The Moat House Richmond

... loads of time with one mountain to go. On the way down, it was a different story. Basically it went straight down, but it wasn't the easiest of trails as it was really wey and muddy. Once down, we had a quick break before we moved on, but we didn't have far to go efore we were climbing Ingleborough. At 723 metres high, it is the secong highest peak but the hardest to climb. Even though there were stairs, they went straight up, and never stopped !!!

After what seemed ...

One of the reasons we wanted to stay in York was so we could go to Durham and Lincoln. So after doing our laundry (more about that later) we got on the train 2 stops back up the line to the ancient cathedral town of Durham. When I went there in ’75, my mother asked me to find the Venerable Bede when I went to Durham. I was young and silly and didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know who he was. Now I do and love him so. He was around Durham before the ...

... pubs in Osmotherley.

The picture is one Him & Her took on their walk - but why anyone would want to photograph snails having their lunch is beyond me!!












Got back home around 5.00pm and then they tucked me up for the night, taking care to do all they needed to settle me down for a long rest.

... very long time in Thirsk.

On Monday morning we had a very tearful time saying goodbye to my Mum, Dad and Emma. We are hoping Emma was none the wiser as Mum took her out for a walk and we packed and moved out while they were gone.

No one could have prepared us for how it feels to say goodbye to family. I was obviously ...

... Tamsin's. It is held on the shores of Loch Ness. A two day event we were there for the first day (saturday) only but stayed in Inverness until monday. The gig was great. Very dance music oriented with the likes of Lottie, Mylo and Pete Tong on the wheels of steel. But it was really the headline act I was there to see. Fat Boy Slim closed the firsted day on the main stage and he didn't disappoint. I have called my time up in Scotland 'The Charm Offensive ...

... other. Oh, yes, the British motorist is polite. They rarely drive at the speed limit and will do a U turn in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic should they see the need. [As a for instance, I was driving along a narrow, two lane road near Kingston when a car comes out of a garage on my right, forces me to slam the brakes on and then stops at an angle half way into my side of the road to talk to a friend at the a bustop. I and the following ...

... and Lang to the Central Courts to Marks and Spencer. The most striking building was that labelled as City Hall, an Americanism for Town Hall. London still has it's Town Hall elsewhere but this building now houses the governing body of the city and looks like a glass birthday cake whose layers of sponge and cream have slipped side ways. We walked up and on to Tower Bridge which looked really stunning at close quarters. I was surprised to learn that it is only 100 years old. I ...

... but were then subjected to a bag search and a body scan. I had my knife removed and had to empty all my pockets of my camera, phone etc. Unlike Anne I do object to this invasion...but silently so. Through the security there was a cloakroom to which I was directed to deposit my bag. Why couldn't they situate the cloakroom outside so that I would not have to go through that search? There was a special exhibition of Canaletto drawings and paintings of ...

... probably were even when they were built. [Not all courtiers could afford to live in fine 20 bedroom country homes so I have no doubt that there was apartment living in past centuries just as now.] We crossed the bridge back into town and had a beer in a typical English town pub. Bought some blank CD's and went searching for the elusive fresh bread. No luck again so ended up with some buns from Waitrose and walked back to the flat. Lunchtime.

... family. It is refreshing to know that in this world of corporate hotels where one feels like a piece of machinery, there was a place where hosts still take the time to remember your names and make you feel like it's their privilege to have you stay in their house. We are grateful that fate brought us together with Janet and Freddy. I think Kelly said it best when he said that he felt that Ratho was his home in Scotland. And when was the last time that anyone said that ...