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February

 

Route

Route

Walk Leader

Ron (in George's absence)

Route

Woolsingham – west side of Waskerley Beck – Fawnlees – Tunstall Reservoir – east side of Waskerley Beck – Baal Hill House - Woolsingham.

Weather

Everything in one day: sunshine, showers, wind (gale force), with huge wind chill.

Walkers

Ron, Ashley, Michael, Michelle.

Excuses

George - family matters

Evelyn - injured ankle

Sandy - attending a friend's 60th birthday party

Bernie - visiting family

Carol - had a cold

Comments

There was a nice start to the walk as it had a good car park. It was very wet underfoot - the ground was saturated. Mud, mud glorious mud - gloopy, sticky, slidey. There were lovely views when the sun shone through with shafts of light, and a rainbow. We saw some fantastic big houses on the outskirts of Woolsingham.

The woods were alive with birds, all cheeping and twittering (see below).

There were numerous people at the lunch stop behind the fishing hut. It was very civilised with a table and chairs. There was lots of snow on the tops of the hills of the Wear Valley.

It would have been an excellent walk on a summer’s day - a shame that it was so b***** cold.

Wildlife:

Birds: Lots of ducks doing what they do at this time of year. Too many birds to identify, but they included: dipper, great tits, blue tits, chaffinches, a pair of oyster catchers on the reservoir. Also geese on the reservoir and a field full of them, possibly greylag or pink-footed. A flock of white domestic geese at the top of the reservoir.

Mammals: Zillions of greyhounds from the retired greyhound association, all on leads (with owners).

Meal

Bowes Incline. Good meals. Ashley didn’t come to the meal, but we were joined by Evelyn, Sandy, Beth and Alyx.

 

Photo Gallery

Walkers

 February walkers minus one

 

Beck

Waskerley Beck

Steps

Steps

houses

Houses

 

sign

Sign

 

style

Style

 

Michael

Michael

walking

Walking

 

track

Track

 

geese

Geese

 

ducks

Ducks

 

growth

Will to live

 

reservoir

Tunstall Reservoir

 

cold

Cold!!

 

 

 

 

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