Ride down to Looe after work to see Mrs P at the caravan.
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That’s a tidy looking ZZR.
Thanks. She’s getting on a bit but for how much I use it she’ll do.
Doner burger? You dirty, dirty boy!
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EVERYBODY has been at home today ALL DAY waiting on a covid test result for my daughter. They appear to be taking longer these days, it has been over 24 hours now. I guess they are busy.
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42 hours before I was pinged my results.
Negative, I hope 
Yes, thankfully.
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On a short walk from the Bellingham campsite on a nice path down beside the North Tyne river to where the map showed a river crossing to Bridgeford farm.
No bridge, no ford
Decided against swimming so carried on past a ruined settlement to be chased by a crowd of bullocks
to paths easier to see on the map than on the ground.
This stile was in better condition than most
while this one had a barbed wire strand across it (OK.there was a field gate nearby, but still…)
Back for a cup of tea rather later than expected. I guess that recreational walking is not so popular here. Still a nice place to be.
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Nice walk.
Haha, that reminds me of the two stiles you need to access Feal Burn Plantation here.
The first one I call the “dangerous stile” and the second one the “suicide stile”
I must speak to the croft owner and get his permission to rebuild them!
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The online version, courtesy of Bing, shows the crossing coloured blue
I can’t seem to find an official i.e. OS explanation of what that means, but presumably it indicates you have to get into the river for the purposes of crossing it, either wading or swimming, depending on the level.
There’s mention of fords close to this point here Bridges on the Tyne - North Tyne - Hexham to Kielder although oddly he seems to use the word ‘flow’ in the opposite sense to the way I’d have used it.
As for bullocks, well, most of the time it’s said they’re ‘just curious’. It doesn’t always feel like that though when several tons of them are heading determinedly your way …
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TBH it was about as expected, my post was a bit tongue in cheek. OS maps usually have “ford” or “stepping stones” written where they are present. Just hadn’t come across a walking on water path before.
Bullocks are a not-uncommon nuisance, though I admit I’d have been happier if I’d had my walking sticks.
It’s perhaps a weird takeaway from the post, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen all black cows before. Do you know what breed they are?
Could be Black Angus or Welsh Blacks.
Not sure about cows, but black bullocks are quite common down here. Google mentions Welsh blacks, but says they’re a rare breed.
More common, I think, are black Angus cattle. But they look to be longer in the body and shorter in the leg than the ones I’ve come across
Then again, when they’re young they will be less weighty.
Certainly round here the beef farms are all wall-to-wall Aquitaine Blondes, which are unsurprisingly quite lightly coloured:
Who knew cow porn was a thing
Dairy farmers?
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