We're just back from a visit to Aysgarth in North Yorkshire. A lovely area, pastoral and peaceful. Dry stone walls divided up the snow streaked hills. Sheep grazed the hills. Villages retained their age-old character. The Aysgarth falls could be heard from the well-appointed holiday bungalow we were in, we walked from the bungalow and saw three sets of falls. A great area for walkers not that we count as such. We dined twice at the Aysgarth Falls Hotel which had a peculier backwards clock, and books around the walls.

The weather wasn't brilliant - it rained quite a bit, we had to riskily drive through a flooded road to get home. The Satnav wasn't that trustworthy, it wasn't sure where the bungalow was, and it took us down a one-track country lane which was blocked when we tried to see Fountains Abbey. Very stressful reversing back to where we could turn around. The weather smiled for once as we gave up, and instead saw the ruins of Jervaulx Abbey, which were impressive hinting of when it was a major monastery.

Also worth seeing was the Wensleydale Creamery, not just for its Wallace and Gromit connection. Cheese seemed to be an ingredient of all the dishes in the restaurant! The cheese production seemed to be a factory process, but they produce a lot of cheese.

We had a good visit to the White Scar Cave, seeing the Ribblehead Viaduct en route. The safety helmets were a must in the cave, particularly for the two low sections. The cave was wetter than others I've been in, a lot of the path was over a stream, there was a noisy waterfall, water was running over the rocks beside the path. The Sword of Damocles stalactite was held up by string and glue as someone deliberately broke it on the first day of public access!

We also appreciated a visit to the Georgian Theatre, a bit of panicky rush getting there as parking was more than difficult in Richmond. The tour was enlightening about the revolting habits of theatre-goers in that era. A view into the past. We also saw the Dales Countryside Museum, a lot of detail about the history there. I was tempted and fell into the sin of buying a teapot at Ceramic Inspirations in Leyburn, and we also got a few chocolates at the Inspired Chocolate place next door.

We did see a couple of castles - Bolton Castle and Middleham Castle. The ruins weren't inspiring for us on our visit, though the muddy conditions and bird droppings didn't help.

There was some drama before we set off. We did our best but Amelia seized an opening and hid in the spare room bed. Virginia used the hoover to force her out leading to a traumatised cat which took refuge inside a cat tree! We had to tilt the cat tree over to capture Amelia. My packing wasn't perfect either - this time I forgot leads to recharge my razor and a new vest! Lists to take are similar to software testing. You build up software tests based on what you think need testing, as well as problems found. So I've expanded my to take lists based on what I've forgotten.