A little damp in Wylam

 A little damp in Wylam. August 28th

The weather forecast has suggested there will be thunder and showers for the day in the north east of England. The few gadgies who are out have decided on a short walk near home with cut offs if the heavy rain starts.

Starting from Wylam, west of Newcastle in the Tyne Valley using OS Explorer 316 Newcastle upon Tyne, this is a familiar walk mostly along the river side. 

Park for free down by the Wylam Bridge.

The path by the car park was a railway line, now a horse/cycle/walkers track and we set off  on it, heading west.

After about half a mile we crossed the Tyne on the Hagg Bridge, 19th century predecessor of the Tyne bridge.

                     Hagg Bridge. The line it carried joined the Newcastle to Carlisle railway on the south side of the river.

Not long after crossing the Hagg Bridge we took a footpath on the left, crossed the railway, walked through woodland , crossed a road and continued on footpaths through more woods high above the industrial area of Prudhoe until we came to the castle.

Prudhoe Castle. Dating back to the 11th century, owned then by the d' Umfravilles who came over with William it is now a ruin run by English Heritage. Only open to pre-booked tours. However we walked round the outside, which explains the loop on the map.

Leaving the castle we headed down to the Tyne Riverside Country Park for coffee.

Art at the Tyne Riverside Country Park. Next to the picture is a dog washing area, hot and cold and shampoo and everything for your pooch.

 We crossed Ovingham Bridge, controlled by lights for vehicles but there is a footbridge parallel to it.

                                          The Tyne at Ovingham.

After a slight detour to admire the Bridge End Pub and restaurant  we took a path that, after a short flight of steps, brought us to the track into Whittle Dene. 

There are a number of small cottages in the dene and at mile 4, close to a ruined building that could have been a mill once we settled down for a Herbie. (Skinny whips and apples)

Lunch over we headed back down the dene to Ovingham, just as the promised rain started. Crossing to the south side of the Tyne we followed the tarmacked path back to Wylam, passing the famous Spetchells which are artificial low hills made from the waste produced by a nearby factory that made fertiliser and explosives in WW2.

 Now covered in shrubs trees and flowers they are a nature reserve.

The path, next to the river took us back to the Hagg Bridge and the car park. And then we went home!

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The walk is about 7.5 miles, easy going, woodland and riverside.

Rothbury Terraces

 Rothbury Terraces. August 21st

The terraces above Rothbury were laid out for Lord Armstrong as carriage drives around his home at Cragside. Now they make for a good gadgie walk with spectacular views over the Coquet Valley.

We parked in Rothbury, there is a good sized free car park on the south side of the river. Reached by going north on the A1, turning on to the A697 at Morpeth and turning left at Weldon Bridge. Turn left on Rothbury High Street, cross the river, turn right and park.

Rothbury is on the edge of two map. OS OL 42 Kielder and OS 332 Alnwick.

Car park in Rothbury. I have cropped the picture, hope you approve.

Booted up  we crossed the river by means of the convenient footbridge and walked to the Newcastle House Hotel for breakfast. Strangely not a bacon sandwich or scone in sight today, tea or coffee for all.

Ready for a walk at last we crossed the main street, turned right and took the  second on the left, passing the terrace of flats Lord Armstrong had built for his retired workers and, having spotted the gate (or was it a stile?) crossed a field to Hillside Road. Turning right  we walked a short distance to the stile which guided us across a field to the track at Addycombe.

Looking down on Rothbury from Addycombe.

From here the track (drive?) wanders through woodland still showing the scars of storm Arwen in places. After a mile we found, on the right, the footpath leading down to a track near Primrose Cottage.

The start of this footpath is not marked, the path is narrow and for a while the ground has a covering of rocks, difficult to see as the bracken is high. 

Unfortunately these two are not at the start of the path permanently, but watch out for it.

The path is narrow to begin with, goes downhill, crosses a stream by means of a footbridge  and then arrives at a forest track near Primrose Cottage.

                               The blooming heather. The hillsides are covered with it.

We followed the track until we reached the turning into Blue Mill 

                            Take this track,

 The track goes gently uphill. After a bit less than half a mile we took the footpath on the right, clambered over a stile and continued on a grassy trail until we had clocked up about four and a half miles.

A well built stone wall provided shelter from the breeze and an old gatepost which had fallen over made a seat for some. Herbie time: Caramel tarts, a new experience, flapjacks and sweet and savoury of course.

                                                                       Dining out

Moving on we turned downhill at a gate and headed down to Physic Lane and the village of Thropton. Crossing the Wreigh Burnusing the footbridge next to the road bridge we then crossed the road and followed the footpath alongside the same burn until we reached the footbridge over the River Coquet.

                  Crossing the Coquet.

The footpath that follows the river back to Rothbury has, we were told, been partly washed away. Regardless, some of the team wandered across fields by the river, crossed it by another footbridge and followed a footpath back to the car park. (Reached by another footbridge)

Some took a slightly different route, heading toward Newtown but we all finished at the same time, more or less. And then some went home.

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The walk is about 8,5 miles, easy going after the first climb and worth it for the views.

 

A hot day on Hartside

 A hot day on Hartside August 14th

The UK and Europe are suffering the fifth heatwave of the year. The temperature where I live is 33C  but it is cloudy. Cloudy enough to make the eclipse of the sun on August 12th a disappointment. Now you see it now you don’t. Same as 1999.

Never mind, today a few of us are off to walk-in the Cheviots, starting at Hartside. To get there A1 north, A697 at Morpeth, not far beyond Powburn turn left for Ingram Valley. Several miles beyond Ingram stop at Hartside. You have to, only the inhabitants of the few houses at Linhope are allowed to drive further, unless you are a delivery van.

A map would be very useful, OS OL 16 The Cheviot Hills covers the walk.

Not a contender, parking on the roadside at Hartside.

Booted and suncreamed we set off on the road passing Hartside farm to Linhope.

Linhope is hardly big enough to be a hamlet, a few houses and a path to Linhope Spout waterfall. But we turned off on the left near the gates of the last house and followed the track round the side of Ritto Hill. The track became a farm track and then a hard to find footpath across hard ground with a fine crop of Lauder Grass (qv).

                    A good day for Northumbrian scenery.

We climbed steadily, and slowly in the heat. Reaching a fence line (3.5 miles) we followed it, went through a gate and followed ma rough path through the bracken downhill to High Bleakhope Farm.  (mile 4)The farmhouse is deserted and locked up, windows shuttered and no sign of any farming activity. A pile of timber made a fine table so we called a Herbie.

        High Bleakhope house. Well named, winters must have been hard here when we had snow.

No sharing today, after lunch in the sun we set off down the tarmacced road (Salters Road) to Low Bleakhope farm.

Hareshaw Cleugh at Low Bleakhope. 

Here we took the track (still Salters Road) south east that started easily and the climbed Little Dod  After a well earned descent we left the track at mile 6 and followed paths downhill across fields  to Rowhope Burn. From here we took the path through high bracken to the farm at Alnhammoor.

Alnhammoor farm, used in a TV seriws recwntly but I can't remember what.

And finally a tarmac road back to Hartside, car and home.

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This is a beautiful walk of about 8.5 miles. It includes  climbs of about 1350 feet in total which I found hard going on a hot day.