There and back again

How annoying! I was composing a blog on the go throughout our long walk up to Hedley on the Hill and back, I had two pictures ready to go and I lost it all on getting back home. Grrrrrr!

So, I will recap. We set out at about ten this morning intending to do a circular walk, but the walk I did ended up being somewhat different. We covered some of the ground on an earlier excursion, but this time we left the safety of the Stanleyburn area and headed up onto Hedley Fell. Here R&A encountered a partridge, which they chased. In spite of it not taking flight any great distance, it managed to confuse them and they were running around in circles looking for it. Luckily I was able to entice them into the wood nearby, which must have offered more excitement than a strange bird, so they left it and headed into Hyons Wood (or Huorns' Wood as I have re-christened it).

When we got to the top, I was rewarded with a fine view across Derwent Valley to Dipton and Tantobie. At this point I was planning to turn left to Currock Hill, then follow Moor Road down, perhaps cutting off into Stanleyburn Wood for some lurcher fun time. Instead I saw Hedley on the Hill off to my right and thought I would see what it was like over there. As I walked along the road, the whole of Northumberland seemed to open up before me, with the Cheviot on the far horizon. I thought I could even hear the artilllery going off at Otterburn, which was quite a thought given the distance.

Well, Hedley turned out to be a very nice little ... well village would be too grand a title. A very nice little ley. The OS map showed that it had a post office but it did not advise that there is also a very nice little pub called The Feathers Inn, where Amazon persuaded me that it would be a good idea to drop in and sample the ale. In actual fact I arrived about ten minutes before opening time, so R & A had to content themselves with water in a rather gritty dog bowl outside. I checked the map and decided on the route home, choosing to follow a route called Ward Lane towards High Mickley, thence along the tracks along the ridge back to Prudhoe.

When  the door opened, I went in for a refill of the dog bowl and a pint of Wagtail (Allendale Brewery), which was well appreciated, but I did not linger over it, as I had no company but the dogs. The beginning of Ward's Lane was easy to find as it was over the road from the pub, but it was a bit of a strange path, having stiles rather than gates that the lurchers had to scramble over/under, and there were a lot of horses in the fields. Now I don't have a problem with horses, I'd sooner cross a field of horses than cows any day, but Amazon was getting skittish as in every field the horses were clustered around the gate, so we headed along a track to the road, which we followed instead.

From High Mickley I found a lane leading in the right direction and followed it. I took a picture of an old land rover in a field, then a bloke came up asking if I minded going back around the corner as they were driving some sheep up the lane, which we did. R&A not bothered by the sheep as usual, so that was fine.

I then asked if it was ok to go down a track that wasn't marked as a ROW and was told that was fine, that it led to Prudhoe. I already knew that and I would have gone that way if there had been no one about, but it never hurts to ask. From there we were pretty much back on home turf, so I let the lurchers off again in the next empty field and I gave them lots of praise for waiting at the top of the rape field.

Back to real walks

We have been away for a while now, for a number of reasons which predate our move from South West Denton. We moved to Benwell last July and that was not really a very inspiring place for lurcher tales. 

Now things have changed a bit and we are living the semi rural life in Prudhoe, which is a lovely village/town in Northumberland. We are just getting used to the network of official and unofficial paths around here, so we have yet to settle into anything like a daily route. Today we crossed a field from which there was a fantastic panorama - I would say nearly 300• - covering swathes of Tynedale, Newcastle and Gateshead, as well as the near horizon which is the view from the house, of Hedley Fell and Currock Hill.

The picture is just a quick one of R and A on a path through a rape seed field near home, just to show that there have not been any more changes in the dog lineup since my last post.

Oh boy

You know you have one of those great ideas, that turns out to be, well, not so great? Well, the idea was to walk the lurchers home from the garage as the car is in for its MOT. We have moved recently and the walk would take them through their old patch - Denton Dene.
It started off fine: Rover stealing a ball off a labrador and both dogs having a whale of a time. Then It happened. Rover had gone towards the ponds and I called him back. The smell actually preceded him in a wave. We met a couple walking their spaniel and they noticed too. I now have to walk the length of Benwell with Public Health Hazard No 1 on the end of a lead. Heads will turn. Those of weak constitutions may blanche and faint. Pray for me, for we may be chased away with brickbats.

Midsummer - state of the ponds

Well, it may be a cooler day, but the top pond in the Dene is now waterless, though still damp. Ponds two and three still have standing water, but the fourth is as waterless as the top one.

I rarely go past the ponds, as they are a bit of a detour, but today is an exception. I thought I would see the effects of three or four weeks without significant rain and high temperatures (dare I call it summer? Of course I do). There is still a seepage of water coming from the spring lines, just not enough to keep all of the ponds going.

The dogs miss the water in the top pond as it is generally fresher then the others if they need a drink on a hot summer's day. Never mind though, it is nearly Hoppings week (even if they are no longer calling that) and the peonies are coming into flower, so we should be due a good downpour any day now. 

Outsider art in Denton Dene

I know I occasionally rail on about the damage I see done by presumed youths in the Dene, so to balance that (pun noted in hindsight) I thought I would share this little gem of youthful creativity.

Enjoy!

Four is a crowd

This week has been a bit of a handful, to say the least. We were going to be looking after my son's dog Ebony, then we were told we were not. I therefore thought nothing of agreeing to walk my little friend Homer while John was away.
As luck would have it we ended up with Ebony on Tuesday, so I am walking four dogs again. On Tuesday Homer thought I had brought him his birthday present; he was quite smitten. For her part, Ebony was playing the floozie, shoulder bumping Homer as they walked along and licking his chops. Since then the interest has waned, thankfully.

Two dogs in a boat

I had the boys with me today, and the weather was fine, so we headed up to Warkworth on the beautiful Northumberland coast. In order to unbounce the lurchers for the visit to the castle which followed, we went for a little walk along the Coquet beforehand.

I knew about the little hermitage a little way out of town, but I didn't say anything about it to the boys in case it was out of bounds to lurchers. So I let them have a little romp about in the woods, then put them on the lead when we came to a field.

(Always obey signs telling you to put dogs on leads or not to enter with dogs when in the countryside, even if you are on a right of way.)

We got to the chap with the boat and asked if it was ok to cross with the dogs. The boys got in first, then I went down with the dogs. Although they were both keen to follow the boys, Rover was a little unsure about getting on the boat, and I think they both had reservations about sitting still in the boat as the bank swung out and away from them. Getting off was the  same, with Rover being unsure about getting on to land. Of course they had it all to do again on the way back.

I think on the whole they endured the experience well, it was just one of those strange unnatural things that their human pack mates insist on doing from time to time.

We saw a heron fishing in the shallows on the way back to the castle. Which was nice.

In the castle, the dogs must have thought I had gone quite mad. The boys certainly did. I know Warkworth Castle like the back of my hand, having stayed there over several weekends re-enacting 17th century life. It has loads of hidey holes and back stairs, so I was able to give the boys the slip and reappear somewhere else where they did not expect me. The only problem was that I had two lurchers attached to me, and their panting kept on giving me away, or they would put their heads round corners if they heard the boys. Ah, youth!

I hope the photo appears with this blog. Sometimes they don't if I try attaching a picture from my phone.