Walking the Line

 Walking the Line September 25th

It's been several years since I had a railway walk on one of the old tracks in Durham that have been converted into walking/cycling/riding trails. On a non gadgie day Dave and I are walking from Lanchester to the city of Durham on the Lanchester  Valley Walk.

A linear walk so we used buses at either end. We left Newcastle Eldon Square on the one and a half hour bus journey to the start. 

The map to use is OS Explorer 307 Consett and Derwent but is not essential

No car park but here is Eldon Square bus station

               The Tyne bridges, taken from the bus.

Lanchester has the remains of a Roman fort, not much but indications. The Romans called it Longovicium and it was a staging post on Dere Street.

Lanchester has a large green in the centrte.

We walked from the bus stop to the road in the South West corner of the village centre and soon came to the start of the walk.

Start of the walk. Roman guard on the right. (There is a walk in the opposite direction to Consett)

Once on the track it's straightforward almost into Durham. Most of the route is shaded by trees, on either side the fields have either been cut recently or are already next year's crop. (Spring Wheat? Brian would know.)

After three and a half miles we came to Langley Park, famous for two reasons. One the birthplace of Bobby Robson soccer player and manager for England and Newcastle United at one time. A gentleman.

Two, Diggerland where boys (and girls) of all ages can play on full size excavators and other toys. I took my Canadian nephew there when he was about five, he thought it was possibly the second best thing in England, the first being the Harry Potter show at Alnwick Castle.

After about 5.5 miles there is a track on the left (unsigned) which will take you to Bearpark. We decided not to go, having visited the ruin several time and it has nothing to do with bears. It is the remains of a building called Beau Repair,  a resting place for the Bishop of Durham when he was out hunting on his large estate. A hard life being a Prince Bishop, almost king in his northern fiefdom.

There are a number of benches along the road, some look uncomfortable so we chose the simplest for a Herbie stop.

                     Not really comfortable.

Approaching Durham we ignored the colourful sign post directing walkers to the city and carried on the track to a road bridge.

We went under the road bridge, turned back on another path and joined the road (B6302). We walked downhill to the roundabout at Stonebridge, crossed with care  and headed north into the city. Following several roads and footpaths we came to Ustinov College which had some pretty interesting art work:

   America, China and Italy.

Peter Ustinov, theatrical and cinema buff was chancellor of the college at one time. I only remember him from his appearances on the Michael Parkinson show where he admitted to having met Noel Coward, done National Service and could do a good impression of a chicken . But I'm a philistine.

Having passed an observatory and crossed a couple of fields we came to the River Wear, crossed it and walked down the back of the Cathedral.

Distant view of the cathedral and the East Window. 

We headed for the Bishop's Mill, a Wetherspoon's pub and enjoyed a meal and a pint before catching a bus to Gateshead and the metro to our respective houses.

             The monks of Lindisfarne carried the coffin of St. Cuthbert around the north before finding a place suitable for his burial. The place was Durham and the Cathedral is dedicated to Cuthbert whose remains are in the building.

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The walk is 10 miles, easy going, mostly gentle down slopes.

SLAEF-LEAH

 Slaef- lead September 15th

S

Slaley is a long village on top of a hill in Northumberland. The namecomes from Old English slaef-leah  meaning muddy place with a clearing.

The village church, St Mary's was built in the 19th century on the site of  one built in 1312 on the site of an even earlier one.

Go west on the A69. At the roundabout for Corbridge follow the A68. At the next roundabout head for Riding Mill. Go through the village and turn left onto the hilly road to Slayley.

There is no car park, we left our cars near the church.

The walk is covered by OS OL 43 Hadrian's Wall.

                Not a winning car park. Damp morning too.

                                   Slaley church. St Mary the Virgin.

There is a porch by the church gate with benches. Useful for booting up and donning waterproofs. The forecast was for rain all day, not heavy but long lasting drizzle.

Leaving the cars we headed west through the village, crossed the B6306 and walked along tracks to Dukesfield. (mile 2). The gate to the footpath at the farm is hidden but we crossed a field and joined the track  down to the river.

Once a lead mining area. The arches took ore to the smelting house.

(There is a short black dotted line on the map at this point which is the route we took rather than the route we planned)

From the arches we followed the stream (Devil's Water), emerging into  a single field (mile 3). A few exotic birds were pecking away.

Hairy legged rooster, one of several.

We found the entrance to the footpath taking us through woodland with evidence of the damage storm Arwen did . Reaching the junction at mile 4 we took the forestry track which was a little muddy to say the least.  At one point we made use of several tree stumps for a Herbie, sharing apple pies, cheese scones, ginger biscuits, cookies and almond slices. It climbed steadily  until it reached a well surfaced road where we turned left, walked downhill and turned right into the Spring House caravan park.

                               Spring House caravan site. 

The path round the site took a bit of finding but after more woodland we arrived at Cocklake farm to be greeted by a pair of black labradors.  

From the farm we followed a track before crossing fields  to the road , turned right then left at the next junction. Not far down this road we took the footpath on the right and crossed several fields (with stiles) back to Slaley.

On the way home we stopped at the Fox and Hounds in Wylam which serves Tim Taylor's Landlord and coffee for the driver.

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The walk is 8.5 miles, mostly woodland and mostly easy going, even in the rain.

A walk on the Wylam side

A walk on the Wylam side. September 8th

 Reduced to a team of three by holidays and family commitments again, we are off for a walk from Wylam in the Tyne Valley.

West on A69, turn left when sign posted, follow sign for station and just before the Wylam Bridge there is a car park on the left. Free all day too. Grand.

The map for the walk is OS Explorer 316, Newcastle upon Tyne and is useful.

Re the map of our walk at the end. Again the planned route is a continuous line, the variations are dashed lines.

The free car park near Wylam Bridge. I hope this photo wins some approval.

Leaving the car park we followed the trail under the Wylam bridge  and continued on our merry way down a few streets before joining the road running parallel to the Tyne. None of us are keen on road walking and at about mile 1 we were able to take a footpath through woodland between the river and the road. Like other footpaths we have walked this year it was heavily overgrown, mostly nettles. 

                            The not very coaly Tyne

Not far beyond Hagg Bridge (disused railway bridge) we were close to the Victorian Water Pumping Station:

Unfortunately the pumping station was hidden by the trees. It was built in 1876 to pump water from the river to the reservoirs north of  Whittle Dene. 

                              Later addition

Back on the road we walked on to Ovingham, crossing a stream by stepping stones (mile 3) only to find the path marked on the OS map had been closed with a fence and a selection of prickly plants.

The alternative, which we took, was to follow the road past the Ovingham first and middle schools and taking a footpath down a field to the riverside trail.

Passing and admiring a village of mostly wooden chalets and static caravans we were then faced with another stretch of road.

Nicely decorated with summer flowers.

One chalet was named даца. I impressed by telling the other two it was Russian for "Dacha". Why not have a bit of a boast.  (Country cottage)

 Looking for a fingerpost directing walkers to Ovington we finally found it at about 5.5 miles. A rickety stile which was also overgrown took us into a field recently harvested and we crossed several more, at least one with a herd of cows until we reached Ovington at called a Herbie (mile 7).

Ovington village green. Ideal place for a shared lunch of ginger biscuits, toffee whips and cookies. (And a healthy sandwich)

Leaving Overton, passing the village Social Club, we walked down St Andrew's Lane. At a junction we took the footpath on the left into Whittle Dene.

A reminder of long gone industry in Whittle Dene.

Just beyond the ruined building an almost hidden footpath on the right took us part way up the dene to a gate. (Mile 8 almost) From here we walked across fields (with cows) to the village of Horsley.

                             

Horsley village street, very much a linear settlement.

At the last house on the right we turned into the yard and took the narrow footpath before crossing fields to the road into Wylam.

It had been a very hot day so we stopped at the Fox and Hounds for a beer or soft drink, well earned too.

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The walk is about 11 miles mostly easy going, a couple of easy climbs.