Path49 Again

Today was the day appointed for me and the Dawg to have a seven (ish) mile trundle on some paths surrounding Crook to see if all was well and to snitch to Durham County Council rights of way peeps if it wasn’t.

We waited till it stopped raining. This involved drinking lots of coffee and watching the telly or , in Bruno’s case, sitting next to the drawer with his lead in it looking a bit forlorn and abandoned for a couple of hours….

Eventually, in warm summer sunshine, we set off to Path 49. Our little patrol took us along FP49 ( hedges need some attention from the hedge clipping chap), Path 51 with it’s new Public Footpath sign, Path 56 – a bit obscure at one point, Path 176 – whoa….  The gate to the farm was locked and there was a new ladder stile over the wall, taking the volunteer and his faithful dog on an unfamiliar route avoiding the farmyard. Now I really don’t like going through farmyards, but was this an official diversion? There wasn’t any waymarks like wot they stick up when a path’s been diverted. This just shows how daft English countryside access legislation is. This wouldn’t matter North of the Border, but down here in pedantic land, an unofficial diversion would be Against the Rules. Anyway, I’ve told the Right of Way peeps and they can do whatever they need to do. Its probably a formality anyway. 

Further along FP176, Bruno was followed uncomfortably closely by six or seven horses, lead by two ringleaders, who eventually went off to bite and kick each other.

…nicely marked out path through the crops…

Bruno detects previous dogs

Crook. You can see our house from here

Other footpaths – 106, 108, 106 and 32 went through fields of crops – nicely marked out by the farmer, Crook Golf course – new waymarks but still a bit obscure in places, and along the little edge overlooking Crook. You can, indeed see our house from up there.

Its quite a nice little walk, really… we’ll be back in the winter