April
Route
Walk leader | Ken |
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Route | Blanchland – Pennypie House – Burntshieldhaugh Fell- Carrier’s Way- Shooting Lodge - Riddlehamhope – Newbiggin Fell – Beldon Shields – Newbiggin – Baybridge - Blanchland. |
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Weather | Sunny intervals with a cold breeze. Timing excellent – it started to rain just as we returned to the cars. |
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Walkers | Ken, George, Michael, Michelle, Ron, Sandy. |
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Excuses | Ashley - in Thailand. Bernie - working. Carol - looking after Felix. Evelyn - sore leg muscles.
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Comments |
An enjoyable first walk by Ken, well navigated. Distance: 9.77 miles. There was a surprising amount of snow remaining. Many of the tracks were still covered with weak patches of snow over puddles, into which we stumbled frequently – Michelle disappeared into one drift and discovered some paths that she did not know existed in the area. Drifts of snow were to be found against the dry stane dykes. Walking through the heather was challenging but not as wet as anticipated. We saw four men with mountain bikes who looked as if they were debating whether to give the whole thing up. We also passed a friendly couple with a cross Staffordshire terrier. We visited a shooting lodge, which we had passed previously in September 2008. This time it was open so we went in and had a look around. As on our earlier walk we passed Riddlehamhope. New wooden doors had been fitted to the barn but the house was continuing to fall into disrepair. The afternoon tea stop was in a sunny and fairly sheltered avenue of trees, although Ken had to move when he found he was sitting on an ant hill. We passed though a field full of gambolling lambs, several of whom had very cute faces. There were several nice stone houses en route, especially the two very large ones at Baybridge. On returning to Blanchland, four of us took cake and refreshment in the Tea Room. Wildlife/Flora/Animals: Birds: grey wagtail, curlews, chaffinch, mallard ducks, pheasants, red grouse, lapwings, redshank, skylark, hens/cockerels, owl scat. Mammals/others: Ants, lambs and sheep, horses, sheep with large curly horns. Lots of dead rabbits and other skeletal remains. |
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Meal | ||||
Waggon Inn, very nice meal with fantastic service. |
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Photo Gallery |
Five Walkers
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Style |
Red Grouse |
Across the Snow |
Snow View |
On the Way |
Twins
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Tea-time
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Five at Heatheryburn
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