Stands Proud on a Ridge

 Stands Proud on a Ridge. October 4th

A Sunday walk with the Greens. Having heard that Prudhoe Castle would be open to the public today a combination of gadgies and Greens chose a walk from Wylam to see the castle.

Wylam is west of Newcastle, head that way on the A69 and turn off at the sign post for Wylam. Go through the village and turn into the large carpark on the left just before the bridge.

A map is not essential but the one to use is OS Explorer 316 Newcastle upon Tyne.

     Regular readers will be familiar with the Wylam car park. Plenty of space and very busy today, a Sunday. Several people were unloading bikes and setting off on the trails on the rails.

Leaving the car park we headed for the river, took the footpath under the road bridge and followed it close to the bank until we reached Hagg Bridge.

                            Autumn in Wylam

           

19th century railway bridge. The line, which joined the main Newcastle to Carlisle track closed in the 1960s. It apparently served as a model for the Tyne Bridge.

Once across the bridge we turned left, passed a row of cottages, crossed the railway line and walked through the woods before crossing a road.

                                                                 The Tyne at Hagg Bridge

                               More autumnal woodland.

Over the road we continued through woods above the industrial area on the banks of the river until we came to another road and followed it to the castle.

Prudhoe castle dates back to the 11th century when a Norman motte and bailey was built. Given to the d' Umfravilles it was expanded  to the massive stone building it is today. Eventually it was acquired, through marriage by the Percy family who added a great hall. Today it is a ruin run by the National Trust. Normally only open to prebooked parties today the gates have been opened to all. This is one reason why we came out on this walk.

The name Prudhoe could be " a projecting ridge" or "proud position". Either seems appropriate.

                 The castle. The last photo is the old mill, outside the main building.

Having explored the grounds and seen the displays inside the hall we left and headed down to the Tyne Riverside Country Park for lunch. (No sharing, it's a day out with the Greens. )

We crossed the Carlisle to Newcastle railway to reach the park. For engineering reasons a LNER train was passing through the station. Works on the west coast line meant a diversion.

Trains on this line are usually diesel multiples, or they carry nuclear waste.

After lunch our team of nine split. Some went to Ovingham and up Whittle Dene, along to Horsley and back to Wylam across fields.

Some of us followed the foot/cycle track on the south bank of the Tyne back to Wylam, passing on the way the Spetchells, a huge man made heap of industrial chalky waste left from manufacturing fertiliser and explosives.

                       The Spetchells are now a nature reserve, well worth the climb up too.

We recrossed the Hagg bridge and were soon back at the car and home for an early tea.

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

The short walk is about 6 easy miles. The longer version more like 9

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.

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

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.

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

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