The dawn chorus in the West Country is music to our ears as is a nighjar warbling in the twilight evening sky, but hiking isn't for me. Speaking for my lovely girlfriend and my daughter, we delight in gold prospecting in the river of our home and that often is quite energetic enough. A day's gold panning is rewarding when outside even in gentle rain, but we have to be clothed for the weather. Just lately it's been too inclement outside to be out.

We have a higher vantage point to watch sunsets. And the moon on the rise or on the wane, depending at the time of the year. Soingbirds keep respectable distance though they are used to us by now. Here in London, however, all we have are ghastly pidgeons and the mess they make.