Barney or Bust

Date: 7th February 2012
Route: Barnard Castle - Cotherstone Hag - Egglestone - Romaldkirk - Lartington - Barnard Castle
Distance: - 15 miles
Weather: -Bright & Sunny.

A late start (10.45am) this week due to an early morning business meeting in the Nest at Barney with a colleague of ours. We set off from Barney and headed along the river Tees towards the Hag at Cotherstone. How lucky have we been so far this year - yet another dry and occaisionally sunny day.
No surprise that the early conversation revolved around FC and how they seemed to be able to evaporate any optimism you managed to hold on to. Having watched their win against Wakey (and in fairness it was a poor performance) we were then treated to an away defeat to Salford. Every season we manage to lose daft games and this was one of them. Despite all the changes that have gone on at FC we still seem to be playing the same dull, up-the-middle, one man rugby we've seen for too many seasons. Despite this woe and doom & gloom the early signs of Spring cheered us up. Snowdrops, wild garlic and a variety of birds made the walk quite pleasant. After a bit of a climb from the Hag up to a caravan park we stopped for a couple of minutes to watch a couple of Buzzards circling as well as spotting long-tailed tits and goldcrests. We then headed towards Egglestone and a lunch stop. Finding a nice bench outside a large hut we sat sheltered from the breeze for dinner. Incredibly our break lasted nearly a full 30 minutes - though this was due to a dog walker we both knew stopping to talk to us for a while and not a softening on Mr Garton's behalf!
The return leg took us towards the old railway line and back through Cotherstone towards Barney. Like two grumpy old men we had a good old moan about the many inefficiencies we see around us every day; for example the carparking arrangements at the KC stadium. Why do you need stewards to stand at barriers that are down to stop cars entering?! Why is there only ONE bloody entrance in for the 12,000 fans? Why at the one entrance do you need two people - one to collect money & one to give you a ticket FOR GODS SAKE LET TWO CARS IN AT A TIME AND LET EACH PERSON GIVE A TICKET AND TAKE THE MONEY. Anyway with our ranting over we approached Barney and the best part of the day. The sun was out in full force and the Castle and river Tees looked resplendent. Another lovely day out.