We all know that Snowdonia is the love of my life, but some days I think I could have a damn good affair with the Peak District.

After a meeting out west today, I took a detour of less than five minutes on the return journey to squeeze in a run at the Roaches. The weather forecast was poor, but that hadn’t quashed my eagerness to get out in some proper terrain. As it happened I ended up in glorious sunshine. With a brand spanking new pair of shoes on, I set off from the car and made my way to the southern end of the fantastic jumble of geology which is so famous in the climbing world.

I pushed hard on the climb, and thought I’d seen the last of the sun as it dipped behind the clouds as I passed Doxey’s Pool. It soon re-appeared with a vengence, by which point I was passing the trig point and started to descend to the road.

Returning south, I did a double-take when what I thought was the trig point turned out to be a monk in full robes, including hood. Making the most of the evening, I stuck to the absolute edge and the sunshine instead of following the path in the shade further back.

Almost back at the car, I made the mistake of looking at Hen Cloud bathed in the wonderful golden sun. I couldn’t resist, so had a quick blast up there too. By the time I’d returned to my start point the sun had dropped below the horizon. It was great to get out, and to be so lucky with the weather too. If only every day ended this well!