A very pleasant and interesting weekend. On Saturday whilst the family were tucked up in bed I really fancied a good 2 1/2 hour walk around York and that's what I did. I went round the usual route and early morning York was serene and purposeful as usual. Whilst going past the Central Hall in York University the General Synod was in progress and I didn't think it was a good idea to go tell them to get way into Christian Unity and making a better society and don't get diverted by all these silly issues to do with homosexuality and women priests. There is absolutely nothing explicit in the Bible which forbids same-sex relationships or women priests. Women priests are a good thing in my view. When I went back through the centre of York a whole load of people had turned up many of them dressed up because it was Race Day which would explain the very horsey looks. That's gambling for you. On Sunday with the family we went to see Veronica Fionas Mum over in the South Lakes and on the way we stopped at the foot of Bowderdale and had a one hour walk into the valley. Which was totally amazing. The strong sweet smell of freshly cut grass where the farmers had just laid out the Hay was overpowering and beautiful. The lads shot off ahead to stretch their legs and Fiona and I kept stopping to look at the various plants and geography features such as the amazing gullies that carve up into the sides of the dale and the various alluvial fans massive deposits of gravel and small rock which were in the gullies a few thousand years ago. Actually, as I found out today some of the gravel was in the gullies only 30 years ago and Bowderdale is a well studied one with lots of information about it . Through the binoculars looking up at the snakelike meander of the river coming down from the large Fell of Yarlside was magical. When we got to see Veronica she was in good health or as well as she can be and we had a really good laugh and a nice talk. It is truly gratifying to know that she is in such a fine old people's home where they really care for the residents. A very nice day and I cannot wait to go back to the Howgills and Bowderdale in a couple of weeks time to look at all the plants, birds, geology and geography features and I'm planning the route already. Though I must mention this I really enjoyed the Wham Charity Bash on Saturday sitting in with all the people and talking with them but I found playing difficult because the sound quality was so abysmal. There were several mikes at the front of the stage and one of them had been left turned up way too much and was just constantly feeding back throughout the set. I thought it was my amp at first but it wasn't. Next year I will insist on a sound check before we get going. It was my fault really given was the most experienced musician there! I feel I let Button Hall Jam down a little bit and was disappointed that I did not manage to have a good warbling session with Klara the female lead singer although there was plenty of harmonica blasting out! A good weekend.