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
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.
Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2023
The walk is 10 miles, easy going, mostly gentle down slopes.
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