November

Diane

Tanfield/Beamish walk – 10.3 miles. Route via Great North Forest Trail (a bit of the old Pontop & Jarrow railway), Tanfield Railway, Causey Arch, East Tanfield Station, Tanfield Lea, Consett and Sunderland Railway Path, Tyne Wear Trail (just beyond Beamish), Beamish East Moor, Hedley Hall Farm.

Mostly sunny.

Diane, Michael, Michelle, Ron, Sandy, Ken.

None recorded

Comments

It was a long walk through many beautiful woodlands, with brilliant leaf colours set alight by the wonderful sunshine.

Ruby rolled in deer poop near the beginning of the walk and absolutely stank! We had to to rub her back clean and wash her harness and collar in a small stream. Fortunately the lunchstop was at East Tanfield station which had toilets with washing facilities. There were several railway workers maintaining the line in preparation for the Polar Express which starts at the end of November.

We saw lots of people walking their dogs, and several were obviously doing the circular in the opposite direction, as we discovered when we met them for the second time that day. There was slight pressure at the end of the walk to get back to the carpark before it closed at dusk, which we just managed to do.

Wildlife: ducks (including mallards), squirrels, two deer, Wallsend pheasants (seagulls) and metal JCB cows.

Twin Farms, food and service very good, with a new menu since the last time we were there.

Concrete birds

Tanfield Railway

November Walkers minus one

Approaching Causey Arch

Under Causey Arch

Walkers at the Arch

Causey Burn from the Arch

Leaf Kicking

Autumn colours

Beamish Valley walk sign

Footbridge over Beamish Burn

Iron bull sculpture

Autumn colours at Beamish Burn