A walk on the edge. January 12th.
Rothbury is on the edge of two maps: OS OL 42 Kielder Forest and water and. OS. Explorer 332 Alnwick and Amble. For this walk you need both, unless you are familiar with the territory.
Go north on A1, turn off onto A697 and at the moment watch out for road closures and diversions to get to Rothbury. Turn down Bridge Street, cross the river, turn right and park in the large free riverside car park.
Breakfast in the Newcastle Hotel then back to the car park. Six out today: Margaret, Brian, John L., John C., Ian and me.
We left the car park, turned left and after a few hundred yards turned right on a road up the first hill of the day. At the top we went through a gate, across a field to another road, turned right, admired the tower and took the farm track to Whitton Farm.
Moving on to Whitton Hillhead , going as requested, round the farm we crossed fields to the road between Great Tosson and Lordenshaws.
Apparently an animal picture is worth a thousand car parks.
Turning right on the road we headed the short distance to a car park (no photo) and wandered the forestry tracks through the plantation. A couple of years ago, after Storm Arwen, the route was impossible to follow but is clear now.
Leaving the woodland we walked downhill, carefully as the path was very muddy and slippy, how useful walking poles can be, until we reached the hamlet of Great Tosson. There is a ruined tower here but we took the road down to the small parking area by the Tosson Lime KIln. There are a couple of picnic tables so we called a Herbie. (Ginger biscuits, apple pies, sweet and savoury from Mrs A)
Tosson Lime Kiln.
Lunch over we continued down the road and then followed the muddy footpath across fields to the footbridge over the Coquet near Thropton. Crossing we took the footpath alongside the Weigh Burn, crossed the bridge, up the road past the Cross Keys (still being refurbished), up the steps, through a small estate and on to Physic Lane.
Physic Lane starts bas metalled road then becomes muddy track, and is a steady climb for a mile almost. Eventually we reached a gate and paused for a breather.
At the very top of Physic Lane.
After a short rest we took a footpath (muddy and not marked) up to one of the Armstrong Estate Carriage drives, a solid surface at last.
We followed the track, walked through Addycombe wood until we reached a gate on the right.
Rothbury from Addycombe woods
The path crossed fields before reaching a muddy track which became a road. Taking a steep and stepped path on the left we were soon back in the town and at the car park. On the way home we stopped to rehydrate at the Ridley Arms, Stannington. A couple of fine ales.well earned.
Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2024
The walk is a bit over 10 miles (16k) with a couple of climbs
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