A lovely trip out .

 Hubby took the week off work last week , so we could go out and about with the kids .

 We are lucky to have lots of natural attractions locally, but tend to always go to the same places. We had , however been trying to make a list of new things to do and see. So , we decided to go to Chesterfield Canal last Monday , for a change .

  We parked up at Tapton Lock , walked as far as we could one way and then returned for a picnic lunch before heading off in the opposite direction for a while .
  To say how close it is to the centre of town , it was fairly quiet and peaceful .
 Lots of lovely things to see.

The buddleia bushes were full of butterflies and bees . I love to see butterflies ,especially the Peacocks.

So pretty .

 Look at the size of this bee .

You can see the Crooked Spire from the tow path .

 Love these flowers. I thought that they looked a bit like orchids , but on investigation at home , it turns out they are called Indian Balsam and are classed as a destructive weed due their high transplantation rate. apparently the seeds spread a long way , very quickly .

Still think they are pretty though .

 More butterflies .

 We were pretty amazed to see the size of the fungus growing on this tree.

 Each one was bigger than a dinner plate .

 And of course ,we have to have ducks .

 We spent a happy half hour or more watching these two diving to the bottom and popping up again , so cute .

 Another species of butterfly. I need to look in my book to see what kind they are .

 Cool spiral bridge .

 Wild teasel . We managed to get a couple of the smaller ones . boy are those things prickly .

So , all in all a lovely day out . Me and the kids got a couple of bits from the shop. Well , you need souvenirs of good days out , don't you ?

 Tuesday , hubby took the kids to the park while I did the shopping  . Wednesday was an even better day out , but I'll save that for later .
 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath x