Plankey,  Allen and a touch of Royalty. (Northumberland) April 30th.

  There are five of us out for another favourite Northumberland walk today; Brian, Margaret, Dave, John H. and I. The walk we have chosen is based on the River Allen and starts from the National Trust car park near Ridley Hall. West along the A69, turn left just before Bardon Mill and follow the minor road round to the car park. It is free to National Trust members, providing they have their card, or £4 for a full day.

The walk is covered by OS OL 43 Hadrian's Wall. This map is double sided and of course the walk is on the edges of both sides.

                Quite classy with the gazebo which is useful for booting up.

On the right of the car park is a short flight of stone steps, the start of the walk. We turned left and headed south for less than half a mile before going through a gate and crossing fields that were probably the parkland for nearby Ridley Hall. A herd of cows with their calves watched curiously but as we were dogless  we were no threat.

                                Cows and calves in the pasture near Ridley Hall.

                       A glimpse of Ridley Hall. Originally built in 1743, rebuilt in mock tudor style in1891. Once home of the Bowes Lyon family. Now a residential hall for Haydon Bridge High School pupils who live too far to be bussed in daily. Available at weekends for weddings!!

We reached a road, turned left and then right to see the village of Beltingham. Beltingham is a very pretty little village, barely half a dozen houses and a beautiful church with three Yew trees.

                                       Beltingham House, mid 18th century

                   Very old Yew in St. Cuthbert's churchyard. This one is held together with iron bands and chains. Old churches often have Yew trees because either their wood was used for long bows or they kept evil spirits away.

                        St Cuthbert's church Beltingham. Built about 1500 and renovated in 19th C. Legend has it that Bishop Ridley was christened here. He was one of the three Oxford Martyrs burned at the stake in 1555. (The other two were Latimer and Cranmer, the latter being the main author of the Book of Common Prayer)

In the churchyard there is a fenced off area which is the burial ground of the Bowes Lyon family, once residents of nearby Ridley Hall. Elizabeth the Queen Mother was a Bowes Lyon.

Having admired the village and church we turned back along the road and went through a gate on the right to follow the footpath up the edges of fields first to Shaws Farm and then, turning south, to Wool House. From that farm we continued across fields to a road, turned left and after a few hundred yards took the farm track to Briarwood Farm.

Once through the gate we followed a steep footpath down to the River Allen. As it has been very dry recently the path was not, fortunately, slippy. At the bottom we crossed first a small footbridge over a stream and then a larger footbridge over the River Allen to Plankey Mill where we called a Herbie.

                                         River Allen

                                   Footbridge at Plankey Mill

             We sat among these rocks to enjoy a Herbie; apple pies, Snickers bars, almond slices, savoury tart and almond tarts from Mrs A.

After lunch we walked across the fields next to the river to the woods at Allen Banks.

Once in the wood we followed the footpath, up slopes and down, that edges the river. The river runs through an impressive gorge, supposedly the inspiration for some of the works by John Martin, painter born near by. In one are the timber has been cleared, revealing a lime kiln. 

                                     Another lime kiln

                                  The woodland floor had primroses, bluebells and wild violets.

 In some places the footpath is narrow with cliffs on one side and a steep drop on the other. At haltwhistle Hill we climbed out of the wood and came to the A686 road which runs from Hexham to Alston and beyond. We turned left and after a few hundred yards went througha farm gate and walked across fields to Gingle Pot.

                                

                         Gingle Pot, once a drovers' Inn, now a ruin

From the pot we walked north across fields to the edge of a wood, turned northwest and crossed a field to the gate for Stawards Wood. The footpath is on a high, narrow strip of land between two streams. It reachesn the ruins of Staward Peel before descending a steep path back down to Allen Banks.

                                                 Then and...
B

..now.

Beyond the remains of the Peel the path down to the river is steep and cluttered with tree roots to trip the unwary. At the bottom we re-joined the Allen Banks path we had walked earlier and crossed the fields back to Plankey Mill where we called a second Herbie, finishing whatever snacks we had left and sitting on rocks by the river. 

                             Riverside picnic spot.

After the break (HS2) we crossed the river and walked along the undulating footpath back to the car park.

For rehydration we visited the Duke of Wellington pub at Riding Mill which had a couple of real ales on offer and a fine lime and soda.

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The walk is just over 10 miles with several short steep climbs and some beautiful scenery.