Thought we would walk off some of the excesses gained from the obligatory over indulgence at Christmas.

A very cold but dry, crisp day so ideal for walking across muddy fields. So much easier when it is frozen solid than sinking ankle deep into what you hope is mud but often isn't! So we had a lovely 10k walk around Ripley in North Yorkshire. Hardly saw another soul in 3 hours. Steve used to stride off ahead focussing on the gain to be made by the exercise. I love to take it slower and take in everything around us. So many beautiful sights. Fortunately as he took a moment to capture a pretty wooden bridge over a stream - he spotted these ladybirds. Such gorgeous colours and all clustered together to keep warm :-).

Should ladybirds even be around at this time of year? I'll have to look this up. But I'm glad they were.