Murum tribus militimus (Northumberland )
March 29th.
The advantages of a classical education! If only I had had one. The Translate App on the phone works well though. The good burghers of Haltwhistle have put together a booklet of 22 walks based on the town.
Today we are going to follow Haltwhistle Ring Walk number 5 which goes from the town, up the Haltwhistle Burn for a while and then crosses country to Hadrian’s Wall’. After a short walk on the wall the walk returns via Greenhead.
There are only three of us out today, holidays and families again reducing the team to John H., Dave and me.
The walk is covered by OS OL Explorer 43, Hadrian’s Wall but you can buy the leaflet in some of the shops or download them, map and notes.
Haltwhistle is at the centre of Great Britain and from Newcastle it is easy to find, Head west on the A69 and turn off when you get there. Limited but free parking above Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Not the best of car parks, but free!
Woodhead Lane, start of the walk.
Booted up and ready to go we three soldiers headed west from the car park and turned up Woodhead Lane passing houses and a school before going through a gate, up a lane and into fields.
The path is well marked, there are stiles between the fields, they get harder to climb over! There were many fresh looking lambs in the field, mostly running to mum on our approach, not surprising as Dave kept shouting the old joke;”Mint sauce”.
At Birchfield Gate we turned right
on the road and walked about a mile on tarmac parallel to Painsdale Burn which
seemed to be in quite a deep valley.
At the end of the plantation we saw the signpost on the left and headed over more fields to Wrytree Drift, not that we saw any coal. It was a bit of a puzzle to get round the buildings but eventually we made it and walked down to Wrytree Farm.
A lady at the farm told us there were several horses in the field we were about to cross but they would ignore us. She was right.
Friendly horses at Wrytree Farm
Soon we were at College Farm from where we followed a footpath across fields, behind the Greenhead Vicarage and into the village itself.
Turning right we walked a short distance up the B6318, usually called the Military Road, before we turned off at the Sustrans notice announcing the Hadrian’s Wall cycle track.
We followed this for a short while before turning into the fields again , crossing the Vallum and joining the Hadrian’s Wall Path which is also the Pennine Way and the Pennine Journey path.
The path goes close to the Roman Army Museum, always worth a visit and then takes walkers into Walltown Quarry. At the quarry there is a visitor centre and plenty of picnic tables.
Two coaches from Poland and a German mini bus were in the car park, the picnic benches were full of teenagers from France, Poland and Germany. All very cheery, shouting ” hello” as we passed them but they did think it was a cold day. (Dave observed that none of them were fat; is obesity a British disease?)The Germans from the mini bus were having a slight problem working out the instructions on the parking ticket machine which required vehicle registration number, PIN number if you paid by card and offering no change if you used cash. As a gesture of European solidarity we helped them out.
This way for the Walltown Quarry
A domestic Roman oven, of course it's not real
We decided this was an excellent place for a Herbie and clambered over a wall (with difficulty) to get some shelter from the breeze. Our chosen spot overlooked the pond left by quarry work, it was inhabited by Mallards and a pair of Tufted Ducks who were keen synchronised divers. We shared Titans, chocolate chip cookies and cherry slices.
Walltown Crags from the Herbie Spot
The pond at Walltown from our lunch spot
Looking back from Walltown Crags
The quarry is not a Roman one, it was in operation until the middle of the 20th century but has left some impressive crags as well as a large picnic area.
Lunch over we continued on the HW path, climbing uphill to a section of the wall itself, which we followed for about a mile to Turret 45A.
A short section of Hadrian's Wall
This gives some indication of the height of the wall. Before I shrank with age I was six feet tall (180 cm approx.) but now I'm only five feet 10 inches (175 cm.). The wall was about 9feet high originally(270 cm) W Not sur if this section is original or a bit of rebuild, but you get the idea.
Remains of Turret 45A
Artist's impression of a turret. There were Milecastle too
Shortly after this we turned away from the HWP down through the farm at Walltown and on to Lowtown and crossed the Vallum once again.
Beyond a semi ruined farm house we took a footpath on the left that took us up to the B6318 next to a cottage called Stanegate. (If you follow us,do not go to the ladder stile but turn uphill before heading down to the road)
From this point we walked on a road through Edge Hill to Comb Hill. Here, and it is posted, we took a footpath across fields and down to Haltwhistle Burn.
In previous centuries the Burn was a hive of industry, coal was mined, metals were made and bricks tiles and pipes produced. Today it is a quiet country walk although some of the old buildings remain.
Haltwhistle lies at the bottom of the burn and soon we were back at the car, changed and heading for the Boathouse pub at Wylam.
Haltwhistle Burn
Remains of an industrial past
The Boathouse from inside and out
The pub is next to the Wylam station and there is a crossing gate and a footbridge. A fellow drinker left the pub, crossed the bridge as the gates were closed and headed for the platform. He had left his glasses on the bar. As the driver and therefore non drinker I offered to go after him and ran over the bridge and down the platform to return his spectacles. In return the bar maid offered me a drink! Sadly the free drink had to be another coffee. Lost out again. But Dave did think my running was good enough for Saturday Park Run. I declined.
Contains OS Data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2019
MATRIX MMXIX 3d
Steps miles
NAK 25383 9.21
Dave’s NAK 1 18923 8.95
“””””””””””2 18974 8.98
“”””””””USB 19252 9.11
“”””””SM 18944 8.99
OUTDOOR 8.6
And a few more,
March 29th.
The advantages of a classical education! If only I had had one. The Translate App on the phone works well though. The good burghers of Haltwhistle have put together a booklet of 22 walks based on the town.
Today we are going to follow Haltwhistle Ring Walk number 5 which goes from the town, up the Haltwhistle Burn for a while and then crosses country to Hadrian’s Wall’. After a short walk on the wall the walk returns via Greenhead.
There are only three of us out today, holidays and families again reducing the team to John H., Dave and me.
The walk is covered by OS OL Explorer 43, Hadrian’s Wall but you can buy the leaflet in some of the shops or download them, map and notes.
Haltwhistle is at the centre of Great Britain and from Newcastle it is easy to find, Head west on the A69 and turn off when you get there. Limited but free parking above Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Booted up and ready to go we three soldiers headed west from the car park and turned up Woodhead Lane passing houses and a school before going through a gate, up a lane and into fields.
The path is well marked, there are stiles between the fields, they get harder to climb over! There were many fresh looking lambs in the field, mostly running to mum on our approach, not surprising as Dave kept shouting the old joke;”Mint sauce”.
At the end of the plantation we saw the signpost on the left and headed over more fields to Wrytree Drift, not that we saw any coal. It was a bit of a puzzle to get round the buildings but eventually we made it and walked down to Wrytree Farm.
A lady at the farm told us there were several horses in the field we were about to cross but they would ignore us. She was right.
Soon we were at College Farm from where we followed a footpath across fields, behind the Greenhead Vicarage and into the village itself.
Turning right we walked a short distance up the B6318, usually called the Military Road, before we turned off at the Sustrans notice announcing the Hadrian’s Wall cycle track.
We followed this for a short while before turning into the fields again , crossing the Vallum and joining the Hadrian’s Wall Path which is also the Pennine Way and the Pennine Journey path.
The path goes close to the Roman Army Museum, always worth a visit and then takes walkers into Walltown Quarry. At the quarry there is a visitor centre and plenty of picnic tables.
Two coaches from Poland and a German mini bus were in the car park, the picnic benches were full of teenagers from France, Poland and Germany. All very cheery, shouting ” hello” as we passed them but they did think it was a cold day. (Dave observed that none of them were fat; is obesity a British disease?)The Germans from the mini bus were having a slight problem working out the instructions on the parking ticket machine which required vehicle registration number, PIN number if you paid by card and offering no change if you used cash. As a gesture of European solidarity we helped them out.
Bonjour Monsieur Dave. Comment allez vous?
We decided this was an excellent place for a Herbie and clambered over a wall (with difficulty) to get some shelter from the breeze. Our chosen spot overlooked the pond left by quarry work, it was inhabited by Mallards and a pair of Tufted Ducks who were keen synchronised divers. We shared Titans, chocolate chip cookies and cherry slices.
The quarry is not a Roman one, it was in operation until the middle of the 20th century but has left some impressive crags as well as a large picnic area.
Lunch over we continued on the HW path, climbing uphill to a section of the wall itself, which we followed for about a mile to Turret 45A.
Shortly after this we turned away from the HWP down through the farm at Walltown and on to Lowtown and crossed the Vallum once again.
Beyond a semi ruined farm house we took a footpath on the left that took us up to the B6318 next to a cottage called Stanegate. (If you follow us,do not go to the ladder stile but turn uphill before heading down to the road)
From this point we walked on a road through Edge Hill to Comb Hill. Here, and it is posted, we took a footpath across fields and down to Haltwhistle Burn.
In previous centuries the Burn was a hive of industry, coal was mined, metals were made and bricks tiles and pipes produced. Today it is a quiet country walk although some of the old buildings remain.
Haltwhistle lies at the bottom of the burn and soon we were back at the car, changed and heading for the Boathouse pub at Wylam.
The pub is next to the Wylam station and there is a crossing gate and a footbridge. A fellow drinker left the pub, crossed the bridge as the gates were closed and headed for the platform. He had left his glasses on the bar. As the driver and therefore non drinker I offered to go after him and ran over the bridge and down the platform to return his spectacles. In return the bar maid offered me a drink! Sadly the free drink had to be another coffee. Lost out again. But Dave did think my running was good enough for Saturday Park Run. I declined.
Contains OS Data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2019
MATRIX MMXIX 3d
Steps miles
NAK 25383 9.21
Dave’s NAK 1 18923 8.95
“””””””””””2 18974 8.98
“”””””””USB 19252 9.11
“”””””SM 18944 8.99
OUTDOOR 8.6
And a few more,
