Well, with the family yesterday I went over to visit Veronica, Fiona's mum and on the way we had a walk up through Carlingill up to Black Force through the slippy and treacherous but very beautiful gorge. On the subject of which as we came to a first stream crossing Fiona got cold feet about doing the great leap on to a rock in the middle of the stream and then on to the bank so she just ploughed into it but she did not pick her spot to well and it was quite deep where she stuck her foot in and she fell over and got very wet. It was the best stream fall in I have seen her do in years and we were in hoots of laughter. She is so game to have a go and I really love her for that. Onwards and upwards we were clambering about the sides of Carlingill which was quite treacherous because it had been raining and the Silurian rocks are very slippery when wet. Anyway, instead of doing my usual jump down from a metre height off a rock I thought it was a bit too slippy where I was about to land so I just did the old bum slide over it but the trouble was where my feet did land it was very slippery and I went careering over about 6 feet down to the edge of the stream, rolled, to save my back and then promptly nutted a very large rock inadvertently. I am sure the rock never felt a thing but I did! The boys were in hoots of laughter about this because Daddy is usually very surefooted. I must admit that when I picked myself up I felt very invigorated. And all of this before we even got to the very tricky and treacherous gorge. Well, when we got there it was very slippy and the path was about 20 cm wide sort of stomped into a 50° slope. Because so few people walk through Black Force it is very unstable and I was amazed to think that I took my family through there when the lads were quite young a few years ago. But on that day it was very dry and I specifically chose a dry day because clambering around gorges when it is wet can be just downright dangerous, in this particular gorge a few weeks ago someone died falling into it. So, everyone was holding on to the thick heather and grass as we traversed up and that was fine and quite safe but when we got to the arete to the right with a good view of the Black Force waterfall the way forward through the gorge was just too treacherous to take my family through. And so it was the great turn back. Downer, but it got interesting for me walking back because I have no grip in my gammy hand and could not hold on to the heather and grass and in several places where I put my feet I had some trepidation about whether they would stay in place or not and it was a long slide down to the gorge at the bottom. Oh boy! Still we managed and it was fun with a bit of heart thumping! As Fiona got changed out of her wet clothes in the car she had a huge swelling just below the knee where she bashed it in the river stumbling in. Go for it Fiona!

When we got to the South Lakes Veronica was in good fettle and talking with her was moving, magnificent and very merry and she enjoyed Fiona and I doing a demonstration of ceilidh dancing which we did for the boys to show them what is involved.They now want to go to a ceilidh! It is a real privilege to visit her and Fiona had taken a photo album of pictures of her when she was a baby and child and Veronica really enjoyed that. Looking at photos seems to captivate her and she literally looks 20 years younger. Brilliant! I look forward to seeing her next month. Well, after a crashing and banging walk around the slippy part of the Howgills and a gorgeous visit with my mother-in-law under our belts we headed off on our 100 mile trip back to the other side of the country and the Teeside Delta. A good day.