Summer is here

'Will you hold my stick while I have a wee?' I asked Alison after an hour and a half. 'I will not' she hit me playfully on the arm, 'oh, alright then' and took my walking stick while I disappeared behind a tree.

We were on a walk in Ingleton along the Twiss and Doe rivers. Through the Swilla Glen there is first one and then two or three coin encrusted logs. They look like ancient dragon limbs. People are encouraged to hammer coins vertically into these fallen tree trunks. One of them has an extra 10p in it now.

The weekend had promised to be glorious and so I wanted to head out a bit. I'd never been to Ingleton before and Alison knew the way, so off we set at 9.30am. I thought it would be busier but no. There were plenty people, but not too many for a gentle morning stroll. The four and half mile walk took about two hours, and back to Ingleton just in time for a late pub lunch in the sunshine. The waterfall trial has been designated a site of special scientific interest, and is definitely worth the trip. The views are great. I can't believe I've never been before. The two main waterfalls are Thornton Force and Beezly falls, pictured here.

On our way back we passed the Snow falls and massively steep gorges that are at once scary and make you want to dive in. It is as if a hot watery knife has been sliced across the limestone butter. I love limestone geology and studied it for my 'o' level, somewhere round here there'll be pot holes and hidden stalagmite and stalactite caves.

Limestone is sedimentary rock, made up of compressed exoskeletons of sea creature many millions of years old. It is amazing to think of all this below the sea, and rising up, only to be eroded flat again. The slippery, shiny limestone looks in parts like those tarnished metal statues of the saints in old cathedrals where their shoes or hand shine brightly from where people have touched them over the years.

By the time we got home I was exhausted, and so an early night. I got my first football game back today after nearly a two year lay off.