shewhomust | Weardale in August

What with the need to claim squares for the Use Your Paths challenge, and the cold grey summer, we have not been out of the hills at all this year. And suddenly it's mid-August, and the heather's in bloom, and we woke to a beautiful bright morning - which had clouded over by the time we were ready to go out, but never mind, time to cross off a few squares in Weardale.

Walking through heather sounds very romantic, and it's not too bad if it's this year's growth, still quite soft and low to the ground; tolerable if it's been burnt back, spiky and inclined to leave black smudges on your trousers (which are in any case becoming quite wet around the hems); but the full grown heather is knee high, springy and thick enough to conceal substantial boulders or ditches that I'm liable to fall over (or into), not to mention the grouse who start up from underfoot with a loud clatter. Hard work, and since it's so long since I've done any of this kind of walking, I'm out of practice: by the time we reached the shooting box where we would stop and eat our picnic, I was exhausted.

The afternoon was mostly easier walking, along tracks and grassy paths. There were some interesting moments, obviously: the path that plunged through bracken over a sheer drop, the alleged ford through the Stanhope Burn (it has been a very wet summer). But there were also more opportunities to look around, and enjoy wide views along the flanks of the hills - I've missed this, and it was good to be out.

Also: today is my brother's birthday. We arrived home to find a postcard from him and my sister-in-law: they have been staying with friends in Keighley, visited Saltaire and bought a Moomin postcard at Salt's Mill for us.