TODAY'S Memories partly concerns itself with Harperley, on the banks of the Wear between Crook and Wolsingham. It is a lovely, tranquil place which I dragged my unfortunate family to investigate a snowy day a fortnight ago.

The approach to the site of the old railway station took us past Low Harperley farmhouse which, as Memories has previously told, dates for Elizabethan times. It is said that somewhere in the grounds is Durham Cathedral silver plate, buried for safe keeping during the 17th Century Civil War.

As we walked down towards the riverside railway, an intriguing, tumbledown cottage caught the eye in the middle of a field. Considering its derelict state, it had some very ecclesiastical architectural details.

On we went, walking - carefully - over the Weardale Railway. Just where the paths crosses the line is where the station was, and you can still see the northbound platform. I was amazed at its length: this was a private halt for the railway chairman who lived in Harperley Hall, yet the platform is almost long enough for an Intercity to stop at.

Finally our walk made it to the river and the footbridge over the Wear. In today's Memories, David Armstrong describes it as being "rickety" in the 1960s, so it has obviously been rebuilt and it felt very solid beneath the feet (if not especially pleasing on the eye). There's a plaque on the bridge, saying it was made by a firm in North Shields and, I guess, in January 1990. I was reassured to note that the "max load (udl)" is 17,435. 17,435 what I don't know, but it sounds quite a lot, and anyway, the maximum number of persons is listed as 232, so as there were only four of us on our wander, we made it across very safely.