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Saturday 24 March 2018

A wander round Wylam (Northumberland ) March 23rd.
A regular reader recently rebuked  me for not publishing an excuse for having not blogged last week. It was cold, it was very wet, it was windy. Several of the lads were away. Those of us left decided to stay at home. There was a time we would have walked regardless but no more heroics. 
This week there are only three of us out on what is promised to be a cool but sunny spring day. A gentle walk round the Tyne Valley village of Wylam has been proposed, ending in the Boathouse.
Easy to find, Wylam is off the A69 a few miles from Newcastle. There is also a train service and buses go there too, but check timetables, they are not frequent in the evening.
The three of us are John H., Dave and me. The map to use is OS 316 Newcastle upon Tyne, but it isn't essential.
There are two car parks in the village, one by the railway station which charges, and one in the centre which is a Yorkshire one. However I left my car at John's house, even better.
          I don't like to disappoint the daughters. Car parked at John's.
From the house we walked down a couple of back lanes to the river, crossed the Tyne and turned into the station car park. The Keelman's way starts here and follows the south bank of the Tyne. A good solid path next to the Carlisle and Newcastle Railway. 
               The Tyne from Wylam Bridge.
           The Keelman's Way, popular with walkers, cyclists and dog walkers
Not too far into the walk we came to Ryton Golf Course, quite a few members out, someone shouted "Fore" too. Beyond the course we came to the old ferry house, between the river and the railway.
Once upon a time on both banks of the river there were coal mines, possibly some were bell pits even. The coal was loaded on to the keel boats from staithes and sent down river. No more mines but there is evidence of the industrial past.    
       This old coal heap has smouldered for years                                                                                                                                                          As we approached Newburn we past the post advertising the rowing clubs on either side of the water.


         There was nobody rowing today, it was very windy.

 At Newburn we crossed the river to the north bank and turned west to follow the Hadrian's Way path, like the other one it is popular with cyclists, dog walkers and walkers. Cyclists come in three groups, those with bells, those without bells but loud voices and those who cycle in silence. Dog walkers come in  groups too. Some control their dogs as cyclists and walkers pass, some have long leads that can be reeled in and some just leave their dogs to run free.
Newburn is the site of one of the first battles that led to the English Civil War. The Scots took on the English here in 1640 and eventually won, moving on to capture Newcastle.
                      The Boathouse pub at Newburn, we didn't go in


                     Information on The battle of Newburn
Apart from the official pathway there are several routes and muddy footpaths that cross the area. The one we took was next to the river, muddy but pleasant enough.    Several of them are ancient wagon ways now used as footpaths.                                                                                                                        


 The tide stone, limit of the tide once? Look carefully and it has the three castles on it from the city coat of arms.   
Beyond this we came to Close House, soccer pitches, hockey and rugby pitches too, and a golf course.
                                        Clear enough I think
Approaching Wylam we stopped for a Herbie at Stephenson's Cottage. The birthplace of George Stephenson, father of railways, he later moved to Killingworth north of Newcastle. He is famous for building steam engines, his "Rocket " won the competition on the Liverpool Manchester railway   almost 200 years ago. The cottage is owned by the National Trust but is closed at the moment.  

                                                                                                                        
Stephenson's cottage. We ate at the back on a picnic table, sharing  pork pies, fruit cake and Titans, ALDI's answer to Mars Bars.
Lunch over we walked to Wylam and toured the village, finding the birth place of Timothy Hackworth, another railway pioneer fro Wylam

Hackworth birthplace, Wylam, sadly I missed.
And in another street we came to the birthplace of William Hedley, yet another early railway man.
Three railway pioneers in one village! Now that is amazing. The silicon valley of its day.
Having seen the cottages we crossed to the south bank of the Tyne by the Hagg Bank bridge. I remember when I first came to the north east in the swinging sixties it was a railway bridge, the track joining the railway on the south side just over the river.                                                                       


Hagg Bank Bridge, known by the locals as Points Bridge.
We walked along the well made footpath along the river  until we reached "The Spetchells". These mini hills are the spoil heaps from what was once a nearby chemical factory. Now covered with small trees and grass they are, apparently, still muddy to climb in damp weather, so we didn't. Instead we walked a footpath by Hagg Bank, past a pond which is probably a result of mine subsidence, over the railway and on to a road.                                                                                                                            
Old mine pond. Little bird life but we did see a deer.
We walked along the road, the fields alongside had horses in them, some very friendly, before taking a footpath on the left that went downhill to the station at Wylam. We walked back to John's, changed and headed for the Boathouse pub, next to the station.                                                              





The Boathouse, inside and out. A beer lover's paradise. I was driver for the day.

Contains OS data, Copyright. Crown copyright and data base right 2018

The Matrix MMXVIII H                                                                                                               
                                      steps                  miles
NAK                                                   28752                                             10.89                                                                         IPh                               23622                                                     10.4                                       Dave's 3D                                          21988                          10.78  
                        ""USB                            21420                           10.81
                        ""NAK                           21196                           10.7
                        Sylvia's mother              21765                           10.95
OUTDOOR GPS                                                                         10.4
                 
I am going away on Monday, no blog until April 13th













                                                       



Saturday 10 March 2018

Walk in the Park (Not Barefoot) (Northumberland) March 9th
The snow has gone, almost as quickly as it came, causing some floods but nothing too disastrous.
We have decided that all footpaths will be muddy and we have had enough of that this year so we have chosen to walk in Hulne Park, Alnwick. Hulne Park is the home park of the Duke of Northumberland and he kindly leaves it open to us proles most days of the year. The paths are good and hard, ideal for a gentle walk with lots to see too. To get to the Park take the A1 north, turn off for, and drive through, Alnwick, turn left at the castle gate and turn left almost immediately after and drive the short distance to the entrance. Parking is limited and if you don't park on the left you will be hung, drawn and quartered. You cannot take your car into the park. For this offence you will be severely dealt with. I know from experience*
The map to use is OS Explore 332 Alnwick and Amble but you can download a map showing the separate walks in the park if you google Hulne Park. (www.northumberlandestates.co.uk/media/134081/hulne_park.pdf) Or close to that. If you download this map it shows three colour coded walks, red, yellow and blue. We have chosen the blue, the longest, and are going to add a loop to it. Both maps name the drives or roads on the walks but the downloaded one is, in my humble opinion, better, it has a little more information.

We stopped for breakfast at Barter Books, one of the largest second hand bookshops in England. Housed in the old Alnwick station it has books, DVDs, CDs, coffee, food and souvenirs. It does not buy books, it gives you credit, but it does sell books. And it's very popular on wet days, not surprisingly.
             Barter Books, still looking like the station it was
                              The lion of Alnwick, slightly headless.
The walk;
Having parked outside the gate into the park and booted up, we set off. After the freezing conditions of last week the weather was very mild, no need for extra lagging.
                       Yorkshire car park in Northumberland
William the lion, King of Scotland came to a sticky end here in 1174.
We walked along the Farm Drive, initially bordered by lines of gnarled trees, before the woodland gave way to open fields, in the last of which is a fine hemmel.
                 A fine Hemmel.  hemmel is a northern dialect word for a cattle shelter, open on one side. So how about Hemel Hempstead, just outside London?
After a couple of miles of easy, pleasant walking and chatting, we turned off the Farm Drive, joined the yellow walk and climbed White Hill to examine the Brizlee Tower.
                          The Brizlee Tower, erected  at the end of the 18th century by the first Duke of Northumberland in memory of his wife. A sort of Taj Mahal. The thing on the top is a fire basket. I suspect by the time the tower was built there was no longer a threat from marauding Scots but perhaps it was used as a beacon. I do remember going to watch the beacons lit on coronation night, 1953.
Having admired the structure we continued on our way in an anticlockwise loop round Brizlee Hill, eventually finishing up back on Farm Drive, which promptly, and mysteriously became Farm Road.
                   The view across Northumberland from East Brizlee. The Cheviot range, snowcapped is just about visible.

              I have been told that this is the graveyard for members of the Percy family. Empty at the moment. I am also informed the family has one space left in Westminster Abbey.
                      Family motto. "Hope in God"

At East Bridge we crossed the River Aln and walked Palmstrother Drive along Palmstrother Haugh. (Haugh is another good northern word; "flat piece of land by a river")
One side of the road is freshly planted with trees, protected by a deer fence. We did not see a deer, or any other animal, all day.
We followed the footpath uphill to Hulne Abbey (Called Hulne Priory on OS map) and called a Herbie, sharing ginger biscuits from Ben, toffee bakewell tarts, frangepans and Mrs A.s chocolate iced ginger biscuits.

               Hulne Abbey, inside and out. The map says it is a ruin but there is an inhabited cottage inside. It was founded in 1242. Its modern claim to fame is as the home of Maid Marian in Kevin Costner's film "Robin Prince of Thieves" (The one where he got from Dover to Hadrian's Wall in three seconds)
Herbie time over we walked round the back of the Abbey and downhill to Lady's Well Drive, another pleasingly pleasant flat stretch along Filbert Haugh. At Filbert Haugh we crossed the river and followed its south bank until we were opposite the ruins of Alnwick Abbey. Difficult to see  because of the trees, only ruins remain. It was founded in 1174 by Premonstratian canons.
At the junction we turned right and walked uphill to Park Cottage, turned left and were soon back at the car.
On the way home we called at the Cook and Barker inn at Newton on the Moor. A well known eating place, we simply rehydrated on Atlantic Hop or Black Sheep, enjoyed close to a roaring fire.
This is an easy walk, about eight and a half miles. The paths are firm, no mud, things to see and superb views. Good family stroll out.

MATRIX MMXVIII (9/3)
                                                                steps                                    miles
NAK                                                       22543                                     8.8
iPhone                                                     19355                                     8.4
Dave's 3D                                                17392                                    8.52
"" USB                                                    17926                                     9.05
"" NAK                                                   17746                                     8.96
Sylvia;s mother                                       18117                                     9.15
Brian                                                                                                       8
Ben                                                                                                         8.4
OUTDOOR GPS                                                                                    8.4
Contains OS data. Copyright Crown copyright and database right 2018
* I did this walk sometime last year with my group of "Russians". At Hulne Abbey/Priory one of the party felt very unwell. Fortunately we had a doctor with us who took command, looked after the patient for a while and the ran to the entrance to get her car. She was stopped by the gateman and inspite of her explaining somebody was unwell and needed assistance he was very abusive, verbally.
I can understand the estate does not want cars going into the park but most of us have a little more understanding. He didn't know that one of our group knows somebody who works for the Duke....