Walking With Nipples Part 1

 

Ringo Scoffs The Only Snow For Miles Around

In the middle of the 1960's I attended Ermysteds Grammar School For Boys and during my time in form 1b I was allocated a nickname - almost everybody else got allocated one too. Being a Grammar School, though, many of the nicknames were more imaginative - so an alternative to being called "Knipey" (many modern footballers get this sort of thing) - mine was "Nipples". Being only 11 and a bit years old, I didn't have much of a clue as to what a nipple was or why it was funny. And this nickname stuck for several years and was used by pupils and teachers alike.  I just thought I would mention it here. 

The Track Up Killhope Law from Allenheads

And so it came to pass that 60 or so years later and, having endured a short but nasty winter bug, eaten too much, lazed around too much and with a walking programme which lacked ambition,  distance and effort, I decided that I needed to Up My Game and start doing stuff that might actually require the deployment of a bit of energy, thus reducing the winter fatrolls, the cholesterol, the blood sugar and the lack of ambition and actually go out and do some proper walking. I would have to start out on the more gentle side of strenuous. When I had my weekly "what shall we achieve this week" ,meeting with Ringo, we didn't mention the walking to heel , the acquisitive attitude to other people's food or the lack of empathy with horses and cows, but to set some target with regards to walking reasonable distances with some contours involved. Ringo thought this was a good idea.

I'd ring the landlord about this......

Happy dog somewhere on the Weardale Moors

Killhope Law Summit Cairn

And so we turned up at a large parking area just a bit North of Allenheads village and marched off up the track that goes to Killhope in Weardale and, also, not really coincidentally to Killhope Law, the summit of which sports a large cairn which from a distance does look quite a lot like a nipple.

Killhope Law also has a trig point and a very large stick which the Ordnance Survey thinks is a radio mast. It's not, though, it's just a very tall stick. It's been replaced recently due to thye old and ancient one having fallen over. Killhope Law's cairn also has the name of the hill atop another stick. This will be useful for anyone who thinks they are somewhere else.

Killhope Law's "Radio Mast", trig point and bog

It's true, there IS a Killhope Law

Ringo Maps Out the Next Section

Next up was Stangend Rigg. a boggy. heathery rising on the long and wide ridge to the Cowshill - Allenheads road.  This should be quite a trial but the effort is relieved by a vague ATV track which follows the Northumberland/Durham county boundary. The border is also marked along most of the way by a shallow ditch. The walk goes on a bit and would probably be better on a summer day with larks and pipits and curlew and snipe as opposed to the nithering wind pushing me and the dog along. All of this "excitement" ends briefly at the main road, but continues up to Middlehope Moor, our third and final summit. This is followed by a boggy and tussocky trek to Shorngate Cross currick (although its not really a currick) a tall well-built cairn on the Allenheads to Rookhope road - a place for parking and dumping your old carpets and other rubbish. It was here that we had our only meeting with a huming bean during the day - although we did follow somebody up the track to Killhope Law, but at some considerable distance.

Cyclist : "Bit of a pull up there" (referring to the hill up from the Rookhope Side"

Me: "I bet you had a bit of a headwind"

Cyclist "Yes"

Ringo " Oh FFS"

Middlehope Moor Summit cairn

Shorngate Currick

Cairn Overlooking Allenheads

After Shorngate we followed the bridleway on the edge overlooking Allendale and a track back down to where we parked.

Statistics:

Distance 10 miles (not so bad for a start)

Ascent 1250 feet (need to increase this quite a lot)

Scotch Eggs 1 (not many calories here)

Gravy Bones 6 - (Insufficient according to Ringo)

Conversations - 1 (Probably too many)

Layers of clothing 4 (No comment - it's March)

Outlook - Food forecast for Thursday - I have a plan......