Early-January Mid-Week Walking

On Thursday, 5th January, Stockton Rambling Club will have a mid-week walk in the Sedgefield area of County Durham. Please meet at 10.30 am at the Hardwick Hall Country Park car park {NZ 346 288} - see the following map.

Crown Copyright (2009). All rights reserved. Licence No. 100046831.
Produced using Anquet Maps.

The walk will not be longer than 8 miles (C-pace).
For further details ring 01642-863538.

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The Last One!

On Sunday, 18th December, Phil Barker led the last SRC A-walk on the 2011 programme card. The walk commenced at Osmotherley and finished in Carlton-in-Cleveland. We covered a distance of about 16 miles and this involved a total ascent of about 1800 feet.

During our trek we visited Beacon Hill, Whorlton Moor, Swainby Shooting House, Barker's Ridge, Barker's Crags, Brian's Pond, Carlton Glider Station and Lord Stones before descending steeply off the moors in order to reach our final destination - the Blackwell Ox hostelry in Carlton!

The weather was excellent (lots of sunshine) and the conditions underfoot were superb - with a thin scattering of snow on the high ground (but not enough to impede our progress).

There were nine people in the group. The photo below shows the A-team as it approached the minor road near Scarth Nick Moor. Click on the picture in order to see a larger version - and some of the other photos that we took.



Please don't foget that the next set of coached walks will be on 8th January, 2012. These will start in the Chop Gate/Clay Bank area and will finish in Stokesley.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Keep on walking!

Credits:
Many thanks to Jane Thompson and Phil Barker for taking the photographs.

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SRC 2011 Christmas Walks

During the Christmas period - 25th December through 1st January - the Stockton Rambling Club will have a series of circular walks in the North York Moors and Stockton-on-Tees areas. Walks will not be longer than 8 miles and will be at a C pace.

The coach will NOT be available for any of these walks. If you need a lift, or can offer one to someone else, please ring Monica on 01642-786637. All walks start at 10.00 am at the designated starting points.

Click on the button below to obtain further details of these.

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Navigating the Weardale Way

On Sunday, 11^th December, Roger Blacklock led an enthusiastic team of nine SRC A-Walkers along the section of the Weardale Way that runs between Bishop Auckland and Durham City.

As we made our way along the banks of the River Wear, we sited no fewer than six herons - fine-looking birds they were too!

Just after crossing the road at Page Bank Bridge, we found a very pleasant lunch location overlooking the river's edge - sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree. Unfortunately, disaster soon struck when the old tree-trunk upon which we were sitting suddenly collapsed - causing considerable damage to Maggie's walking pole! Fortunately, nobody was injured and after a very pleasant lunch we were able to continue our trek to Durham - taking a short tea-stop in Shincliffe Wood.

Thanks for a great day Roger.

Click here in order to see some of the photos that we took during our expedition.

Credits:
Many thanks to Jane Thompson for taking the photographs.

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Sunday Walking to Carlton

On Sunday, 18th December, the Stockton Rambling Club will have three walks in the North-Western area of the North York Moors. All walks will finish in Carlton {NZ 508 044} - see the following map.

Crown Copyright (2011). All rights reserved. Licence No. 100046831.
Produced using Anquet Maps.

The A-walk will start at Osmotherley {SE 455 972} and will take in Beacon Hill, Whorlton Moor, Barker's Ridge and Carlton Moor.

The B-walk will commence at Crathorne {NZ 443 075} and will visit Jamie Wood, Hutton Bridge and Whorlton.

The C-walk will also set off from Osmotherley and will pass through Scarth Wood Farm, Swainby and Whorlton.

This is a Route 1 coach pick up and is also an early start (Billingham: 9.00 am, Stockton: 9.15 am and Acklam: 9.30 am).

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Sunday Walking to Durham

On Sunday, 11th December, the Stockton Rambling Club will have three walks in the Croxdale area of County Durham region. All walks will finish in Durham City {NZ 276 430} - see the following map.

Crown Copyright (2011). All rights reserved. Licence No. 100046831.
Produced using Anquet Maps.

The A-walk will start at Bishop Auckland {NZ 207 301} and will follow the Weardale Way to Durham.

The B-walk will also commence at Bishop Auckland and will visit Witworth Hall and Croxdale Bridge.

The C-walk will set off from Thinford {NZ 285 345} and will pass through Nickynack Bridge and Croxdale Bridge.

This is a Route 3 coach pick up and is also an early start (Acklam: 9.00 am, Stockton: 9.15 am and Billingham: 9.30 am).

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Early-December Mid-Week Walking(2011-12-08)

On Thursday, 8th December, Stockton Rambling Club have a mid-week walk in the Bilsdale area of the North York Moors. Please meet at 10.30 am at Urra Farm {NZ 571 019} - see the following map.


The walk will not be longer than 10 miles.
For further details ring 01642-656273.

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Levada Walking in Madeira

During the week of the 14^th through 21^st November, Jane Thompson and Phil Barker undertook a 'winter expedition' to Madeira in order to walk along some of the famous levadas.

We established our 'base camp' at the Porto Mare Hotel {N 32° 38.261' W 16° 56.002'} in the Funchal area - see the picture below.



In order to facilitate any navigational issues that might have arisen, we took our GPS facility with us on our trip. This was an invaluable tool for locating the start of our walks and recording our routes along those levadas that we chose to explore.

Prior to our walking expeditions, we entered the locations of strategic points into the GPS as latitude and longitude settings. These were very useful - especially where we had to find 'link-up' routes between different levadas.

As well as completing some of the levadas, we also climbed to the top of the highest peak on the island - Pico Ruivo at 6200 feet.

Click here in order to see some of the photos that we took during our expedition.

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