Saturday 22nd November
Friday overnight in Peterborough and breakfast today sat at the next table to Dave Prowse, Darth Vader in Star Wars. Later in the morning we went to the first Collectors Fair at the East of England Showground.

We enjoyed talks by a model engineer, an expert in modern pottery collecting and then a fascinating illustrated presentation by a set designer and maker from "Thunderbirds". He owns the only genuine model of Scott Tracey, worth upwards of £50,000.

The final speaker was Eric Knowles who entertained us with anecdotes of times from his childhood in Lancashire and experiences as an auctioneer and as an expert on The Antiques Roadshow.

Wednesday 12th November
Being such a beautiful day we drove to Ribblehead to walk near the viaduct, having travelled over it on the train many times.


Having walked through a service tunnel we found ourselves in true limestone country.

The River meandered down the valley and we were surprised how many houses there are along the sides.

The river vanishes underground here for a couple of hundred yards.

On the way back we called in at Ingleton and Clapham.

Friday 31st October
This afternoon we drove to Coniston, near Kilnsey, for a short walk to Coniston Pie which is an unusually shaped rocky outcrop. The walk starts from the village up a gully where a stream used to run.


Half a mile past the head of the gully we came to Coniston Pie and stood on the top enjoying the strong wind and fresh air.


The sky was blue and the views in all directions were superb.

Tuesday 28th October
Today we drove across to Liverpool to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary.
We visited The Liverpool World Museum to see and hear 'The Beat Goes On', a celebration of 58 years of music in this city.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/exhibitions/thebeatgoeson/

We also visited The Walker Art Gallery and explored the city centre which has a great deal of building work going on.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/

Wednesday 29th October
We walked up from our hotel next to Albert Dock to the Liverpool Metropolitan RC Cathedral.


It is a very impressive building and much bigger inside than we expected.


Not far away is the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.

This had a very different feel to the Metropolitan Cathedral and is a much more traditional design, but was only completed 30 years ago. We took the lift up to a gallery to see some beautiful clerical embroidery.

We left Liverpool via the Birkenhead Tunnel to visit Port Sunlight. This purpose built village was much more extensive than we expected. At The Lady Lever Art Gallery here we saw this painting of Bubbles, of which Rachael now has a print that originally belonged to her great grandma.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ladyLever/

Friday 17th October
This week's walk was by the River Wharfe from Bolton Abbey to Barden Tower and back.

It was perfect walking weather and the trees were just taking on their Autumnal colours.

We left the riverside to take a short detour so that we could have a closer look at Barden Tower. It was rebuilt by Lady Anne Clifford in 1658 and looks sturdy, though roofless, today

The Strid was flowing well and the mossy rocks were like green velvet.

We stopped at the bird hide downstream and were rewarded with a close up view of a kingfisher.

Wednesday 8th October
We decided to have a change and explore the area north of York. We set off from Sheriff Hutton on a path just by the remains of a fourteenth century castle.

The walk was mainly across fields with lots of sheep and cattle in them. We passed several ponds and this was the largest.

Later we passed through two fields with the outlines of where there had once been a village. We also walked through a racing stable yard and alongside the gallops before joining the Ebor Way to return to Sheriff Hutton.

Thursday 2nd October
This is the view over Kirkby Malham at the start of today's walk. The weather was much cooler than of late.

After we passed through Ayrton we returned by walking upstream by the side of the River Aire.