Ron

Coanwood – (South Tyne Trail) – Lambley Viaduct – Knardale – Eals - Coanwood.

Sunny throughout but with a cold wind. The temperature hovered around 4 degrees C.

Ron, Sandy, George, Michael, Michelle, Ashley.

Carol - busy

Evelyn - injured ankle

Ken - bad knee

Bernie - work

We met a friendly black labradoodle at the end of Lambley Viaduct and chatted with his owner for several minutes. The owner warned us that the ground on the return leg would be very clarty - and he was right. There was an enforced diversion at the southern end of the viaduct where it became private land around Lambley Station. We had to descend the steps towards the river, where we were able to inspect the underside of the arches of the viaduct – there were several large stones missing. A large dead tree in the river was propped up against one of the piers. We climbed up the steep slope to regain the old railway again and found a notice advising of an error in the OS map (i.e. it shows the cycleway and pathway going through the station). The old track bed went through a long avenue of straight trees.

Lunch was at Burnstones, where we were able to duck behind the parapet of the bridge and get out of the wind. There was good solid seating against the parapet. We left the old railway and trespassed across a field to get down to Knarsdale. Our route took us past a disused GR post box inset into a more modern bus shelter. We noticed how attractive St Jude’s Church was. There was an impressive marble pillar gravestone in its tidy graveyard. We took further refreshment in the Kirkstyle Inn, which had a nice atmosphere, with a young spaniel warming itself at the fire.

We saw two trees that had been hit by lightning – is this a lightning hot spot?

There was a lot of abandoned rusty metalwork in the woods, probably from an inclined railway. These included a small truck, a hoist and pieces of track as well as a couple of old boilers. There were some hushes on the hillside from old mine workings.

We saw a man with a gun and a dog. There were lots of slippy stiles coming back. One of our number suffered the indignity of slipping into a pool in a burn. The woods became much darker as the trees thickened, and we met a family with two children out looking for gruffalos.

We inspected the old scales and the remains of the level crossing at Coanwood station. Ashley pressed on ahead so that he could get home early and not have to twiddle his thumbs at Michael and Michelle's before going to the meal.

Wildlife:

Birds: Buzzard, kestrel, heron, thrushes, fieldfare, lots of pheasants and ducks, two black hens at the roadside. Mammals/other: Dirty sheep and Jacob’s sheep. Dead rabbits and a large stinking dead fish at the roadside beside the river.

Errington Arms – joined by Evelyn. Good food, poor tea and coffee. Friendly service but not very good at adding up the bill.

 January's walkers minus one

Carving

Lambley Viaduct

On top of the viaduct

Looking down

Long way down

Underneath the arches

Lunch

River view

Blasted tree