Bedrock

It was years since Catherine had been here, but the feeling was instantly recognizable. This landscape had nurtured her interest in geology as well as shaping the brief, exhilarating, exhausting years of her marriage. The fells lifted the skyline around her and her eyes, her spirits rose to meet them. Thank God, she thought, for the felicity of two days here, alone. Two days tagged onto the end of a trip north to advise on a planning proposal. She had turned down the assignment at first, then remembered how close she would be to the Lake District and changed her mind. She deserved a break: she could fit in some walking afterwards.So she had spent the previous day in Runcorn, giving evidence to the planning committee. A developer wanted to build a housing estate above an old mine. Thousands of tons of rock salt had been dissolved out of the...