Hexham + St John Lee

February began with a breezy ramble starting at the riverside park in Hexham. Many of us remember this park from the days of our bank holiday parish outings - games of rounders and hockey included.

There was a bit of road walking at the start.

Pink/red was the theme this month.

Or was it blue/mauve?

We cancelled this walk back in November because of heavy rain. Surely it would have have dried out by now!

Snowdrops -always a welcome sight

This is the church of St John of Beverley at Acomb. He was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Hexham who went on to become bishop of York and founded the Charming town of Beverley near Hull.

After climbing a hill we lunched in ferocious winds but enjoyed fine views. Note that the house is not belching white smoke- it is the factory in Hexham below.

Can you see the Tyne twisting its way along the valley?

Here are the obligatory lunch portraits.

Ken lost his crisps in a gush of wind moments later..

We descended into Hexham and headed off to Riding Mill for a drink...

Sorry about the fuzziness Marion - I should not try taking pics after drinking pale ale!

So there we are. Next walk is Seaton Sluice + Holywell Dene on Feb 29th - which may end up being the March walk as it would have been in March if this were not a leap year!