We’ve been saving the walks for Country Walking magazine for ages now and today seemed a good day to have a flick through the little pile of cut out pages and find a nice little local walk. We settled for a nice 7 1/2 miler around the Shildon area!
Great parking at the Railway Museum and free to boot. Into the museum area and right down the lines towards the Welcome Centre further down the track. Passed the playground and into a quiet part of Shildon through a small housing estate and a bit of industrial estate then out into the countryside.
The route follows the old railway lines passed some old engine rooms and old railway sleepers which look like they’ve been well preserved. From the route, great views of Bishop Auckland can be seen and the surrounding farm land. And the KFC sign, which Kel pointed out, at least twice.
As the route ascends up into Brusselton Woods where the path needs some concentration and easily to lose the ‘scent’, trick is try and follow previous boot marks and not to get fooled by heavily used deer tracks. Plus, the shoulder high Ferns don’t help, luckily Alfie, our trusty Springer is a great pathfinder so we have an advantage. Once we were out of the woods the route hit the road a bit but it’s not so busy and very pleasant.
The route back towards Shildon was through scenic farm land and was well trodden, even through the farmers fields that were 99% cattle/sheep free, yay! Back into Shildon and back to the museum and a few pics for some of my spotter friends, not me, honestly!
Nice little walk with no dramas. Only advice i’d pass on is use your head in the woods otherwise you might get a bit ‘temporarily displaced’ and the midges are hungry.
Great day out, great local walk, recommended!
Northern Hiker 