Stanhope Denes and the Bit In Between – Reccy

Next week, I’m leading another Durham County Council walk, and today was the day to do the pre-disaster checks…er… the risk assessment pre-walk walk thing…

The Pigs are some I met on the way, incidentally. They were either very friendly or a bit hungry. They looked delicious, anyway.

So me and superdawg nicked off to Stanhope with a jam butty, a banana and a slab of cake and did this walk yet again.

As you can see from the pics, it was a very nice and sunny day and everything was quite green. Stanhope Dene was a delight and absolutely heaving with wild flowers – mainly ramsons, primroses, violets (or were they pansies?) and celendines and there was a woodpecker pecking a dead tree.

We went to the salmon pool where Bruno had a little plodge and I discovered a large number of empty budweiser bottles and lager tins scatterred about. I collected them up and stuffed them into my pack. Honestly,…. dhuhhh…… ghasp…

What I’m most upset about, of course, is the fact that I missed the party. Anyway, it’s all been recycled now.

Then we followed the route up over the moor and along the old railway line to Park Head, where we, that is, me, enjoyed a cuppa and a teasted toecake. I allowed Bruno to watch as a treat. They were very busy with cyclists in silly clothes asking for their water bottles to be filled up, so I didn;t talk to the boss about next week’s walk today. I’ll send an email, which he’s more likely to remember anyway. It was a bit frantic up there today.

We progressed down the Crawleyside incline and along Crawleyside Edge to Jollybody farm, where we met the Pig family. We all had a lovely grunt. Bruno had never met a pig before, so he was intrigued as to how he was going to eat a whole one at one go…

We sidled discreetly through a lambing field and into Shittlehope dene (no sniggerring, ta…) and this was all very green and flowery and pleasant once again.

I did come across a fallen tree which is across the path but doesn’t pose a serious blockage and can be ducked-under. I’ll report it anyway, with a photo and the Rights of Way peeps can decide whether or not the rangers would like some chain saw fun.

And that was that. The mobile has intermittent signals all the way around the route except in the depths of the Denes, there’s one exposed bit and a road crossing and there we have the risks…

9 Miles and 1000 feet – which, spookily enough is exactly what it was the last time I did this walk back in January.

http://www.backpackersclub.co.uk/e107/news.php?item.42.3  Has details of the Dales Outdoor Weekend which coincides with this walk (Just so people can have a walk after looking at all those tents)