On the morning of 13th February at 09.40am there was a snow blizzard in High Etherley/Toft Hill. This was not encouraging as we were about to start our February walk 50 minutes from then. However, people would be already on their way so fingers crossed and hopefully the blizzard would not last long. Good luck was on our side and the skies cleared after about ten minutes and we had a splendid day for our walk.
We set off along the road past Greenfield Farm and through their fields where they take care of their livestock and walkers by having the footpath fenced off from the fields so walkers can see the path where they are allowed to walk. What the farm could not prevent was the very wet weather in the days preceeding the walk. There is always a patch of mud in one spot between two of the fields. On Thursday the patch was a large one and the sheep had been gathering between those hedges, probably for shelter, so you can guess what a churned up mess of mud we had to cross to get from one stile to another. I do not think our boots will ever look the same again!. After that things got better underfoot and we were soon on the path which is part of one of our Northern Saints Trails and goes through fields and on to the old railway track which leads to the A68. After crossing that road we entered the Springbank Nature Reserve. Although there are woodland paths in the reserve, on this occasion we kept to the main path and were soon at the playground where we had our picnic lunch. After lunch it was the part of this walk which I always think of with a groan, all the way up Bowes Close; it is a long relentless hill, not steep but a toil. As we reached the top of the hill one of the group suggested we fall into the Curlew Café for tea and cake before completing the last part of the walk. Nobody disagreed with that and the cakes were delicious. After refreshments we only had to walk along Toft Hill and across the Event Field into High Etherley and we were back where we had started feeling good after all the fresh air and a good walk.
Author - Isobel M
Pictures - John S & Isobel M