I HAVE done a recce of some of the villages in Lower Wensleydale this week and I can report back that many are really nice, even if the landscape is a little flat. Obviously, everyone knows about Grewelthorpe and its ducks. Everyone loves the ducks. But who knew about the charms of such fabulously-named pretty places such as Winksley? Or what about Healey, near Masham? Delightful. Had he passed this way while following his own trail, the views across the valley towards the Druid's Temple would have surely persuaded the painter Turner to pause from frolicking with the housekeeper to knock out a quick sketch.

If you continue past Healey and further up Colsterdale, you come across a place called Gollinglith Foot, which is twinned with Gladden Fields in Middle Earth.

In 1997 a gamekeeper found the skeletal remains of a man on the moor in Colsterdale.

The discovery was all the more interesting because the man had been there for around 25 years, but police could still tell that he died in rather posh attire – a dark grey suit, a mustard coloured jersey, a hand-knitted red V-neck jumper, a white shirt with thin dark stripes and a maroon tie.

There was no evidence of foul play although the passage of time meant police couldn't be sure.

Despite lots of tests and appeals, the identity of the man remains a mystery. What causes a lump in my throat is the list of possessions found on the body – a brown comb, a small portable radio in a black leather case and a tobacco tin containing a house key.

Somewhere there may be a door that has not been unlocked for almost 50 years. Neighbours might say: "I wish John would wash his windows – they are filthy. Come to think about it, I've not seen him around for the last few decades."

Did he have wife that never got to know his lonely fate? Did she worry when he never came back? Or was she glad as he was rather unpleasant? We will never know.

Anyway, during my wanderings in Lower Wensleydale I came across a film crew working on a Channel 4 documentary on the surveillance culture. I asked a crew member what they were doing and he was quite rude, which I thought was ironic.