The last passenger train left the station here on 30 November 1964 and the line was lifted in 1967. Today the two and a half miles of trackbed to Cotherstone forms part of the Tees Valley railway path, with the lure of a convivial pub at either end of the walk. It's probably used by more people now than it was during its final years as a railway, before the Beeching cuts. I don't think we have ever walked along here without encountering several others to pass the time of day with, even last winter when drifting snow filled the cuttings.
Part of the path's attraction lies in the variety of habitats that it passes through. Two roe deer watched us from the shelter of an old hazel coppice, before bounding away through the trees. From the embankment a little further on we watched a snipe probing the mud in the boggy fields, before we entered the deep cutting where burnt umber seed spikes of last summer's orchids stood among yellowing grasses. From the viaduct over the river Balder we watched redpolls moving through tree crowns far below, then the vistas opened on to farmland where a flock of lapwings rose from the pastures, their wings flashing black and white as they turned in unison, lit by dazzling winter sun breaking through clouds that were clearing fast before a brisk south-westerly wind.
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