THREE GO OFF TO INGRAM

 Three go off to Ingram  March 8th

MUDDY

Reduced to a trio, Harry,  John C and I are off for a walk from Ingram in the Breamish Valley, one of several that drain the Cheviot Hills.

Ingram is a tiny village reached by driving north on the A1, turning off on to the A697 at Morpeth and a mile or so beyond Powburn turning left at the signpost. Four miles or so into the valley, cross the bridge, turn left, pass the church and park at the old information centre, cafe, museum. Parking is free.

Two maps cover the walk: OS OL 16 Cheviots and OS Explorer 332 Alnwick and Amble

But first the car park;

A quiet day at the visitor centre Ingram. There is a cafe and a small museum of valley life in the centre.

Leaving the car park we walked back up the lane, passing the church, turned right and headed up the valley road.

St. Michael's, Ingram.  11th century origins but mostly 19th century renovation.

Not far alongb the road we passed the farm which had at least four peacocks strutting the yard, sadly none with full display but it was a cold day.

                                                        One of the Ingram peacocks.

We turned off at the first track beyond the farm and began a steady uphill plod on Ewe Hill. At one point we went a little off piste and followed what were little more than sheep tracks until we rejoined the planned route at mile 2.  From this point we followed a footpath down the steep hillside to the footbridge crossing Chester Burn.

                   Footbridge over Chester Burn.

Once over we walked through the muddy wood and then across fields to the farm house at Chesters.

                  Chesters at the back. It seemed deserted and seems very isolated.

From the farm we followed well made farm tracks across open moorland, passing a line of logs left from a clearing operation until we reached Northfieldhead Hill.

                          Possibly destined for woodchip kitchen tops!

At Northfieldhead our route took us on a hard surface to the farm at Prendwick. The farm has several holiday huts to let:

Two of the holiday huts at Prendwick. Must have appeared in one of those newspaper lists of places to stay in the UK.

Not far from the farm we turned left into fields, spotted some suitable stones and paused for a Herbie. No sharing today, it's not the same without Mrs A!

If only Wordsworth had spotted these, but a host of snowdrops doesn't seem quite the same. Hard to rhyme too.

From the Herbie spot we followed the very muddy farm track for two miles back to Ingram. Well worn by farm vehicles the track along the side of Wether Hill added several pounds of mud to my boots.

No pub today either.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2024

The walk is a bit less than 10 miles, some uphill bits but generally easy going. Fine views.

It was a cold, grey, windy day.