Gadgie Walks

Wylam, Whittle and Wall. (Northumberland) October 1st.

Autumn has arrived, temperature and leaves are falling. Today's walk from Wylam has not been done for almost two years although it has been mentioned as a possibility several times.

It starts from the car park close to the river in Wylam; A69 west, turn off for Wylam, turn left down the main street and turn into the car park just before the bridge over the Tyne. The car park is free.

Almost uniquely we did not stop anywhere for breakfast before the walk as there is a country park not far into the walk..................

Today's walkers: Brian, Margaret, Ben, Harry, John C and me. The map for the walk is OS Explorer 316 Newcastle upon Tyne.

Car park at Wylam. There are several walks from here, along the Tyne, across the Tyne.

From the car park we walked towards the bridge, went down steps and under the bridge to join the Heritage Trail, a series of walks that loop round Tyneside and Wearside. The trail is part footpath close to the river, part track on an old railway line and eventually it reaches the Hagg Bank Bridge.

Hagg Bank Bridge. Opened in 1876 to carry a railway across the river . Closed in the 1960s it is now used as part of the walk/cycle path. Local children cross by climbing the arches. Its structure and style was copied for the Tyne Bridge.

Once over the water on the south side we walked the track passing the Spetchells. Waste heaps from a local ammunitions factory the Spetchells are mainly chalk but support an interesting selection of flora and fauna.

Read all about it .

Not far from the waste heaps we came to a fork in the track. If you follow this walk take, as we did, the left fork as it leads directly to the bridges at Ovingham. The right fork goes under the bridge and it's a bit of a scramble to get up the bank.

There are two bridges, side by side. The one for traffic is very narrow and light controlled, the footbridge alongside is about as wide.

The country park was open, its cafe was closed, no late breakfast.

Canoes on the Tyne at Ovingham.

We walked past the church in Ovingham (St Mary, 13th century origins), turned left and found the stile on the right hand side of the road that is the entrance to the footpath through Whittle Dene.

The footpath runs alongside the Whittle Burn, climbing steadily, occasionally with the help of a short flight of stairs.

Ruin in Whittle Dene. There was once a flour mill here, maybe this is the remains of it.

Towards the end of the dene we climbed out and made use of a bridge crossing the A69, busy dual carriageway. Once over the road which is the main route between Newcastle and Carlisle, we walked across cut fields almost to the spot marked Spittal on the map where we called a Herbie having covered almost six miles.Sitting in the grass we shared apple pies, savoury flapjacks and apple cake from Mrs A. Ben, having recently returned to gadgie walks, offered his ginger biscuits, better than Ringtons.

Lunch over we continued on the edges of fields to Welton Hall which we decided had a ruined peel tower.

Welton Hall peel tower and a caravan.

Following the farm track between the reservoirs we came to the military road which at this point is built on top of Hadrian's Wall. There is a footpath on the north side of the road, part of the Hadrian's Wall Path. The path is by the side of one of the reservoirs and then passes a field which was supporting a large flock of grey lag and Canada geese. Beyond the hamlet of Harlow Hill the footpath is on the edge of the road but just before the entrance to Albemarle Barracks we crossed the road and took the farm track passing close to Northside Farm and grain store;

Competition for the famous "Higlander Cattle " sign on the Carey Burn.

Continuing on our way we soon came to the A69 again but no bridge. There is a crossing point but it is a busy road and needs care. Fortunately there is a central reservation, the crossing is made in two carefully timed sessions.

Once we were all over we were in the village of Horsley. Turning left we walked the length of the village until, at the last building on the right we spotted the carefully hidden sign post that pointed towards Wylam. The footpath crosses one field, recently ploughed, sticky mud. But on one occasion following the edge of the field rather than crossing it we were verbally chastised by a lady in a nearby house who accused us of not being able to map read. Some people!

Back on Holeyn Hall Road we walked downhill to Wylam. At the first junction we followed what we hoped was the footpath back to the car park. Turned out to be correct.

Changed we headed for the Boat House pub just across the river. famed for its real ales we were not disappointed, it had a dozen on the pumps. The soda and lime was very refreshing too.