shewhomust | Cows on the track

Today's walk got away from us, rather. It was longer than we had intended, and involved more than you would wish of deciding that maybe this wasn't the right path, and doubling back. But we were joined by S, and the rain cleared and the sun came out, and there were a number of things to look at along the way, so mostl it was a success.

We started at Causey Arch, the oldest surviving railway bridge in the world, opened in 1725 (at which time, of course, the rails were made of wood, and the waggons pulled some of the way by horses, some by haulage engines) to carry coal from the local collieries to the staithes at Newcastle. (For yes, in County Durham we do carry coals to Newcastle...). We followed the railway line to Tanfield, narrowly missed seeing the engine steam in, crossed the marsh and climbed up to meet the railway walk at Stanley.

I'd remembered the herd of Beamish Shorthorns (by Sally Matthews) on the line near Beamish as looking a bit the worse for wear, but perhaps we'd caught them on a bad day - they looked fine today, weathering comfortably. They mark the point at which we leave the line and climb up to lunch either to the picnic area or, as we did today, to the Shepherd and Shepherdess.

The next bit is where the trouble started.

durham_rambler strode purposefully off into the woods, and S and I hung back and reminded him that we don't do precipitous downhills on muddy, slippery riverbanks, and that the path he was following was a prime example of what we don't do. There was a lot of arguing, a certain amount of compromise, inevitable mud, slithery slopes and bad temper, and a very long loop round before we found a comparatively level path which enabled us to cross the Beamish burn on the road. On the plus side, the path then followed the burn through Ousbrough Wood, which I had never visited before, and which is crowded with the mossy ruins of mills and pumping stations and industrial remnants of all kinds.

Another muddy path along the edge of private gardens brought us into the grounds of Beamish museum. This year we really must visit the museum proberly, not just the bits of it adjacent to the footpath: there's clearly a great deal more to see than when we last went (which must be over ten years ago...). We initially turned up a dead end, but at the second attempt reached the 'new' section at Pockerley (I was immensely taken with this weathervane). Now we knew where we were, and made our way through the grounds and then around the outside of the boundary. The path back to Causey leaves the road opposite the Stables (pub, microbrewery and part of Beamish Hall) and at this point S and I wimped out, and waited at one of the picnic tables while

durham_rambler did the last mile back to collect the car.

Here's the map:

durham_rambler reckons his walk was about ten miles, mine a mile less - which is still plenty for me. And now I'm going to ease myself into a hot bath...