Dinsdale Deer

Retirement is made for days like this with blue sky, sunshine, and cool still air, which demand you get on your boots and head for the hills, or in my case the Teesdale Way to complete the next leg of the long distance path, the Middleton One Row – Dinsdale - High Sockburn circular route; wooded riverbank, country lanes and open fields make for attractive rather than stunning scenery, but there were also interesting period buildings, unconventional livestock (in the shape of alpacas), and a variety of wildlife to see – more squirrels, a few rabbits, the first butterfly of the year and most remarkably a small wild deer that, from 50 feet away, stared me out for a few seconds before leaping off through the trees in Dinsdale Wood.