Taking a Bearing and Counting Steps

I had slept reasonably well at the YH in Stratford being all alone in a room with three bunkbeds... until late when I got a fellow inhabitant who was coughing loudly halfway through the night. Arg.
I've seen quite a few of the YHA hostels now and have to admit, they've all been spotlessly clean with good facilities, very friendly staff and a bargain price. Many feature bars and restaurants and I'm akways happy to book with them. The only downside is that you don't know who's sharing a dorm with you. 99% of people I met where very nice and had some interesting stories to tell and you can always book a private room.

Set off at 7:30am and arrived almost exactly two hours later in Foolow, a tiny village near Eyam. Every single house built with limestone it reminded me a lot of those beautiful Cotswolds villages.
Met our instructor on the green in the centre and spent the next hour an a half in the small village hall learning about maps, scales, compasses and how to take a bearing with four other students. We then headed out over some fields, put our knowledge of how to take a bearing to good use and learned how to measure 100 metres by counting our steps and getting familiar with our own stride.
The promised rain didn't show up and after lunch br.eak at the class room we were out again further practicing our newly acquired skills on a walk over moorland.
I've used maps before but mainly to match features on it to my surroundings and I used a compass only to walk into a general direction. I know how long I take on a stretch of a 1:50k map, but now I'm able to do this much more efficient. I can uses features around me to more or less judge exactly where I am on a map and can navigate to certain places that are not yet visible over pathless ground.

Drove over to Hathersage, checked in at the Little John Hotel, which is all Robin Hood themed to occupy Maid Marian's Room, ha! People who are familiar with my former alter ego will understand why I was quite excited about this. The room is absolutely amazing and spacious. Watched the rugby as it was too busy downstairs in the pub and went there for food afterwards. Plates looked generally good. The steak I ordered was a disappointment though.  Dry and nearer to well done than to medium-rare a ordered. Boo. Still, nice place. Will retire now to my posh room and watch some telly, not giving in to the urge to play some pool at the table here, hehe. Such a good cloth they have on it.