NER station office at Beamish Museum (mid Jan). The station buildings were relocated from the tiny hamlet of Rowley – the station closed to passenger traffic in 1939, well before the Beeching Axe.
Winter sunset (early Feb) on the return to Coxhoe after a walk to Garmondsway, orbiting the enormous Garmondsway Quarry. Reputedly Cnut chose Garmondsway as the point to finish a pilgrimage to Durham cathedral (or rather its Anglo-Saxon predecessor) by walking barefoot. Presumably 7 miles was an appropriate balance between piety and discomfort! Flass Vale in early Feb.Descending towards Lanchester (late Feb) with Burnhope transmitter just visible in the background. Originally built as a 100 kW transmitting station for the original 405-line television signal, it is now purely a radio transmitter. Accommodation bridge for the abandoned Durham to Bishop Auckland railway line (mid March). A little further down the line is the “Bishop’s Bridge”, a strange double-width bridge reputedly built to allow Bishop Lightfoot to cross his parkland without having to see the railway line!“Vessels of Life” at Durham Botanic Garden (mid Mar).Arnside Station in late March, from a return visit to Arnside and Arnside Knott.
