Battery exhausted

Hence a camera phone image today.

I charged a battery for the Sony - the battery life is very poor - and it said it was 89% charged. Then I set out for Lanercost and the start of today's long walk.

The promised thunder storms came and we walked all morning in rain. Sometimes it was fairly light; sometimes it was torrential. My new jacket from Austria passed its first test.

When we stopped for our coffee break in a little hut, I unpacked the camera to take a photo of dripping people. It said "battery exhausted". Now how could it be exhausted in such a short time??

My phone was in the car so I was unable to capture any images all day. The weather improved late morning and there was no more rain all afternoon. We had a wonderful walk by the River Irthing. The wild flowers were pretty good. I will mention the foxgloves particularly. There were early signs of edible oyster mushrooms too.

Marie managed to do about 5 miles with us and returned to Lanercost for the afternoon. She needs a knee replacement and is hoping to have a second referral about it. The surgeon has told her that he does not want to do the operation just so that she can go walking again. (Something very odd in his logic.....)

We were a small, select group today because half the group was walking in the Lake District and another 4 are on holiday. We repaired to the Greenhead Hotel to celebrate Al's 71st birthday and he stood us all a drink. How about that?!

I will need to nurse the exhausted battery back to life.