Edmundbyers Lead Mine Trail Guided Walk

A couple of days ago, I lead a nine-and-a-bit mile guided walk from Edmundbyers. And, it being a Wednesday, and a sunny one, there were forty of us, including me and the two stewards, Dave and Dave. (Due to government cuts, from now on, all guided walks stewards will be know as “Dave”. This, apparently, will save millions of pounds and Spennymoor baths won;t have to close after all – so they’ll have to build a supermarket somewhere else…)

Anyway, this fine turnout meant that we had to be more careful about where and how we parked – there having been representations from the Edmundbyers Watch Committee (they’re saving up for a watch for the vicar) – representations to the County Council that we didn’t park badly and block gateways and the space reserved for the hearse outside the church.

We set off in fine sunshine but with the usual Pennine nither seeping over the Atlantic from the general direction of Iceland.

Our pace was brisk. This was partly due to us trying to keep up with two punters who made a break for freedom and were way ahead. Its obvious that they were new to this guided walking lark, or they’d have been a bit more cautious about my strategy of dealing with runaways by either hiding behind trees, or in the heather, or by sudden and unplanned changes of direction.

We did manage a couple of small diversions – one of which was to visit the flue. (which reminds me, I have an appointment for a preventative jab for flu next month..) But I digress – this particular flue starts at the site of a lead smelting mill and ends, a mile and a half away on the fell at a chimney. This chimney has appeared on the pieblog before and some readers will recognise it. It’s where we hid from the cold breeze for our lunch.

On the return leg, we lost two walkers due to a domestic emergency, and visited Sandyford farm where details of an ‘Orrible Murder were relayed. There was common agreement that the housekeeper’s would-be suitor did it as he’d been stalking her recently.

It was a nice day.

Its a good walk and, well, we’ve been here before dozens of times on the pieblog. Its all very gentle and you can’t get lost.

Here’s a map.