Feeling sluggish from the festive excesses we decided a walk was required but as always it was weather dependant. We also had to consider the shorter days and what would be the ideal distance as we had not been walking for a while.
Having a favourable weather forecast we dipped into our Cicerone guide “Walking in County Durham” and found a circular local walk along field and farm tracks with riverside and woodland paths. Only 5 miles it sounded ideal.
Our starting point was a school on the southern edge of Ouston marked by a mushroom sculpture that led us across farm fields towards Urpeth Hall. A bitter wind was blowing that stung our faces but you did feel all the cobwebs were being blown away too.Leaving the farm buildings we followed the lady bird markers into a wooded valley and followed the River Team downstream into a peaceful meadow where we stopped for coffee and enjoyed the tranquillity despite being only a couple of miles from urban Gateshead.
Have you ever wondered where ladybirds go in winter? Well we found a cluster or “loveliness” of ladybirds attached to a shrub.
The most common species of ladybird in Britain is the seven-spot ladybird. This bright red ladybird has seven spots and is thought to have inspired the name ladybird: "Lady" referring to the Virgin Mary (Our lady) who in early paintings is seen wearing a red cloak; the seven spots are symbolic of the seven joys and seven sorrows of Mary.
The path took us towards Riding farm then crossing the river (although it was more a small stream at this point) up to Urpeth from there we entered Walter’s Wood with its mature beech trees and soon back to our starting point at the mushrooms.
On our walk today we were accompanied along the woodland paths by a robin, startled a heron by the river, and spotted a weasel and grey squirrel.
