Route: Croxdale - Durham - Croxdale
Distance: - ~9 miles
Weather: - Dry, cloudy with sunny spells
Was it really January the last time we were out! A combination of work (damn, does tend to get in the way a bit) and poor weather meant the Airlie Ramblers were chomping at the bit to get out for a bit of fresh air. As luck would have it Mr Garton had need to reconnoitre a route in preparation for an upcoming footy team reunion and so with a pleasant change in weather conditions we had our opportunity.
Bob picked me up and we headed to the Honest Lawyer (is that an oxymoron?!) pub to park up and begin our walk. 10.00am and we headed up through fields and woodland, intemitently walking alongside the river Wear. It wasn't the greatest of starts as within 20 mins our navigation skills had let us down and we headed off in the wrong direction adding an extra 30 mins onto our time as we retraced our steps. As always we got the rugby conversations out of the way, always best to get the miserable stuff over and done with! Our top 4 aspirations and the strap line of "Believe" were well and truly pie in the sky stuff. However, 3 victories on the trot had tempered our anger towards coach and players and perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
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| Old Chapel |
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| Outbuildings |
Our walk took us past an old chapel and some unusual outbuildings, following the edge of a forest before eventually bringing us out at Shincliffe garden centre. From here we headed on towards Durham, picking up the river Wear and enjoying a very scenic stroll into Durham centre.
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| University rowers |
Around 12.30pm, just before we hit the town centre, we found a bench and with cracking views of the Cathedral and Castle we sat down for lunch.
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| Durham Castle & Cathedral |
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| Durham Cathedral & Castle |
Conversation had now turned to an upcoming teambuild event I was running later in June in Shanghai for around 20 Chinese staff. An interesting challenge given the significant cultural differences. Still us Yorkshiremen are used to dealing with different cultures such as those from Lancashire or the South!
After a whole 24 mins for lunch (this could be a record for the longest break!) we headed off into Durham, along Elvett Bridge and headed up towards the heart of student land. There we picked up a track past the Botanical Gardens and once again headed off across fields to pick up the river Wear.
After a minor detour and retracing of steps (map reading skills were very rusty) thanks to the help of a dog walker we finished the final part of the walk along the river and back to the Honest Lawyer pub. At 2.15pm it wasnt the longest walk we'd ever done but it was just nice to get out in some decent weather. That and a nice pint helped!
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| Wicker woman art |
