tournaments around the country, depending how seriously you want to take it. http://www.sheffieldsoftball.org.uk for more info

Plenty of pavements HAVE been gritted. Look around town and you'll see. Do you not watch the news at all? There is a national shortage of grit and they are only gritting the major roads at the moment. They are also working 24/7 with the gritters, they can't magic more people, gritters or grit out of nowhere! Why don't you go and get shovelling instead of whinging on here?

anyone provide an update today on the route?

thanks! Yes I'm going on the train to Manchester tonight. For 4 people it's not very economically viable though.