Filed under: Uncategorized
I grew up in a little town just south of Durham called Willington. It’s about 4 miles away from Bishop Auckland and there’s plenty of countryside around the place. Thing is when I was growing up I didn’t really bother stepping out and having a look at any of it. So I thought it was about time I did. Since it’s Boxing Day today as well we figured it’s a good time to walk off some of the Christmas excesses and go for a walk over to Bishop.
As a kid we did walk to Bishop or cycle over there but we always used to just go straight down the Bishop to Brandon Walk. It’s an old disused railway that’s been converted into a nice easy walk. This time though we decided to head down Stony Bank near to home and walk along the Weardale Way. The plan was to walk half-way to Bishop on the Weardale Way then up to the Bishop – Brandon walk for the rest of the way. A quick rest at my Gran’s flat in Bishop and then back along the Weardale Way before finishing going along the Bishop – Brandon walk. It turned out to be a lovely figure 8 walk and threw up a very nice little place just outside of Willington next to the river.
I took a couple of photos of Michelle while we were there and thought I should share.
Turned out to be our first ladder crossing on any walk we’ve done and it also turned out to be a thoroughly nice walk.
You’ll find all the details on OS Map 305 or you can drop us a mail and I’ll give you directions!
Sid.
Not only am I all excited because it’s Christmas Day but I’m all excited because Santa left us all the maps we need for our Coast to Coast next week. I sense a lot of route planning about to go on!
Filed under: Uncategorized
It seems like everything at the minute is such a rush getting ready for Christmas. Working too much, eating too much, drinking too much, sleeping too little and exercising too little.
As I type this Michelle is busy wrapping presents and I’m taking a break from tidying the house. It seems like it’ll never end.
But I guess it will end eventually and then we’ll go to Essex to see Michelle’s family and then it’s up to Durham to see mine. That’s when things will quieten down and what better excuse for a nice walk. Something not too long, not too strenous, just enough to bed down the Christmas lunch or the leftovers on Boxing Day.
So if anyone knows of a good walk in County Durham then let us know. Otherwise just keep an eye on this space and we’ll tell you all about it.
Sid.
Filed under: just for fun
I was going to let Michelle post this but then she’s busy with another cake for a friends Christmas party so I doubt she would’ve ever got round to it!! 🙂
Anyway, we went off to Bath this last weekend. We usually set a weekend aside and do our Christmas shopping in one fell swoop. We end up going away and getting a B&B and making a little bit of a trip of it. It makes it a little bit more exciting and gets a lot of the drudgery out of Christmas shopping trips. We chose Bath because we’ve both been looking for an excuse to get back to Bath. It’s where we both went to University and there’s something about Bath that when you drive down the hill and peel off to the left, just before you hit the first section of the nightmare Bath traffic, you feel like you’re going home. Well, it does for us two anyway.
We ended up getting a lovely B&B called the Bay Tree House. We were a little apprehensive at first since it wasn’t en-suite but we soon got over that. The place was lovely. The landlady couldn’t have been more helpful and the breakfast was fantastic. I highly recommend it if you are thinking of staying in Bath. However, there was a for sale sign hanging in the window so it may be under new management soon so take care. Not only was it good but it was only a short walk from town which made it perfect for our shopping ventures.
The other thing we did was eat a lot. We had some great food and Bath is a fantastic place to fill your face. So much to choose from but we thought we’d give you a couple of handy hints. The first one is Yak Yeti Yak, a Nepalese place just off of Pulteney Bridge. For those of you as slow as Michelle was with the play on word try pronouncing it Yeketty Yak! I’d never been there before but it turned out to have some fantastic food and some great service. It’s right down underground but don’t be put off. It’s great. It is moving though so you may need to look it up. The other places we went to were Loch Fyne, which is nice but is fairly generic when it comes to fish restaurants. Michelle loves fish so I let her indulge her pleasure. We also went to Strada, which again is nice but generic. We also grabbed a cake from the Boston Tea Party which was very nice and is just next te Yum Yum Thai which is also a nice place to go for food.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Just thought I should drop in a more personal post so you guys can get to know us a little better. I also thought it would be nice to give people going to Bath a few pointers. Bath is after all a very good place to make a base if you are planning a walking holiday in the South West.
Sid
2 friends and the coast to coast walk 