Space is Big

I (Annie) was in Barnsley today for a relative's funeral. It was a sad day of course, but really good to catch up with bits of the family we'd not seen for a long time. We worked out I'd not seen a couple of the children since we were both 7ish - and in the meantime we'd sneakily both grown quite a bit older. The funeral itself was Catholic which was really interesting as it's not a religion I've spent any time with before. So great to catch up.

In the evening, I headed up to see friends in York. Ruth took me for a little cycle ride as the evening was so beautiful - and look how far she took me! We cycled all the way to Neptune and back - that's a long, long way! It is a cycle route from York to Selby, along the old railtrack. Starting with a model of the sun, the planets are all to scale. You kind of know there's a lot of space out there, but this trail emphasises it in a way I've not twigged before - you cycle 2km from Saturn to Uranus, and find Uranus is just 5cm in diameter (no jokes, please!). A fab cycle - thanks, Ruth!

Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space. - Douglas Adams