Hellspath is for heroes.....and walks in the deep dark woods.....................February 21st
  For family reasons I could not walk with the gadgies today and two others were also away. The four remaining team members had a walk in the Cheviots on a bright windy day. Dave sent me this report:

    Harry was indefatigable yesterday, despite the fierce wind we  battled against for most of the time, I couldn't find Harry's on/off  or return to base switches.
   From Wooler Common we did the track north of Humbleton Hill to Gleadscleugh, battled to the top of the next summit heading west and eventually reached the fringes of Yeavering Bell. We made an effort and caught up with Harry and forced him to stop for lunch..
  Cornish Johnny and I were waving our white handkerchiefs by this stage, looking for an easy walk back on the St. Cuthbert's path trail with the wind on our backs. Harry had other ideas, and Ben, being an FTA was not going to squeal.
  Harry drove us up to Easter Tor, down towards Commonburn and then to Broadstruther. Avoiding a total collapse with exhaustion we staggered up Hellspath and completed the 13 miles back to "Who let the dogs out" car park.

Matrix MMXIVJ

                                        steps                                          miles
LIDL3D                           28447                                         13.10 
LIDLUSB                        27869                                         13.19
Ben's bragometer                                                              13.06

Measured by Dave with the magic German engineered wheel  12 miles
Gadgie distance 127

The walk is almost identical with:

The men who walk with goats    blogged on February 22nd,   2013

Meanwhile I was exploring Gosforth Park Nature Reserve with daughters, son in law and grandson Alex. It was breezy but obviously not as bad as the lads suffered. And it has a car park.

Kate arrives at the car park..............on time for once.

Alex explores with his stick

                                                And has his first visit to a bird hide.

                        Unfortunately it was a poor  day for wild life 

in the reserve. The powers that be have stopped

using the bird feeding station for now and all

we saw were two robins and a rat. There is a rumour that 

red kites have been spotted in the area, but not today.

    On Sunday morning we decided to visit Plessey Woods, a country park between Cramlington and Morpeth. Although the welcome board promised us kingfishers and otters the best we could come up with was a pair of Mallards. Still it has a car park, a visitor centre and a play area so it was a great success and a pleasant stroll.

                                                      There was  a car park

and a den

                                                         and Alex with his daddy

                                                                 and his grandad

                                                             and a stile

                                            I took a picture of my girls in this very spot
                                                     about thirty years ago.

                                                                   and here it is; spot Lucy
                                                                  poking her head out!

                                                      and a rabbit

                                                                     and a slide


Back next week!