Hexham to Hayden Bridge

It has been 3 weeks since I last posted an entry about our weekly walk. This does not mean we have not been walking but 2 weeks ago I forgot my camera when we did 9 miles at 7Stanes in Newcastleton and last week it was so wet we just did an Umbrella Walk round Potholm. We had planned to do another of Ian Landles walks in the Scottish Borders today but the weather forecast for the area was poor so we decided to do a walk I had been thinking about for a few weeks. We headed to Haydon Bridge to catch the 11.13am train to Hexham and then walk back the 10.5 miles to Hayden Bridge. The bridge in the above picture is of the A69 as it crosses the Tyne just west of Hexham.  

The first part of the walk followed the river Tyne until it split to become the North and South Tyne. Once we crossed the South Tyne we headed up the hills to a height of about 800 ft three times as the walk went through three valleys. The interesting thing about this walk was how quiet it was as we saw virtually nobody in the 4.5 hours it took us to do the walk.  

The South Tyne Valley

Snowdrops in St Peters Church about 3 miles from Hayden Bridge

Dropping down into Hayden Bridge. Both Tom and I were very tired by the time we reached Hayden Bridge. It had been a tough walk with many climbs but the scenery had been first class and we hopefully will soon recover.