IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Heather Lea, STANLEY, DH9 9XN

This WW2 pillbox was sited on a ridge overlooking the main road and Flint Hill crossroads.

There has been a pub here for over 150 years. The 1861 OS map shows The Bloodhound Inn at this spot. However, I doubt if this is the building from that time, it's more likely to be a late Victorian or Edwardian replacement.

Sheltered access to the chapel.

Daffodils still blooming and leafless trees - signs of a long winter, which thankfully seems to have come to an end. View from the grounds at Mountsett Crematorium.

At Hill Top, Dipton on a nice early summer day. The path follows the course of the old railway, a very early one.

This area to the north of Dipton village was once lowland heath, but is now much reduced and covered in scrub.

Tansy and other flowers growing alongside the path along Mounsett Fell at Dipton.

The Bowes Railway was one of the oldest railways in the world, sections of which were constructed by George Stephenson in 1826, and extended from Pontop to the Tyne at Jarrow. In 1842 it was bought and restored by John Bowes and Partners (hence the name). As the coal industry declined, so did use of the railway and the last section of the line was abandoned in the 1970s. The trackbed is now being converted into a cycle- and foot-path running from Dipton via Burnopfield, Kibblesworth, Birtley and Springwell to Jarrow. It forms Regional Route 11 of the National Cycle Network. At present, much of the path is of poor standard, only suitable for mountain bikes.