A short walk on a wet Thursday round part of Wallington Estate. (Northumberland) Nov 22nd.
  The weatherperson said it would be a cold day but mainly dry. How wrong the weather person was, it rained nearly all day.
Dave and I decided to have an extra little walk this week, one round part of the Wallington estate in Northumberland. Wallington Hall was the home of the Trevelyans and is now a National Trust property and we went nowhere near the hall itself anyway.
Getting to the start is more complicated than describing the walk. We left Newcastle and took the road through Ponteland and on to Belsay. Just beyond Belsay is a three way junction, we took the road to Bolam Lake and drove past the pond on the west side to Scots Gap. We turned right at Scots Gap and headed north. About a mile past Rothley Cross Roads a narrow single track badly maintained minor road took us to an off road car park (gated but free) near Wideopen Cottage.
This walk is probably the best signposted walk in the UK and is easily followed without a map but should you need one use OS OL 42 Kielder Water and Forest. The car park is at GR NZ034915.

A grey day, we were the only ones in the free but gated car park.

Clear signing from the start.

Leaving the car after the rain had eased a little we heade just west of north on a clearly marked path that went alongside an old quarry.

Turning left into a field we obediently followed the trail on the perimeter, turning right at a plantation.

Just one of the many highly visible yellow capped posts on the walk.

About half way along the forest fence we took a path through the wood, continued on the edge of a field and then on the path just inside the coniferous plantation.

Some way into the woodland the track headed north across moorland. An excellent track, built slightly higher than the surrounding scrub and stone lined in places. Approaching the Fallowlees burn there was some evidence of ancient boundary walls and ditches, possibly iron age. The path, still well signed turned east and we approached the Fontburn Reservoir.

Well constructed stile, easily crossed

Approaching the reservoir we joined the waterside trail, possibly it circumnavigates the lake where this a nature reserve too.

For some distance the footpath is outside the reservoir boundary but at some point walkers cross into the woodland that surrounds the water. After a while the Greenleighton Walk leaves the reservoir and heads south across boggy moorland. We made a slight detour to take some shelter in a wood where we could have a brief Herbie. Soup, very warming on a cold wet day, Mr Kipling chocolate and Nature Valley crunchie biscuits.

Back on the path we walked past several Shake Holes (look them up for an explanation of their formation) and  arrived at a trig point

Dave admires the trig point (pre satellites they were used for mapping)

From the trig point we walked across a field close to the quarry and finally next to the same quarry before reaching the car.

A short walk but interesting and it has the possibilities of expansion, particularly on a dry day.

Marks of the explosives used on the quarry

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2018.

And a matrix                                            

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