One of the joys of retirement is being able to travel around at a slower place and to possibly leave when everyone else is at work. Using the car is also something we should be trying not to do. So, when planning a visit to a friend in deepest Cumbria, I looked at the train timetables. 5 hours 43 minutes and two changes of train followed by a 23 mile taxi ride. There are no buses. It is 305 miles and would take 5 hours 26 minutes to drive.

This is the conundrum. Do I do the more socially acceptable thing and go by train, adding an expensive taxi ride on the end or do I drive? I have luggage for a week and a dog. The dog also has luggage. I drove.

Could my friend (who also has a dog) come and visit me I hear you ask? No, because she, like others I know in their 60s, is carer for her mother. How do you persuade your mother (and/or afford) to replace yourself with a 24/7 carer, even for a few days?

The North Pennines are wild and apparently empty. In reality, most of the endless blasted heath is private grouse moor, policed by gamekeepers. Roads from Newcastle, Hexham, Carlisle, Durham and Middleton-in-Teesdale all meet in Alston, in the middle of Alston Moor. This has its out microclimate, is often 10 degrees colder than Penrith, 23 miles away and offers skiiing most years.

Underlying the grouse are acres of old mines – mainly lead but also silver, coal and fluorspar. In the early 18C, the London Lead Company, an enlightened, Quaker organisation, extended the mines and built one of the first model villages – Nenthead, the highest village in England. This is where I am visiting.