A good walk

Marion and Ken came up from town to have a walk. We did the steep path down to the Alnwick road, (above) up through Cragside, down to Debdon and round the moor by Blue Mill. 6.5 miles.

Then we had a hearty soup I’d made from a Saturday Guardian recipe - it was carrots and tins of tomatoes and cannelloni beans, and I added a sweet potato and onion. After it cooked a bit I had to blitz half of it to make it thicker and add cavelo nero and the water it had been cooked in. A bit of grated Parmesan and some sour dough went with it. It was perfect after the blow round the moor (though actually it was warm in the woods and I had my coat off). It was great to see them - they go out and about a lot more than we do - he plays in a couple of bands. They have been to their house in France and are going to Bruges for her 79th in December.

Turns out the surgery receptionist was wrong in saying both Mr C’s test results were abnormal - one was fine though the blood one shows his haemoglobin count was down further than before. The good news is that it can be fixed with iron tablets. I am still worried a bit about why it should be going down as we eat all the right foods - I’ve over-dozed him on kale and broccoli etc. it seems they are treating the symptoms without finding out the cause. Anyway they are keeping an eye out and will check again in 3 months.