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Sunday 20 January 2013

It was Burnhope, Not Bollihope… Dhuhhhh

icicles in the Greenlaws tunnel

Just the one walker turned up for today’s walk entitled “Westgate to Bollihope”, mainly, I suspect due to the panic induced by the BBc’s panic-inducing reporting of what is, up to now, a fairly routine winter storm. Maybe they’ve been asked  by the Gumment to see if they can keep people off the roads due to some secret fuel supply farce or something.

bruno runs about daft.

Anyway, it obviously had nothing to do with the fact that Westgate to Bollihope and back is a really long way, whereas Westgate to Burnhope and back is a much more reasonable proposition, and, probably what I was thinking of when I wrote it in the little boxes in the form for the County Council. In reality, the blame for this mistake is more likely to lie in a slight over-consumption of an eleven year old liquour produced on a Scottish island. In Scotland. Can’t trust ‘em, see?

sunshine near burnhope not bollihope

I did the reccy last week in cold and snowy conditions, whilst accompanied by Bruno. The walk passes #1 daughter’s new house, so I called in for a coffee and was accompanied from there to Wearhead by #1 daughter’s hubby and pet dog.

theres a red kite in these trees

“Its a good walk” is the opinion I formed on this little trundle, so I was a bit disappointed by the low turnout today and even one of the stewards wasn’t feeling up to par and the responsibility for stewarding was passed to Steve. So three of us set off.

swardle yows at burnhope

In view of the size of the group, I added a visit to Greenlaws Hush for the lead-mining stuff, and, on this occasion, we went through the tunnel (a bit of a shaky roof, there…) and took pictures of the lovely stalactites made from real frozen water.

burnhope 028

There was just enough snow on the walk to burn off just the extra few Christmas calories (yes, folks, they’re still here…)

burnhope 035

We called at #1daughter’s again, for a bit of shelter from the nithering outside, and were joined once again by #1 daughter’s hubby and his pet dog Molly – just as far as West Blackdene

Anyway, it’s a good winter walk. I’ll bung it in again next January or February and see if I can double the attendance. Maybe if I got the title right…?

burnhope 037

Here’s a map. Its ten miles.

upper weardale

6 comments:

AlanR said...

It’s not like a wee bit of white stuff to put off hardy northern lot. The dubbin of the boots must av tuk longer than expected.

Louise said...

Chuckle, very good. Looks like a nice walk too.

chrissiedixie said...

Think we might have done that walk at some point in the dim and distant past...
Still, at least someone turned out, you didn't have to do it on your own again, minus Bruno too!

Mike Knipe said...

Dubbin? We eat it oop here, Alan. Its healthier and cheaper than lard.
T'was a nice walk, Louise. Not as cold as your latest, though..brrr..
Chrissie - Its supposed to be a low(ish) level walk suitable for "ramblers" in snowy conditions. We'll try again next winter.

Dawn said...

Oooohh errr, they breed 'em tough up north

Howellsey said...

Good snowy ramble. I passed a Knipe Farm on my wal around Fernilee on Tuesday
http://howellseycomewalkwithme.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/fernilee-reservoir.html
Do you know of any relatives or relations in the Derbyshire hinterland?