Winton, north of Kirkby Stephen

 Friday 18th July 2025

With my breathlessness affliction walking is now reduced to around five miles. I always take a sandwich and a flask of coffee which usually involves a stop for twenty minutes or so, and including that in the calculation my average speed is coming out at around 1 mph. I''m not bothered about that because at eighty-five I am thankful that even with my problem I am walking further than the majority of folk at this age, and speed is not relevant to enjoyment of the outdoors, rather the slower one goes the more one haas the opportunity to take in the surroundings.

Having said all that I have now, dare I say "inflicted"  on myself, a new means of slowing my pace even more:

The Merlin Bird Recognition App on my iPhone.

With one press of the button you set this device to record birdsong from the surrounding area. Other features provide more detail and means of keeping a record of particular birds identified.  So now I often  find myself stopping on my walks to do a recording. Whilst I believe the app is  sensitive and good at its job I am finding that surprisingly few birds are recorded even in deep countryside where one would expect more. I'm not sure if this is down to a decline in bird populations, or do birds sing more at certain times of day? The rarest recording so far was on my recent walk from Garsdale Station when a Reed Bunting was recorded (but not seen.)

This five mile circuit from Winton involved an initial three kms. of road walking and then varied fields and lanes.You will see a tractor photo below and I chatted the the farmer. I couldn't identify the  make because this monster was so covered in  mud and muck but I was told it was a Valtra, and when I asked permission for the photo he apologised saying he would have washed it if he'd known it was going to be photographed. My later research found that it comes from Finland. Perhaps Alan R will enlighten us a little more?

Towards the end of the walk footpaths avoided the A685 but only after a couple of hundred yards from the road a gate lead into a field. There at thirty yards stood a large white bull with a harem of lady cows just behind. Normally I walk through cow herds without much problem, but here I didn't feel like taking the risk. I backed off and had nearly a mile of dodging traffic on the busy A685 to get back to the finish at Winton.

Leaving Winton. My car is under the big tree

On the way out of Winton

3km. of road walking from Winton but quiet and peaceful

The road obscured the view to the Eden Valley and the hills beyond but a few yards beyond this gate that view opened out, see next photo.
A good bit of recycling here with the tyre

Possibly Mell Fell and Murton Pike

Valtra tractor. Made in Finland.

Leaving the 3km. of road walking

This path was a thistlefest

The public footpath went through this gate, no evidence of recent use

Path went across here, but no path evident on the ground

A feeble trickle was filling the plastic box

"Are you looking st me?"

Belah Bridge. Now bypassed by a modern version on the A685

Start/finish at Winton, anti-clockwise.
The red dots show my diversion down the A685 to avoid bull in field