There's some part of me wants to see Blanchland, said William.

Northumberland/Durham. July 9th

Blanchland owes its existence to the White Canons, also known as Premonstratenisians who founded an Abbey there in 1165. It was dissolved in 1539. The village was built in the 18th century by the Crewe family who named a pub after themselves. From the abbey ruin they built the church of St Mary the Virgin which therefore has parts dating back to 12th and 13th centuries.

Blanchland also has a large car park close to the village. The walk is covered by OS Explorer 307 Consett and Derwent Reservoir.

To get to the village A69 west, A68 south and lookout for signposts.

William, hero of several detective stories, had been a Paul Simon fan since he heard "Catty's Song"  so the chance of a trip to Blanchland was too much to turn down. Dressed in walking kit for the day he was more than excited to join Helen, Kate and seven of the famous gadgies on a walk across the moors and through woods, maybe there would be mice or frogs to chase, the famous food sharing to indulge in and the trip to a pub after the walk.

Kitted out and ready to go, William sets off for the moors.

 

                       Blanchland car park. There is an Honesty Box at the entrance asking for a donation of £1. Well worth it too.

To start the day we went to the White Monk tea rooms and sat in the garden. William ordered a catty au lait and double shots. Humans had tea or coffee and bacon sandwiches.

Leaving the car park the team headed past the church, past the Lord Crewe Arms and crossed the River Derwent. Turning left we walked up the road for a short distance before taking the footpath through the woods. Far more pleasant than walking the road, thought William, interesting scents, birds too high to catch. Back on the road for a short distance we headed up the track towards Buckshott Farm. A labrador ran towards us followed by a lady who politely informed us this was not a right of way and please turn back. The labrador backed off when it saw William but we returned to the road, headed back towards Blanchland and took the track close to Bridge End.

The track climbed uphill steadily, when it turned right we carried on across fields to Buckshott Fell. The fields reverted to tracks again and we passed a line of Shooting Butts, fortunately August 12th is still a way off.

                              On the beaten track

                             A long distance trail  from St Oswald's church just north of Hadrian's Wall to Durham. Based on old Pilgrim routes.

                       A line of shooting butts

The track crosses a road near point 436 on the OS map and continues parallel to an old flue to the chimney near Sikehead Dam. The flues were built when the area was mined for lead and flourspar. They provided  a draught for the valley bottom smelting.

                      One of the chimneys and Sikehead reservoir.

The footpath runs along the top of the low dam wall and it changes to a hard to find narrow path through the heather, with boggy bits. We could see a single faraway tree and when we reached it declared it was ideal for a Herbie.

There was a collection of odd objects at the base of the tree which was some sort of conifer. There were Christmas decorations in the branches too.

              The faraway tree. The senior gadgie suggested it was a fine example of "krumholtz". William sniffed around and tried to tell the rest that the scent of strange cats suggested to him it was a place where witches and there familiars met to swap spells. Nobody listened, someone was explaining why cricket and football crowds sing "Sweet Caroline."

There was much swapping of sweet things. Walnut cake, apple pies, cookies, angel slices and vegan biscuits.

Lunch over we continued on the path, climbing steadily to Bolt's Law which has a trig point and a cairn.

                              Triangular talking point.

Once the problems of the universe had been settled we followed the fence line downhill. Steep and boggy but eventually we reached the sheepfold at ferny Gill and headed across fields towards the hamlet at Ramshaw. Some of the team were verbally chastised for being on a non permissive path. It was a well made track, did it matter?

 Some distance beyond Ramshaw we took the path on the left and followed it through woodland parallel to Bolt's Burn.

                Path through Bolt's Burn.

Eventually the path joined a forestry track which then joined the road down to BayBridge. Once across the River Derwent we took the footpath on the right and walked by the river to Blanchland.

                      River Derwent and Blanchland cottages.

We decided to head home, calling at the Punch Bowl in Edmundbyers for a drink as it was a warm and humid day. The pub was closed, renovations, so we went on to the Duke of Wellington at Riding Mill and sat outside, taking up two tables as covid rules limit parties to six.

                 Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2021

The walk is about 10 miles with some gentle ascent and woodland walks.