August

Ron

Felton – Acton Hall – Guyzance Weir – Brainshaugh Rigg and furrow Brewery High Park – St Oswald’s Way – Felton

Blustery, warm and sunny at times especially as the afternoon wore on.

Ron, Sandy, Bernie, Ken, George, Michelle, Michael

Diane and Richard - family commitments

Ashley - busy 

Comments

It was a pleasant walk, but uneventful.

Our lunch stop was at the weir at Guyzance just below the memorial to the soldiers killed during a training exercise in January 1945. We found a discarded fishhook which we removed for disposal.

We passed Brainshaugh Priory, a Premonstratensian Nunnery founded in 1147, which sits in a tight bend in the River Coquet. We crossed the river and passed the former mill buildings at Guyzance, which had been supplied with water by a lade from the weir.

Our second stop was at Rigg and Furrow Brewery, formerly a farm, where we sat outside in the sunshine and had a beer.  There was a selection of cows in the adjacent field, including Belted Galloway and Highland. Michael noticed some Chinese running ducks in an enclosure, and insulted their owner by suggesting that the ducks lived in his caravan.

We passed by a motorcycle on a public bridleway. We also spotted a monkey puzzle tree with long tall trunk and foliage shaped like a ball. We only passed a few people throughout the walk.

Ruby disgraced herself by rolling in some very smelly poo.The initial cleaning did not completely remove the smell and she was ostracized for the rest of the walk. A wash in the river led to some improvement.

Wildlife: Butterflies, buzzard, wasps and a heron, lots of little fish in the river.

White Swan, Dinnington – joined by Dorothy and Evelyn. Lots of steak pie was consumed.

Walkers at River Coquet

Weir at River Coquet

Happy Dog

Square holes for square birds

Approaching the Priory

Brainshaugh Priory remains

River Coquet

Unusual Watering Hole

Running Ducks at the brewery