Miles of stiles on the Maiden Way

Miles of stiles on the Maiden Way. (Northumberland) August 14th.
  Friday the 14th was, as promised, a day if not a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, and it's only August. After a week of high temperatures the clouds have rolled in from the north sea, blanketing Northumberland but not lowering the temperature enough to cut out the high humidity.
Five of us, Brian, Margaret, John H., Dave and I are off for a walk from Slaggyford in the South Tyne Valley. Slaggyford (from OE Choggeford meaning muddy ford) is best reached by heading west on the A69, turning south on the road to Alston near Haydon Bridge and once you have reached Alston, follow signs and hope for the best else you will be lost in a network of minor roads.
The walk is covered by OS OL 43, Hadrian's Wall but you could manage without it.
On the way we stopped for breakfast at Brockbushes farm shop and restaurant on the Corbridge roundabout. Under Covid rules it was a question of wait to be seated, read the menu, place your order and please if possible pay by card. The system worked well because we were first in, when we left there was quite a queue.

              Brockbushes was busy with diners and PYO enthusiasts
Slaggyford has a station on the narrow gauge railway line which is now a tourist attraction although once it was a fully sized and operational track to Alston. Just across the railway line is a small car park, free.

                           Car park and station. A deep discussion on the possible route  perhaps.
The walk;
 You can leave the car park, cross the line and walk downhill to the road, or as we did, you can cross the line, take the footpath just over the railway and follow it down to the road. Either way turn south and walk along the road, past the caravan park to the narrow bridge that crosses the South Tyne to the farm at Williamston.
Go through the farm yard and follow the track all the way to Lambley Viaduct.
After an initial climb the track is easy going through fields and woodland.

                      Looking down on Slaggyford

                            There's always a Lime Kiln!
The track goes past Parson Shields Farm and the delightfully named The Bog. At Eals Bridge the walk follows a road and goes through Eals, a collection of pretty cottages .

                                                         Eals Bridge

                                 Pretty cottage at Eals
Just beyond Eals at abend in the road we made use of a low wall as a series of seats and enjoyed the first Herbie of the day. (Almond slices, flapjacks, Skinny Whips, savoury buns and rhubarb cake from Mrs A) We had walked just over four miles.
Lunch over we continued. The road passes a footbridge over the Tyne which you could use to shorten the walk. But we crossed fields and a footbridge before climbing the narrow footpath through Townsbank Wood. The footpath continues along the edge of Hag wood which has been cut down. The branches left behind to rot make it an ugly sight but it gives a good view of the viaduct.

                         Lambley Viaduct.
The path emerges on to a road, once the railway line. Turn left and cross the viaduct.
The far end of the viaduct is blocked off, which is a shame.

                         Viaduct and escape route.
Go through the gate and down the steps. At the junction you have a choice; turn right and follow the River Tyne trail along the old railway line or, as we did, turn left and climb up to Lambley Village.
Spot the sign post in the village and cross fields, go under a road (underpass, not long enough to qualify as a tunnel)
The path reaches a house on the roadside. Cross the road and follow the sign post that says Burnstones 3 miles. You are now on the Maiden's Way which follows the line of a Roman Road and is also a section of the Pennine Way, the longest long walk in the UK, from Derbyshire to Scotland, just.

                      Who built this straight road? Could it be the Romans?
Eventually the track as shown above becomes a footpath and as it crosses many fields there are many stiles. Mostly ladder stiles and mostly in good condition. Most have Pennine Way markers too so it is easy to follow the route. At Glendue Burn we stopped for a mini Herbie, mostly anything left over!

                                            We have a sign
At Burnstones, which also has a fine bridge, it is possible to join the South Tyne Way and go back to Slaggyford on the old railway line. We continued following the Pennine Way through fields past Merry Knowe, going under the railway and crossing the Knar Burn by footbridge before walking a track back to the station at Slaggyford.
Changed we headed for the Elk Hotel at Whitfield but it was closed so he moved on to Cart's Bog, romantic name, and had beer or tea or soda and lime before heading home.


We agreed that the walk was about 11.5 miles.

             Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and data base right 2020.

Next week we are doing this year's long walk in the Yorkshire Dales so there will not be a blog for a couple of weeks.
And a few more

Seven go to Allenheads (Northumberland Durham) August 7th
  The weather forecast suggested it could be one of the year's hottest days. It wasn't fortunately, we had a fine walking day, light clouds and a breeze. The chosen walk is from Allenheads in Allendale in Northumberland. To get there A69 west and turn off left a few miles after Hexham and follow signs for Allendale. Drive through that small town and continue for another dozen miles to Allenheads at the top of the valley.
There are seven of us; Dave, Brian, John H., John L., Harry, me and a new gadgie, Ian, friend of John L.'s.
The map for the walk is OS OL Explorer 31 North Pennines and it is advisable to take a copy, or at least a section, neatly photocopied and laminated.
Allenheads is a village at the head of the East Allen valley, once the centre of the area's lead mining industry but now a tourist centre. Housed in some of the old industrial buildings are a Heritage Centre, closed because of......, an old steam pump, closed because of........, a great little cafe, the Hemmel (the name suggests it could have been a barn) and a pub, The Allenheads Inn. The buildings, with some lovely stone built cottages are set round an open area which is also a car park of the Yorkshire variety.

                Must be a prizw winning car park. No open doors, no dents and a pub behind.

                    Ancient steam pump, information and little train from mining times.
The walk:
We  walked on the road past the Inn for a short distance, turned left up a lane and almost immediately turned right down a path which crossed several fields to a house where we turned sharp right, then left and were back on the road. After a short walk on tarmac we turned left, crossed the very young River Allen, negotiated a gate without Ben and started the long haul up the track marked as the Carriers Way. There are many of these old tracks crossing the north of England from East to West, sometimes known as Green Lanes. This one starts as a gravel track as it climbs over Allendale Common, becomes a grass track and finally a footpath as it reaches the watershed between Allendale and the Wear Valley.
Still a footpath as it descends, eventually reverting to a track as it goes through some ugly territory near the valley road. The sides of the track are littered with the rubbish left after trees have been cleared, looks like the sftermath of a bomb.
The track joins the road near the Killhope Lead mining Centre (closed because of.......) but the large stone blocks near the buildings made almost comfortable seats for a Herbie.

               Killhope mining centre. The building was the ore crushing mill, the wheel is 34 feet in diameter. Shame the place was closed because of.....

            Lunching in the sun at Killhope. Guest Ian was not aware of the sharing tradition but was delighted to be given flapjack, Rington's ginger biscuits, almond slices, Titan bars and cake with apple. He thinks he will come again.
Lunch over we heade west, a move that seems to be in the wrong direction, but the track joins the Weardale Way and turns to head southeast, passing Kidd's Dam and several other items of industrial archaeological interest to some.
 Eventually the footpath crosses fields as it nears Killhope Burn Bridge.

                               Upper Weardale

                      A sheep of colour befriends Brian.
We left the Weardale Way at Heatheryburn bridge, crossed the stream which will become the River Wear and climbed up to the road, turning left when we reached it.

                  Heathery Burn Bridge in the very centre of the photo.

                           Same bridge, a little closer.
We walked up the road to Lanehead and sitting on a grassy bank near the old school enjoyed a mini Herbie.
HS2 over we headed up a green lane in the direction Puddingthorn Moor, went through a gate on to the open moorland and started the tiring walk through the heather, which is just coming into bloom and gives the moor a colourful wash.

                       Follow this sign
Having reached the ridge we turned east on a rough track which became an even rougher path, went through a gate in the wall and headed for the road.

                       Puddingthorn is a grouse moor ( I nearly stood on one) and shooting starts on August 12th, "guns" must be socially distanced but not the birds.
We  got to the road in No-man's land, midway between two counties;

               Looking a bit worn

 At this point John L, Ian and I decided to take a short cut and walk the mile and a half down the road to Allenheads. The hard lads crossed the road, headed east then north then west to reach the village.
Changed we sat outside the Allenhead Inn, which was busy, and took alcoholic or non-alcoholic refreshment after a longish walk on a warmish day.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2020

Distances
John L., Ian and me claimed 11 miles and the chaps walked nearly 13. We climbed about 2200 feet .
The following day I weighed myself with this result:

                          I have broken the 12 stone barrier (76.2 kg) It won't last, not with all those Herbie Delights.