Scots Gap

 Scots Gap  (Northumberland) September 11th.
Long ago there was a tiny village near Mitford which is near Morpeth which is near Newcastle which is in Northumberland (sort of). Every night the villagers would gather their flocks and herds and drive them to a night fold called the Villains Bog. The fold was surrounded by a dyke and had a narrow entrance, the Avenue or Gap. The idea was to save the animals from packs of wandering wolves or squads of marauding Scots. One night a band of Scots arrived, planning to steal the animals and probably kill off the totally innocent villagers. However the villagers hammered the Scots who ran home  and since then the village has been called Scots Gap.

Today we are a sextet; Me, Brian, Ian, Dave, Harry and John L.
Today's walk starts from Scots Gap. There is parking at the old National Trust office, now closed. To get to the village A1 north, turn off and drive through Morpeth, turn left at the top of the street for Mitford and keep going till you find Scots Gap.  Go west through the village and after a couple of hundred yards there is an entrance  to the car park on the right                                                                                                              A useful map is OS OL Explorer 42 Kielder Water and Forest.

I forgot to take a photograph of the car park today. This is one I used a few years ago. I hate to disappoint. There were more cars parked today.
At the back of the car park there is a footpath, the beginning of the walk. You can just make out the yellow marker on the left hand post in the picture. After a few hundred yards the footpath joins the dismantled railway, nicely grassed and easy walking. Fairly soon we reached the junction of two dismantled railway lines and followed the right branch, crossing several burns, one of which is reputed to have been the site of a railway accident. At Delf Burn there is a marker on the left for "The Wannie Line". Steps lead down to a field and the path soon enters Delf Plantation. The footpath follows the stream through the wood, a few short up and down stretches and finally emerges into fields on Toot Hill.

                     Footpath through Delf Plantation.
We crossed a couple of fields, stopping to look at the lime kilns, before taking the track past Pump House and on in a westerly direction towards Fairnley.

                     Very impressive lime kilns.
Approaching Fairnley we stopped near a ford and decided the grassy bank above the stream made an excellent Herbie Spot, even though we had only come about 3.5 miles.

              Lunch time. We shared Skinny Whip chocolate bars, ginger biscuits, almond slices and savoury buns from Mrs A.
We discussed the relative merits of  Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and also the relative merits of bus conductors' ticket issuing machines.
Moving on we came to the farm at Fairnley which is guarded by a gaggle of geese.

                         Fairnley Guardians
 The path goes round the buildings and then across muddy fields along part of St. Oswald's Way to Catcherside North Plantation. Walking parallel to the wood we eventually found the left turn (the sign post was broken) through the woodland and walked the very straight track alongside Catcherside Plantation to Catcherside Cottage.
This plantation has been cleared, the old pines being replaced by deciduous trees, still in their protective tubes.

                        A future forest.
Beyond the cottage we split up, amicably. Dave and Harry wandered off in one direction and we four another. Slightly lost we wandered round the edges of several fields before spotting the dismantled railway. (Another one, there are several). We followed the line for a short distance until it was blocked. We crossed several fields near Coldwell before finding the gate back on to the railway. From this point we stayed on the old line, a well worn footpath, until we returned to the junction near Scots Gap. Back on the original we were soon back at the car park, Harry and Dave were already there.
Changed, most of us actually went home!

This walk is easy going mostly. Some of the fields were very muddy, especially near gates where cows love to assemble and churn up the ground.
The walk is about 10.5 miles.

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Not many photos taken today but here's a few.

Allenbanks

On the banks of the Allen   (Northumberland)
September 4th
  Promised a dry but breezy day six of us are setting off for a walk from the National Trust car park near Allen Banks. (The forecast got it slightly wrong, we suffered several showers) We are John H., John L., Harry, Dave, Ian and me.
To find the start head west on the A69 and turn off for Ridley Hall, National trust brown sign just before Bardon Mill and just after the road sign that says "SMOKE!" Follow the road round a few twisty bits and there is the National Trust car park. Free to members, £2 for four hours, £4 for a full day.
The walk is covered by OS OL 43 Hadrian's Wall. The problem is that OL43 is a double sided map and naturally this walk is covered by both sides. A sure case of copying and laminating, even if mocked by daughters.

                    An attractive car park this week, if a bit puddly.
We set off in the direction of the building at the back of the car park and soon hit the footpath that climbs high above the River Allen. (There are several colour coded walks in the area, no idea which we followed.)  Surprisingly, considering recent rain, the paths were quite dry and the slope back down to the river was not too slippy.

                               The River Allen

                The footbridge at Plankey Mill.
We crossed the footbridge to the picnic, camping area at Plankey Mill and continued over the fields alongside the river to the gate for Hag Bank and the woods. Again there are at least two footpaths to follow here, we took the lower one, still close to the bank. The wood has been cleared of many trees and it looks a mess. Eventually we reached the "staircase " which climbs steeply up to Staward Peel, a ruin.

                                      Staward Peel ruins and an information board.
The path away from the ruin is on a narrow neck of land between two streams and the sides are steep. Crossing a field we came to the gate to the path that leads downhill to a footbridge across Harsondale Burn then uphill and across a field to Harsondale farm.

                                    Harsondale Farm.
We  followed the road away from the farm but soon crossed into a field (by stile) and after a few more stiles and fields found ourselves at Silly Wrea. The name may mean the nook where sallows or shrubby willows grow or it could mean happy nook, Silly being OE for innocent.

                           The work horses at Silly Wrea.
This farm uses traditional horse drawn implements although it looks like a day off today. I like it, it reminds me of my childhood days spent on my uncles farm near Haworth where all the heavy work was done by a horse.
From the farm we followed the track north west until it became a footpath over fields, emerging at last on to a road. Turning left we passed Strother House.(Strother means marsh land) and walked down a steep road to Plankey Mill where we called a Herbie.

                Our Herbie Spot on the banks of the Allen. battenberg, apple pies, ginger biscuits and flapjacks. In an act of rebellion I brought a pork pie.
Lunch over we crossed the river by means of the footbridge but instead of taking the footpath along the water we climbed the steep path out of the gorge to Briarwood Farm. From here we followed the farm road, turned left at the first junction and after a couple of hundred yards went through the gate on the right and walked the fields to Wool House. From here we took the footpath to Shaws and then the road into the village of Beltingham.
A pretty little place with connections to the Bowes family to which the late Queen Mother belonged.

                        This ancient Yew tree in the churchyard at Beltingham is held together with iron bands . Not much room to manoeuvre to get a better picture.

                        St. Cuthbert's church, Beltingham. Sadly closed because you know what so we couldn't look in. 
Having admired the church, the tree and the graveyard we retraced our steps to a road junction and turned left. Not far along the road a sign post on the right sent us across the fields and back to the footpath above the Allen. Turning left we were soon back at the car park.

                 Ridley Hall. Variously a home for several families then a school then a boarding wing for Haydon Bridge High School. (Northumberland is a large county and children from far flung villages stayed here during the week before heading home to annoy their parents.) The hall is also used as a conference centre.

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Rather surprisingly we had finished the walk by 3.30 so we went home. Various instruments gave various readings for the length but it is about 8.5 miles. A lovely walk at any time of year.

NEWTON BY THE SEA

Coast and Country in Northumberland August 28

  Two days after the return from the Tributaries walk we are having our usual Friday outing, but nowhere near so demanding. A coastal/country walk from High Newton by the Sea in Northumberland. There are six of us; Margaret, Brian, Dave, John H., John L. and me.
To reach High Newton take the A1 north, turn off just beyond Alnwick and wander through Christon Bank to the start. As you enter High Newton there is a car park on the right.
The walk is covered by OS Explorer 340 Holy Island and Bamburgh and it is advisable, especially the country section.

                            This week's car park. John L. booting up. (Yorkshire car park by the way)
We left the car park and walked past the village pub. At the fork in the road we took the left road a short distance to High Newton Farm where a footpath on the right led to St. Oswald's Way/ Northumberland Coast Path. We headed roughly north along the path, going through the car park at Newton Links House and continued to the wooden footbridge over the delightfully named stream, Long Nanny.

          Long Nanny. hard to see but, as usual there are cormorants at the confluence, honest.
Once across the stream we walked down onto the beach. There were many people on the sands, or in the water, surfing, paddling and generally enjoying themselves which was surprising, it wasn't a very warm day. 
We stayed on the beach until just before the harbour at Beadnell.

               Beadnell Lime Kilns.
There is a gap in the dunes which leads through a car park, we turned left passing new houses and then right on a footpath that brought us to the Sea Salt cafe near the church. They were busy but managed to squeeze us in for coffee and scones. 
At this point John L. left us because he had an early appointment and needed to be home much later than we planned.

                            Church by Sea Salt cafe.
Morning coffee over we walked a short distance down the road towards the beach before taking a footpath heading roughly north west which crossed the fields to Annstead Burn.

                           Belted Galoway.
From this point we followed the public footpath which is quite well marked but goes round fields to Burnfield Plantation and Swinhoe.
Crossing the road we sheltered behind the wall of South Farm for the day's Herbie; Cake bars, Skinny whips, Club bars, savoury buns and rhubarb cake, the last two from Mrs A.
Lunch over we continued crossing fields, one in particular being  a struggle as its crop of Rape Seed had been cut leaving strong stalks about a foot high. hard on the trousers.
At Tughall Grange we chatted to a farmer who directed us towards Tughall. More fields waiting to be harvested meant some long detours round there edges but eventually we arrived at Tughall.

                     Tughall Grange horses
Even more field perimeters brought us to Brunton Burn where we turned south east then north east to cross the road at Newtonbarns.
 From here it was a relatively short distance across fields  back to the car park.
On the way home we called at the Cook and Barker at Newton on the Moor, very busy and with current restrictions we had to sit in the beer garden. It's a hard life.

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After the ups and downs of the Dales this was an easy walk but still came in at 11 miles.


Not many photos today