On boxing day we walked up Shuttlingsloe. We had awoken to find a world made small and grey by thick fog. There was a temptation to forget about going out and to curl up at home instead, but we decided we needed to get out of the house for a while regardless. We packed our things; hats, gloves, water bottles, bits of gingerbread and the remainders of a selection box and jumped into the car. As we drove the fog seemed to get thicker, and some doubts were beginging to creep in. Tramping up a hill isn’t quite the same if you can only see 5 meters in front of you. As we got into the peak district and started to gain some elveation, the fog got thinner, and patches of blue sky could be glimpsed through the mist. Then suddenly we were out, above the clouds, luxuriating under an intoxicatingly blue sky and glorious sun.

We parked at Clough House and walked over towards Shuttlingsloe. Here a few wisps of fog were still clinging to the trees like candyfloss. As we got out of the trees and onto the higher moorland we left behind those grey tendrils and bathed in the crystal clear skies. The walk across the fields to the foot of the hill is short but steep, and our hearts were pounding when we stopped there for a quick break, a slurp of water and a nibble of gingerbread. There was not a breath of wind, and in the sunshine it felt warm. Coats got taken off and tied around waists before we set off on the short sramble to the top.

The view was spectacular. The green and brown hilltops around us disapperaring into the sea of clouds, with the mountains of Snowdonia just visible on the horizon and the Sutton Common Tower standing tall like a lighthouse. It felt like we had found a portal to another world.