Sir, – I have just been reading Nicholas Rhea’s Countryman’s Diary with interest as a resident of Northallerton.

Two points struck me, Firstly, the lion above the porch of the Golden Lion Hotel, is it really recumbent?

My Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (out of another century I know) says it is on the back or side.

Also the tale by a Streetlam correspondent should be taken with a full tin of Cerebos. Piercebridge to Penrith, a distance of 50 miles on today’s roads, and probably a lot further pre-A66 in an hour and a half?

By horse-drawn transport?

PETER HAM Northallerton.