Route: Stanley Crook - Waterhouses - Esh Winning - Ushaw Moor - Broom Park - Brandon - Brancepeth - Willington - Stanley Crook
Distance: - ~17 miles
Weather: - Bright & sunny, cool breeze
After the issues with buses on our last walk Bob decided to come up to my neck of the woods for a walk. Still wanting to keep the distance element we decided on a walk along the old railway tracks to and from Durham. So at 9.30am Bob rolled up and we loaded my car with our walking gear and my 2 dogs (Cass the Westie and Jess the Springer) before heading to Willington to park up.
It was a cracking day (how lucky have we been this year with the weather) as we walked just over a mile along the road from Willington to Stanley Crook. From here we were able to pick up the Deerness valley Way, a disused railway track, that would eventually take us to Durham. The bushes and trees were awash with berries and fruit and provided a fantastic colour contrast to the green foliage.
 |
| Deerness Valley Way |
 |
| Berry abundance! |
 |
| Old Railway Bridge |
Anyway having vented our spleens we were able to take in the scenery as we headed towards Waterhouses through a beautiful woodland walk and then on to Esh Winning & Ushaw Moor, picking up the river. At one point we just had to stop and utilise the dog poop-a-scoop bags to collect Brambles as the track was abundant with the fruits. After 20 or so minutes filling our bags we decided we had better continue - though there were still plenty left to pick.
 |
| Meandering river |
 |
| Cass & Jess |
 |
| Bob filling his poop bag! |
 |
| Brambles - what its all about! |
At 12.40pm we came across our usual lunch stop by the river and sat for a well earned rest and our lunch. The vegetation and flora were fantastic, a combination of sun & showers over the last few months.
We got to the halfway point at Broom Park about 1.50pm with the dogs beginning to tire - I was beginning to ponder the wisdom of a 17m walk with two 11 year old dogs!
 |
| River at Broom Park |
 |
| Half way girls! |
As we began a short climb (the last between here and the end of the walk, hooray) we were overtaken by a senior rambler much to Mr Garton's disgust; still bet he hadn't already done 9 miles!
 |
| Got a feeling we're being watched! |
 |
| She may have found a ball but doesn't have the energy to chase it! |
The remainder of the route was straight forward, along the railway track, through woodland heading through Brandon & Brancepeth on the way back to Willington. We needed another couple of short pit stops to allow the dogs to get their breath back, otherwise I'm sure I'd have ended up carrying them back!
As we hit Willington we stopped for an ice cream, after all it was a scorcher, and walked through the town back to the car. Another 100 yards and I'm certain Jess would have given up.
Another beautiful day and scenic walk and we managed 17 miles without blisters :-)
