I RECEIVED a muddy heap of feedback after last week's column which was unexpected and nice, sort of. People were generally in one of three camps. The first camp agreed with the sentiment that Leyburn wasn't that bad after all and new housing kept the town on the up. The second were in the 'why are you being mean about Leyburn camp' which is potentially the kind of camp where the tents aren't up properly and nobody can light the fire. The third camp is the 'what the hell are you on about' camp which is camp I have a lot more sympathy with.

One of the more useful pieces of feedback I received was on the issue of the difference between clementines, satsumas, tangerines and mandarins - apparently the first three are all kinds of mandarin.

Anyway, we had a mini-family adventure at the weekend as we sought a geo-cache (semi-pointless treasure hunt involving technology) on the moor up above the Mire.

On the map, it looked like a short walk but it turned out to be something of an expedition.

Our destination was the old smelt mill at Cobscar but as soon as we set off it was clear the chimney was a long way in the distance.

The track went on and on. To pass the time the kids and dog were jumping in the old bell pits until I stopped them for fear they would fall into a mine that had not been properly back-filled.

"What's this?" asked the boy pointing to a pile of stones he was running up.

"It's a slag heap," I replied. The boy gasped at the naughty word.

Part of the problem was that we set off too late. By the time we reached the mill buildings it was getting gloomy

This meant it was even harder to find the treasure. The old mill is crumbling and it felt even more like we were appearing in the opening scenes of an episode of Casualty as we hunted among piles of stones and peered down long-abandoned flues.

We searched high and low and high again but we couldn't find the flipping thing and reluctantly turned for home back across the moor and through a barren landscape still poisoned by lead fumes more than a century after work stopped.

It was with relief when we wearily stumbled back to the car with everyone tired, grumpy but accounted for. Next weekend we shall be attempting family open water swimming.