Blanchland - Blanchland Moor

Date:                  Saturday, 11th June 2011
Start/Finish:        Blanchland Car Park
Distance:            6.8 miles
Time Taken:        3 hours
Companion(s):    Ailsa

Route Map:

With the prospect of the weather deteriorating to rain showers from about 3pm, the plan had been for me to set out early to Westgate in Weardale to complete a 10 mile circular walk via Rookhope.  However, I was later than usual in waking so missed the chance of the 6.30am set out time and, on opening the curtains, discovered that the weather looked decidedly dodgy!  The prospect of walking on my own had not been entirely appealing in the first place but, the added prospect of walking in rain from start to finish was definitely not something I would look forward to.

So, I pottered about the house a bit, had several cups of tea and looked up the latest weather forecast for the day on the internet.  I finally decided that, if the forecast was to be believed, I should have time to complete a fairly easy 8 mile route as long as the drive there didn't take too long.  So out came the books and walk route printouts and I eventually settled on an 8 mile circular route from Blanchland, going up onto the moors, through a bit of forest, before heading down the moors to Baybridge, with the final leg along the River Derwent back to Blanchland.

Having gathered together all of my kit and resolve to head out on a walk on my own, I was just making my sandwiches when the telephone rang.  Turned out to be the eldest daughter, Ailsa, wondering what I was up to and, having now changed her plans for the day, offering to be my walking companion for the day.  Excellent news but that delayed our set out time even further as I had to go and collect her before we could head out for Blanchland.

Anyway, we finally did set off and as we drove towards Blanchland the weather didn't actually look too bad.  It seemed to be quite a bit brighter in the direction we were headed and I had high hopes that we would complete our walk before the rain clouds headed our way.  Oh how wrong that thought proved to be!

Arrived at Blanchland car park and started on our walk at about 12.30pm.  Our route first took us uphill through some woods, nothing too strenuous although we did encounter some free ranging hens which seemed to be leading the way :-)

Leaving the hens behind, we continued though the woodland

and emerged to follow the path in front of the houses in Shildon, heading towards the ruins of an old lead mine

There is some new fencing and paths around this ruined lead mine which suggests there may well be plans to erect some information boards but, at the moment I'm afraid the ruin shall remain nameless as it doesn't seem to be identified on the OS Explorer map.  From here, we followed a track gently uphill which took us towards Pennypie House.  Apparently, lead miners and cattle drovers often broke their journey here, where pies were once sold for a penny a piece (before decimalisation I guess!).  We took a few photos as we headed along the track.

From Pennypie House, we headed through the gate and followed the track which would take us up onto Blanchland Moor.  Once on the track crossing the heather moorland, on a clear day you will be able to see the Cheviot Hills in the distance.  However, our view was hindered by dark and threatening clouds.

 Derwent Reservoir in the distance

The trig point on War Law

Can anyone tell me why there always seems to be sand on moorland paths?

Derwent Reservoir again

As you may be able to tell from the deteriorating photographs, it was at this point that the camera was put away, the waterproofs came out and it was heads down and leg it to Slaley Forest as quickly as possible in the hope that we would be able to shelter under the trees from the quite heavy rainfall.

Upon reaching the forest, we were to be disappointed as the forest track we joined was clear of any cover from the trees and it was wet, muddy and very slippery and it was at this point that we decided to abort the planned circular route and head back the way we had come.  Having already walked the route, we thought it would be quicker and easier to backtrack rather than risking having to navigate in poor conditions on unknown paths.

Suffice to say, we made it back to Blanchland in reasonably good time.  I was reasonably warm and cosy in my Berghaus Paclite Trek jacket but, unfortunately, Ailsa's waterproof had not done it's job well and she was cold, soaked to the skin and quite miserable :-(  So I cheered her up with a hot pastie purchased from the Blanchland Deli and some traditional sweets (cola cubes) we bought in the Old Post Office.  That seemed to do the trick! :-)

It was a shame the weather spoiled our day as I think the walk would have been a very enjoyable one in better weather conditions.  Guess we'll just have to use that as an excuse to return on another day!

Wolsingham - Elephant Trees - Frosterley

Date:                Saturday, 28th May 2011
Start/Finish:      Demesne Picnic Area & Car Park, Wolsingham
Distance:          10.7 miles
Time Taken:      5 hours
Companion(s):  Ailsa

Route Map:

    

Well the weather didn't look too promising but the forecast on the web said to expect only light showers so we finally decided to go for it.  Sandwiches made, rucksacks checked and packed, maps and guidebook checked, route downloaded to GPS and off we went.

Following a fairly short but pleasant drive, we arrived at the car park, got togged up and set off.

Turning right out of the car park, we walked through Wolsingham village to cross the bridges over the River Wear and the Weardale Railway, before heading quite steeply uphill following the road to reach the path across the moors.  (Unfortunately, we missed the possibility of walking uphill through the fields so this was quite a hard slog on tarmac road - definitely not my favourite walking surface!)  Nice views from the required rest stops on the way up though :-)

It was very windy up here but the gravel track made for much better walking and, even though the wind was in our face, we stepped out quite happily, heading toward the Elephant Trees, across the heather moorlands.  The track is very clear, the gravel turns to sand in some parts, and it ascends very gently on the approach route to the beech tree plantation.  It was as we followed this path that we realised that we were surrounded by ground nesting birds and their babies - noisy curlew, grouse and many other species I'm afraid I don't know the names of (I must buy myself a bird book and a wildflower book so that I can tell what I'm looking at!).  Anyway, suffice to say it took us quite some time to traverse this moorland as we spent lots of time trying to photograph the birds, missing them of course, and just watching them all in amazement.

Well, we eventually made it for a close-up view of the Elephant Trees and their trunks which are heavily carved with the initials of previous visitors.  You may be able to spot some evidence of this in the following photos but, to be honest I don't think my photography skills have quite captured this.

Continuing on our walk, we were now aiming to get to Frosterley so we carried on along the moorland path a little further before turning right to head on a track downhill, past some evidence of old quarry sites.  The track all too soon turned into tarmac road again but the sun was now shining and we were heading down out of the strong wind :-)

A last look back to the Elephant Trees (perhaps from this view you can almost tell why they are called this - do you think they look a bit like a couple of elephants crossing the hill?).

We continue downhill to reach White Kirkley, then a fairly short uphill stretch of road to head out of White Kirkley before turning right to head downhill again to the bridge crossing the River Wear and the Weardale Railway and entering Frosterley via the Black Bull Inn.

This seemed to be the ideal spot for a toilet break and a refreshing glass of cider - we like to support local hostelries whenever possible!  However, it wasn't too long before we were on our way again, this time heading along the low-level route following the River Wear and Weardale Railway back to Wolsingham.

Not far beyond this point, you lose sight of the river as the route takes you through a caravan site and then onto a seemingly never-ending trudge across field paths to eventually reach a flight of steps leading up to the road bridge crossing the Weardale Railway and then the River Wear back into Wolsingham.

A truly wonderful walk, throughly enjoyed by both of us and, to top it all, we didn't get rained on :-)