Riding Mill

 Riding Mill March 6th

We have not walked from this village for some time. Riding mill is  in the Tyne Valley some miles west of Newcastle. A69, turn off onto A68 near Corbridge and at the first roundabout take the road to the village. 

The walk is covered by two maps:

OS Explorer316 Newcastle upon Tyne and OS Explorer 307  Consett

Parking in a small yard near the church of St. James, room for ten cars.

                              Church of St. James. !9th century built as a Chapel of Ease in Bywell parish but now a parish on its own.

                                      Car park near the church.
Booted and suited against the cold we set off, leaving the car park, crossing the road and spotting the finger post for the River Tyne Trail, marked by the "Daft as a Brush" charity, The post was partly covered by branches but it took us to the first muddy path of the day through Whiteside Wood, across the A68, busy road, take care. and on to Broomley where we left the Tyne Trail and ploughed through the muddy fields to the road junction (Near point 59 on map,)

WW2 bunker just outside Riding Mill

From the junction we walked along the road through the village of Hindley to the B6309 at point 94 on the map.

              Britain does not have a climate, we have weather.  Wednesday and Thursday this week were unseasonably warm and sunny. On Thursday night we had a lot more rain and a little sprinkling of snow on higher ground.

From the junction we followed a track so straight it could have been a Roman road, until we reached, through a couple of muddy fields, Fell House on the A68, buisy road, take care.

Turning south we walked on the road for a few hundred yards before spotting the next finger post  and heading west through Low Fotherley, Lingley Field to the village of Healey. We didn't go into the village, pity because it has a pretty church. Just beyond the village road we stopped for lunch at Burnt House, a wedding venue. There were some large stones in the yard which would have made good if hard, seats but a young man explained the bridal party were about to arrive and probably didn't want to see a group of muddy men tucking in to sandwiches.

So we crossed the road, through a gate and settled down as best we could. (Limited sharin, cookiea and ALDI Titans, not many out today)

                               Nice place for a wedding.

                 Not too muddy in the wood.

We followed a good track through the wood, finally emerging at a minor road, turned left and spotted the finger post for Riding Mill. From this point it all goes downhill. The path is easy to follow, crossing the hedge near High Plains riding centre but beyond there is a lack of pointers.

Two scrambled over the hedge and took the path, two wandered the field a bit before finding a way out but fairly soon we were back at the cars and home.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2026.

The walk is about 8.5 miles. Easy going but muddy today>