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Tuesday 1 May 2012

Lead Mine Trails Little Victories Around Blanchland and Edmundbyers

blanchland

I have this little trundle on the Lead Mine trail and a few other paths around Blanchland and Edmundbyers which I do twice a year for the purpose of reporting to the Council rights of way peeps on the state of the footpaths. Its a very useful walk to have just before setting off on a TGO Challenge (only ten days to go!) as it’s fifteen miles. OK, its fifteen fairly easy miles… 

new lamb

Unfortunately, superdawg is not allowed on this jaunt due to what is basically a ranch containing suckler cows, one of whom once knocked me over in her attempt to get at Bruno, who had, wisely, buggerred of over the wall..  There’s also lots of sheep who are producing lambs just now and panicking ewes are contra-indicated for a responsible volunteer wot like I am.

path fallig to bits

Part one of this jaunt is a six or so mile wander through some nice woodland, a few lambing fields, a bit more woodland, a bit of moorland and some more woodland. The path issues are usually about fallen trees, but there’s a steep path where the shoring is falling to bits and a stile which occasionally rejects the walker and chucks him over the wall, a bit like a trebuchet. And I’ve mentioned a place which needs a waymark.

waymark!

The naughty stile’s bolts have rusted up now, so it no longer exports ramblers into the sitka over the wall, so that’s good, but the steep path is still falling to bits, although it doesn’t really look any worse than it did last September. And a waymark has appeared in just the right place. Time for lunch.

old boiler belmont farm

Part two is a nine mile walk up the Lead mine trail – a route heavily used by mountain bikers which is getting a bit frayed in parts. The walk returns by a footpath through the cattle/sheep/horse ranch through Pedam’s Oak. This is usually OK, apart from the occasional manic heiffer but here’s some gorse slowly closing the path at one point (I did notice a gorse-cutting day in the working party lists, though) and there used to be a handwritten sign on a gate informing walkers that they were going the wrong way. This needed another waymarker and – one has appeared. OK, so they’re only little things, but it seems that somebody is taking notice of what the adopt-a-path volunteers are saying.

waymarker!!

Perishing cold this afternoon by the way. Somebody in Denmark seems to have left a fridge door open. Fifteen miles, though…..

aap blanchland

 

12 comments:

Dawn said...

Nice one Mike. You are certainly racking up the miles. Well done.

Mike Knipe said...

I've a couple more shortish walks before TGO, Dawn. In the meantime, I've lost our strimmer and our lawn is getting deep.... and the tent needs proofing.... so much to do, so little time...

AlanR said...

I’m getting breathless Mike. So many miles, so much to do. Sweats pouring off me.
Must do our lawn too, where did i leave that mower.

Mike Knipe said...

Our awn's not big enough for a mower. In fact, I'm borrowing the lady across the street's lawn to put up me akto for proofing.
Scissors would almost do for our patch of grass and buttercups.
Or I could develop a Northern Haymeadow...(!)

Mike Knipe said...

Lawn not awn... dhuhh

Andrew W said...

Lawn?

ours is about 6" high and almost under water.
Well bloody wet.
I would go and cut it, but we haven't ventured out there for about a week, and I hate to think of the amount of dog $hit, that is lurking in that long grass. Plays havoc with your rotary mower does runny dog turd.

Well, I'll leave you with that image to ponder on.

Nice little walk Mike.

See you soon :)

Louise said...

I'm on a similar mission Mike. Not the lawn, the proofing...

Mike Knipe said...

Andrew - Lawn strimmed (no dog poo). See you soon. Mine's a malt, ta.
Louise - Tent proofed. see you soon. Mine's another malt. Ta. Don't let Andrew out-do you in the hospitality stakes.
I have new trousers by the way.

chrissiedixie said...

Did a walk over that way once - spent a day wandering around Blanchland Moor, Slaley Forest and Bulbeck Common. It rained and rained and rained and rained......
Your day looked much nicer.

Mike Knipe said...

Chrissie - So it does rain in Northumberland... (this is when Geordies roll down their sleeves...)

Jules said...

Hi Mike - nice report again!

Just a query - as an adopt-a-path volunteer, do you not get a supply of waymarking discs to re-mark paths if they are lost/damaged/missing?

On our scheme in Northants we do, so if we find any problems we can deal with them without resort to HQ. Seems a sensible thing that saves time and ROW money.

Mike Knipe said...

Jules - There was some loose talk about issuing waymarker discs to people. Didn't come to anything, though. Maybe, one day....