Back to nature without my little adventurer pal

NEW YEAR RESOLUTION NOT TO BE TRAPPED IN HOUSE

- ALAN WRIGHT

I HAVE a New Year's resolution. Never let my circumstances trap me in the house and away from nature.

When the dog died in April, it removed an excuse for me to get outdoors twice a day in the amazing North West countryside.

Alfie and I were adventurers and even in the last few years, when our old bones were aching, we still walked around the lodge, up the hill or down to the farm and back - or all of them at once.

We spent whole days out, taking and sharing picnics on viewpoints across Lancashire, Manchester, Northumberland, Merseyside, South West Scotland and Cumbria.

And then I didn't have my little partner and I became stuck in a rut. It was an excuse because we live on the edge of the West Pennine Moors and there is nothing to stop me going out.