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.

Oma & Opa Visit Newcastle

After our lovely Lunch in Pizza Express we headed to The Jesmond Dene for a visit to the Childrens Animal Corner.

Lunch at Pizza Express with two very well behaved Grandchildren and of course Leo just had to bring Thomas the Tank Engine as well.

Opa Han with his Grandson Leo and in the bag is Thomas the Tank Engine and some of his friends who accompany Leo wherever he goes.

Two Grannies with their lovely Grandaughter Hannah on the beach at Tynemouth. We had a lovely couple of days with Han & Jo who are over in Newcastle all week to look after Hannah during the school half-term holiday. Leo is attending Nursery so is not on holiday but will make up for lost time with them once he gets home.

Another "Last of the Summer Wine " Walker

This weeks walk started at the lovely Cumbrian village of Askham and was according to Tom a 10 mile walk including Knipescar Common and Knipe Moor. The weather was glorious but very, very cold. A new recruit to our walking group joined us namely Peter Bart-Smith who has now retired and after completing alterations to his house is able to join us now and again. The main quilification to join this grand bunch of men is to get us lost on a walk and this Peter accomplished well, after telling us to turn right when it should have been left resulting in our 10 mile walk becoming a 12 mile walk.

The top of Knipescar Common

Knipe Scar after we had dropped down into Haweswater Beck valley.

The old footbridge accross Haweswater Beck. This was quite an experience and a good job I crossed first to take the photograph as I dont know if it would have taken the three of us at the same time. We arrived back in Askham 5 hours later after a most enjoyable walk especially as it would normally have been very muddy but as the ground was frozen we kept reasonably clean.

Gretna Walk

Our walk this week took us to Gretna and on a superb but cold day we commenced our walk from the Auld Smithy at Gretna Green. The first stop was the bridge over the West Coast Railway Line where the worst rail disaster in in Britain took place in 1915. It was at Quintinshill where 5 trains were involved in a disaster that killed 226 people, mostly soldiers from the Royal Scots Regiment on their way to Liverpool to board a ship for the Gallipoli campaign. In the photograph above the 2 main lines are flanked by 2 sidings and it was here that the troop train coming south collided with the local train and eventually 5 trains were involved.

Part of the walk followed the River Sark which forms the Scotland - England Border. This is the Sark Bridge which was built by Thomas Telford in 1814 and widened in 2001. Thomas Telford left his mark on the bridge and it is now displayed at a small cairn next to the bridge as you can see below.

Thomas Telfords Mark

Crossing the border.

We followed the Sark to where it joins the Esk and it is here that the Esk forms a channel on the Solway. When the tide comes in the Esk will be covered by the sea.

The walk finished back at Gretna Green and I am advised that Tom & John are just good friends.

Bird Ringing

Since becoming involved with the Moorland Education Project 4 years ago I have taken a great interest in the Moorland and its birds. I headed out to the Moorland Feeding Station this morning to see Cat Barlow ringing some of the birds. She was delighted to catch a pair of Common Crossbills for the first time ever as you can see by the smile on her face as she holds the Male Crossbill.

Male Common Crossbill

In the net. The are perfectly safe and only Cat can handle them as she has been trained by RSPB.

A Robin

Teviothead Walk

This weeks walks was a Teviothead Circular from the book "Walking in the Land of the Reivers" by I.W.Landles & A.G.Brydon. We had intended to walk the first part of the walk along the road and then take the route back on the other side of the valley along the ridge. By the time we had walked the first 3 miles with a gale force wind in our faces we decided not to climb to the ridge as the wind strength was increasing and the rain was horizontal. The wind would have been behind us but the hills were beginning to dissapear in the clouds so we decided to head back the way we had come and were blown along back to the car in about half the time it had taken us when the wind had been in our faces. The above photograph is looking up the A7 towards Mosspaul.

The walk starts at Carlenrig where Johnnie Armstrong and 36 of his followers were hung by King James V in 1530.

At the top part of the Teviotdale road there is a memorial cairn to Motor Cycle Racing Star Steve Hislop (Hizzy). He won the Isle of Man TT Eleven times but was killed in a helicopter accident in Teviotdale in 2003. For further information please look at the following website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Hislop

The most striking building on this walk is the Teviothead Church Manse which is bigger than the church. Rural churches many years ago were built round very strong communities and the Minister was the most important person in the valley and therefore had a house which reflected his status in the area. The Manse of course was also a haven for people needing help and assistance therefore they had to be fairly large.

Lowther Walk

Another Wednesday so another walk for Tom, John, and myself. We headed to Lowther and a walk from the superb walks book published by Penrith Ramblers for an 8.5 mile walk from Lowther and including the lovely village of Askham. The weather forecast last night was not good so we decided to delay our departure to 10.00am as it looked as if by lunch time the rain would clear. We were lucky however as it was dry at 10.00am and we never had a drop of rain all day. We were hardly as far as Canonbie when I realised I had forgotten my camera so these photos are courtesy of John and taken on his I-Phone. The above picture is Lowther Castle which is in the process of a big makeover which looks as if it is costing a small fortune and I dont know if it will be suitable to live in when it is completed. More research is required so I will provide the information at a later date if I can find out.

As we reached the higher ground on the walk towards Askham Fell we passed by this cultivation area which had been used in the 16th Century. I dont know what kind of crops the settlers there would grow but it looked very impressive but nowadays only sheep graze there.

This is the highest point on the walk at Heughscar Hill and it gives superb views over Ullswater. At this point we took a wrong turning and missed the small gap in the trees that we were supposed to go through so we added another mile to the walk. Can't even blame Tom this time as he was not in charge of the map. Maybe John just wanted to make it a 10 mile walk.The walk was completed by 3.30pm and was just under the 10 miles, although John added the extra half mile along the road in the time it took Tom to change his boots. If you know Tom you will realise that John had plenty of time to do his extra half mile.