Bolam, Shaftoe Crags, a Standing Stone and Fields of Gold
(Northumberland) June 29
Another extra walk, and another close to home. This is a circular walk from St. Andrew's Church in the village of Bolam. Five in the team; Dave, John L., Brian, Margaret and me. The TV weatherman promised showers and strong wind. He was right about the wind, caps were blown off and we men walked on with our shaggy, lockdown, can't get a haircut locks.
Take the A696 from Newcastle, through Ponteland and just through the village of Belsay take the road sign for Bolam Lake. Just beyond the visitor centre car park (chargeable) turn right and after the best part of a mile the church is on the left. There is limited parking in front of the church which is dedicated to St. Andrew which dates back to Saxon times. Look out for the small window on the south side, a WW2 bomb penetrated the wall but failed to explode.
The walk is covered by OS OL Explorer 42, Kielder Water and Forest.
Car park by the church
St Andrew's Church, Bolam
The small window is where the church wall was pierced by a bomb. Inside is a letter from a lady to her son, serving in Egypt in the RAF at the time, explaining what happened. Some years ago the German pilot came over to meet the villagers.
The Walk, at last.
There is a footpath, heading north, through the churchyard at the west end of the building that leads to a gate into a very grassy and occasionally boggy field. A couple of fields later the path, which is well marked mostly, arrives at Angerton Steads, a house with its own tennis court and some horses.
Continuing the path crosses a dismantled railway, goes round the edge of a field and comes to Low Angerton . Here the walk takes to the road, but only for a short time. Once over the River Wansbeck look out for a sign post on the left, pointing west.
Bit worn but heading in the right direction.
This is the start of a two mile walk across fields, sometimes close to the river, sometimes skirting round fields of wheat or barley and sometimes passing through small herds of curious cows.
Bridge on the River Wansbeck, dismantled railway which is crossed again
Curious cows
The walk crosses The Devil's Causeway, a Roman road. This is possibly the remains of a Roman culvert.
We didn't even cross the river at this point. The notice is by a ford.
A distant field of gold
More curious cows and a field of gold
At Middleton Mill the path goes through part of the yard, down the farm track to a minor road. Turn left, cross the Wansbeck by Middleton Bridge and go through the gate on the right.
Middleton Mill Farm
Not far into the field, after a short climb, there is a sheep shelter. Not an enclosed stell, just walls at right angles to each other and open on two sides. It made a top class Herbie Spot, shelter from the wind, even though the ground was a bit rich in sheep droppings!
John explains one of the finer points of spin bowling to Brian and Margaret over lunch. Life has returned to normal, we shared ginger cake, almond slices, marmalade flavoured digestive biscuits with chocolate and savouries from Mrs A.
Once we had eaten, back to face the wind as we walked across the field to the farm at Middleton South which has some interesting art work on display:
Middleton South hunt.
Leaving the hunt we followed the footpath across fields to admire a standing stone:
Dave the Stoneman gave a brief talk on standing stones, weathering and animals using it as a scratching post. There were several swifts around too.
From this point of interest we crossed the field to a fine stile and turned left up a green lane towards Salters Nick.
A proper stile, not one of those modern wooden staircases.
We didn't visit the gap in the rocks known as Salters Nick but headed south on the track past Shaftoe Grange and then on to admire the Piper's Chair.
Watched by Brian, Dave and Margaret examine the Piper's Chair.
From this rocky outcrop we walked through the bracken covered Iron Age fort, not much to see, and on to East Shaftoe Hall.
Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2020
(This is an old map showing the route clockwise, We went anticlockwise.)
MATRIX FOR THE DAY
steps miles
NAK 29504 11.9 (!)
Dave'sNAK1 23519 10.76
""""""""""""2 23559 10.78
SM 23598 10.8
Brian 10.6
John L. 11.11
OUTDOOR 10.8
And a few more
(Northumberland) June 29
Another extra walk, and another close to home. This is a circular walk from St. Andrew's Church in the village of Bolam. Five in the team; Dave, John L., Brian, Margaret and me. The TV weatherman promised showers and strong wind. He was right about the wind, caps were blown off and we men walked on with our shaggy, lockdown, can't get a haircut locks.
Take the A696 from Newcastle, through Ponteland and just through the village of Belsay take the road sign for Bolam Lake. Just beyond the visitor centre car park (chargeable) turn right and after the best part of a mile the church is on the left. There is limited parking in front of the church which is dedicated to St. Andrew which dates back to Saxon times. Look out for the small window on the south side, a WW2 bomb penetrated the wall but failed to explode.
The walk is covered by OS OL Explorer 42, Kielder Water and Forest.
The Walk, at last.
There is a footpath, heading north, through the churchyard at the west end of the building that leads to a gate into a very grassy and occasionally boggy field. A couple of fields later the path, which is well marked mostly, arrives at Angerton Steads, a house with its own tennis court and some horses.
Continuing the path crosses a dismantled railway, goes round the edge of a field and comes to Low Angerton . Here the walk takes to the road, but only for a short time. Once over the River Wansbeck look out for a sign post on the left, pointing west.
Bit worn but heading in the right direction.
This is the start of a two mile walk across fields, sometimes close to the river, sometimes skirting round fields of wheat or barley and sometimes passing through small herds of curious cows.
At Middleton Mill the path goes through part of the yard, down the farm track to a minor road. Turn left, cross the Wansbeck by Middleton Bridge and go through the gate on the right.
Not far into the field, after a short climb, there is a sheep shelter. Not an enclosed stell, just walls at right angles to each other and open on two sides. It made a top class Herbie Spot, shelter from the wind, even though the ground was a bit rich in sheep droppings!
Once we had eaten, back to face the wind as we walked across the field to the farm at Middleton South which has some interesting art work on display:
Leaving the hunt we followed the footpath across fields to admire a standing stone:
From this point of interest we crossed the field to a fine stile and turned left up a green lane towards Salters Nick.
We didn't visit the gap in the rocks known as Salters Nick but headed south on the track past Shaftoe Grange and then on to admire the Piper's Chair.
From this rocky outcrop we walked through the bracken covered Iron Age fort, not much to see, and on to East Shaftoe Hall.
East Shaftoe Hall has calves, a very old west end of the building and a splendid walled garden facing south of course.
From the hall a footpath heads almost due south, crossing the Devil's Causeway again, although it is difficult to pick out, and reaches a well made farm track.
We turned left along the track, past West Tofthill and the symmetrical farm at Sandyford.
Sandyford Farm most perfectly symmetrical.
If you follow our route take care beyond Sandyford. There is a grassy path that leaves the farm track and brings walkers to Shortflatt Tower.
Shortflatt Tower, probably an old peel tower.
And in a field close by we saw:
Not very old, mum was close by.
We went through a wood at Shoerflatt, across a field and emerged at the White Gate. From there it was a short distance to the car park at Bolam Lake. We walked round the edge of the lake to the visitor centre where we stopped for an icecream before heading up the road to Bolam, the hurch and home, the pubs are still not open.
(This is an old map showing the route clockwise, We went anticlockwise.)
steps miles
NAK 29504 11.9 (!)
Dave'sNAK1 23519 10.76
""""""""""""2 23559 10.78
SM 23598 10.8
Brian 10.6
John L. 11.11
OUTDOOR 10.8
And a few more
Lovely walk this, particularly up to Shaftoe Craggs and Hall.
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