Let’s get one thing straight here, the purpose of this walk was to have tea and cake at Vennel’s tea shop; easily one of the finest in this city. That said, Durham is  great venue for walks as it has such a rich mix of town and country scenery. But before the rewards, we had to do the walk.

As per our usual rituals, the walk started at the Market Square before heading out to the surrounding contryside. The first part of the walk took us through Flass Vale heading for the river Browney (it is a Tea & Cake theme after all) and its lost course as it approaches the city. Its original course changed after the last ice age but there is still a ghost of it still to be seen.

Despite getting a little lost (thanks to a very vague walk description) we made good time and settled down for lunch on the edge of a field overlooking the empty valley of the old river Browney.

After lunch the walk headed for Beaurepaire Park, the old country estate of the Durham monastery. Now just a pile of stones, the estate once commanded fine views out over the countryside and is now the location of many short walks around the city.

Heading back via Bearpark and Ushaw Lane we soon found ourselves near Neville’s Cross and a short stroll back to the city and the reward at Vennel’s.