Wall to wall walking

 Wall to wall walking. October 2nd

This is a new walk for me although it is in familiar territory. Starting and finishing in the village of Wall it is covered by OS OL 43 Hadrian’s Wall.

Head west on the A69, just beyond Hexham turn right and go throufg Acomb and on to the village of Wall. There is parking at the north end but the lay-by had a small fleet of large trucks so we parked by the village green.

We had breakfast in the cafe in Chollerford, just across the bridge and only a couple of miles from Wall. The Riverside Kitchen, the bacon sandwich was a five star offering.

                          Parking by the green in Wall

We set off down the road from the cars, passing the church and spotting the gate on the left hand side that took us to a short steep climb through woodland before coming out into fields. Some tricky stiles on the way.

                      I was told this was "The Lockey Stile", it needed care.

Several fields and a couple of short stretches of woodland we arrived at Fallowfield Farm. (mile 1). Turning north to pass the farm we then turned right to cross more fields to the wooded Red Burn. Once out of the trees we reached the next farm, Codlaw Dene. The road through the farm brought us to a junction. Turning right and turning diretion we had a stretch of road to walk  before turning left near Hangman's Hill. A couple more fields brought us to a ruined farm house and an outbuilding (mile 4). Using a wall as a windbreak we held a Herbie.

             The wall behind the righthand building served as a windbreak during Herbie time (Cookies, Latte tarts, Sweet and savoury of course, from Mrs A, of course.

Leaving the old buildings and negotiation a puzzle of three gates we arrived at The Military Road, officially the B631.8 and in this stretch built by vandals on top of Hadrian's Wall. 

Crossing the road we took to the Hadrian's Wall Path, which is also St Oswald's Way at this point.

The ditch on the north side of Hadrian's Wall.

After some distance short of half a mile we left the long distance path, headed over Keepwick Fell and found the roughest farm track seen in years. Stumbling down hill with deep ruts made by tractor wheels that were too narrow to walk comfortably we eventually and thankfully came to a road , turned left and walked through the three Cocklaws  to the A6079.

Fortunately we were on the road for a short time before joining the Tyne Trail and making use of the footpath alongside the North Tyne.

                  It wasn't very suitable for humans either

                                        The North Tyne

At Chollerford Bridge (mile 8) we left the trail and walked uphill to the road junction, turned right and having crossed Hadrian's Wall again were back in the village.

On the way home we called in at the Fox and Hounds in Wylam to rehydrate. TTL and zero Guinness.

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The walk is 9 miles, mostly easy going. The views are worth the effort.

                            St George's Church, Wall, late 19th century

                        Best type of stile

The Highs and Lows of Newton

 The Highs and Lows of Newton. September 25th

Back to the coast after last Friday’s country walk from Blackhall.

Today’s outing starts from the village of Embleton. Head north, turn off for Denwick north of Alnwick and follow the sign posts for Embleton. Or use a Sat Nav

The walk is covered by OS Explorer 332 Alnwick and Amble and OS Explorer 340 Holy Island and Bamburgh. 

We parked on Front Street, next to the Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel which serves breakfast and TTL.

Definitely not for the calendar but it's where we parked by the Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel.

After breakfast in the hotel we walked up Front Street, turned right, past the Greys Inn, took the first turn on the left and almost immediately, went across  stile  on the right and through a small plantation out to some fields.

        Thr first stile of the day, and there were several awkward ones.

We walked the edges of recently harvested fields  for the best part of two miles until we reached the road leading to Dunstan Square. Through the farm yard, through a gate, across fields to a low gap in the Heughs and we were facing the North Sea, and Dunstanburgh Castle.

                            The horses of Dunstan Square
              Below.              Dunstanburgh castle, built on the orders of Thomas of Lancaster in the 14th century, damaged in the Wars of the Roses and left to go to ruin.

We walked on the footpath round the castle (King Charles III/England Coastal Path,  and after a short distance on the dunes descended to the beach of Embleton Bay where we found......

Still alive if not exactly kicking, we threw it back into the sea although the incoming tide may have returned it.

About half way round the bay we left the soft sand and took to the footpath round the edge of the golf course, through the holiday chalets and to the square of cottages at Low Newton by the Sea. 

The open square of cottages at Low Newton. Managed by the National Trust and the Ship Inn in the corner is a favourite of the Sunday supplements. We had a Herbie: cookies, Skinny Whips and Mrs A supplied sweet and savoury.

Moving on after about 5.5 miles walking we followed the footpath near the sea and round Newton Point to Link House Farm. From here we followed the road to High Newton by the Sea.

Village Green at High Newton.

There is a large car park just outside the village and at the entrance there is a footpath that we followed round the edges of several fields. The path is marked with bright yellow arrows and is easy to follow because it is fenced on both sides, no walking across fields. Crossing Kelsor Hill, more of a bump really we came to a difficult stile:

Tricky one this.

Had we known we could have avoided the stile by using a gate less than 100 yards away. Instead we walked the edge of a ploughed field, joined a good grassy path to North Farm, mostly a collection of holiday homes, turned left and walked along the road to Embleton.

The end of the road is nigh.

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The walk is about 10 easy going miles, sea views and a splendid castle even if it is ruined

Black and Green

 Black and Green. September 20th

This easy walk has been done before, but why not again. It's with the Greens, a fellow walking group who lay on a great Christmas walk and buffet in a pub.

The walk starts from Blackhall Mill near Consett. Cross the Tyne going south on the A1 and navigate round the next intersection, head west and arrive. Park near the Riverview Bakery, enjoy one of their bacon sandwiches and start the walk.

The walk is covered by OS Explorer 307 Consett and Derwent Reservoir.

Across the bridge into Blackhall, there is some parking on the right but it was full. The roads near the cafe were also full so it was a bit of a cheek leaving a car in the cafe park but we did go in at the start and end of our walk. Well worth it too, a top class bacon sandwich in the morning and great cakes in the afternoon.

Riverview in Blackhall. Always busy and not surprising it's so good.

Leaving the cafe we walked along the road for a short distance, parallel to the River Derwent.      

Leaving the road we took a footpath on the edges of fields with a crop of maize ready to cut.

Grown for manimal feed rather than cornflakes I'm told

Not quite as high as an elephants eye.

                               Alpacas.

Crossing the river we were close to the remains of  Vindomoa Roman fort, we didn't stop most  roman forts look alike.
Back across the river we entered Hepper Hill Park Wood and followed the footpath going steadily uphill to Hoods Close. Being a warm sunny early autumn day the walk through the woods was a pleasure. Once out of them we crossed fields to the village of Whittonstall, built on one of the highest spots around. The village had provided a small picnic spot complete with table and benches so we called a Herbie. (No sharing it's a Greens walk)

Herbie spt in Whittonstall

Moving on down the village road we turned in at Lawson's Farm, a collection of holiday homes which looked very comfortable and well maintained.

Across a couple of fields and back to the woods, Ryehill Woods this time. A narrow footpath which became a track through the farm at Hollings.

Looking south at Hollings

Arriving at a road we turned right then joined the dismantled railway for a short time before taking the track through Milkwellburn Wood all the way back to Blackhall.

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The walk is about 9 miles, easy going with acouple of short climbs. But if you like a woodland walk this takes a lot of beating