Continuing yesterday’s spirit of being sensible, I decided to walk towards (or even to) Nine Standards on Hartley Fell and back the same way, prepared to turn round if the path was too awful. I could see the stone piles on the skyline as I started up the bridlepath, and it seemed doable.

I almost baulked at a ford but found it manageable. My nemesis was the bridge close to the stones: it was under water and there was no other way without getting waterlogged boots. Since I was finding the walk a bit samey – a long trudge up on bare moorland into increasingly strong winds – I didn’t mind admitting defeat. I found a quiet spot to eat a banana and admire the view and then turned round. I think I saw a barn owl on the way down.