Last night I saw the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn for the first time. Also a close-up of the full moon, so large that it barely fitted in the eyepiece. We were very fortunate: it had been so murky a day that I had no expectation of clear skies – and, indeed, everything clouded over again just as we were finishing.

I started today by misreading the bus timetable. A mild, misty day with the promise of sunshine. I definitely didn’t want to wait two hours for another bus so set off on foot for a path that included a “Ford” marked on the map! The route I chose was cautious rather than direct (and, yippee, the dreaded “Ford” was furnished with a footbridge), and I reached Hadrian’s Wall at the Temple of Mithras. I had the impression from the map that this wasn’t a great stretch to walk – close to the road and the sound of traffic – but it was wonderful. I had the path to myself and I wasn’t expecting to come across the short section of wall still standing.

At Chollerford – far too early for the bus to Wark – I decided to catch a bus into Hexham for a coffee and a newspaper and return from there. A quite wonderful 24 hours.