Yesterday with the family we had a nice little walk around Richmond in Swaledale, North Yorkshire. We were supposed to go to see Fiona's mum, Veronica, over at Barrow in Furness in the southern Lake District but Fiona woke up feeling like a dead dog in part because the antibiotics the doctor had given her have now stopped but she has no other medicine other than painkillers to deal with the sinusitis. Illness is a hassle sometimes! Anyway, instead we went over to Richmond to have a romantic walk around the town and I sent off our two doggies to walk and talk over any walk they like around Richmond so long as they met up with us on Richmond Castle Walk 90 minutes later. We just lolled around looking at the great 18th-century houses in and around the centre of Richmond and had a good look at the Yoredale series of rocks down by the river and this geological feature is always interesting because it can be very inconsistent even within the same few metres horizontally of rock. They are known as cyclothems because you get a series of sandstone, shale, and limestone reflecting the different conditions at the time of deltas, shallow ocean and deeper ocean. There were some good plans made yesterday as well. We spent some time just gawping at a very nice house/cottage which we decided we would buy if it was still on the market five years from now, the garden was big enough for Fiona to enjoy but not too big that I had to suffer it and the house was small enough that when our lads came back with the grandchildren they would not stop to long, so there was much hilarity, half serious thought and a nice view over at Billy Banks Wood to contemplate. Nobody was in the house so we just had a good stare into the Windows! My line has always been, "If you leave the curtains open I will look!" I do this when I walk around York all the time and get an interesting insight into just how much better people live compared to Fiona and me in terms of the fabric and furnishing of a house.We are still slumming it as if we were students basically. I do not stare all the time of course I just notice occasionally! Anyway, after having a good look at some of the stones in the River Swale Fiona started to get dizzy and I had thoughts of romantically catching her in my arms when she fell over in a dead faint but that did not happen thank goodness so we sauntered up to the Castle Walk and after wiping all the rain off the seat sat there and had a glorious cuddle looking at Billy Banks Wood from a higher point this time, but also with some lovely drizzle blowing in the wind in vertical sheets from the North and that was a very nice sight wet enough to enjoy and wet enough to be moving on after half an hour which we did when the boys turned up but only after I insisted they sit for 10 minutes to just morbidly enjoy the wet view. Nothing like getting damp together to foster family unity! They thought that was quite funny but we all got a bit soggy after 10 minutes so it was back to the car, home and ham and chips, Star Trek and as Pink Floyd say "One day closer to death"! Miles and I always have a good laugh about Pink Floyd lyrics and he thinks the band, the music and the lyrics are totally brilliant. I agree with him.

Last Saturday I had a lovely 4 mile walk around the Durham Woods with my younger son Clifford. Fiona was not feeling well so she stayed at home and Miles was busy with his Star Trek writing so he kept her company. It was a quiet overcast day and the river was up due to the rain all sediment and soil from Weardale. About a mile in my trusted excitement point, a pair of Goosanders , appeared and that was great. The female was quite twitchy and flew off immediately but the male has now got used to people and just floated off down the stream ignoring us. We saw another pair which I think were under a year old looking at the feathers , just beneath the weir downstream from Prebends Bridge. Because it was Christmas Eve I couldn't have a Starbucks coffee with my younger doggie but we were quite content to have biscuit break perched on the steps in Durham Market as usual. Because I wanted to get back to listen to the Carols at Kings College Cambridge programme on radio four we shot back over the town and when we got home we were all happy and glowey from a good walk. Clifford is very good company!