A pretty 6 mile circular walk from Morpeth, taking in fields, woods and rivers and an optional visit to Bothal Castle

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Starting point: Bottom of Gas House Lane (next to river), Morpeth NE61 1SR

Head down Gas House Lane towards the blue bridge over the river Wansbeck.

Cross the bridge and then take the footpath on your (hairpin) left which has the river to your left (picture 1).

Follow this path as it winds around a 90° bend and, in about 250mtrs, you will walk past a house with a gate (picture 2). Walk through the gate and through the field ahead on the clearly defined path and head towards the woods on the far side.

Once you reach the woods, take a left and head for 50mtrs towards the corner of the field. At the corner, you will see the river to your left. Walk along the side of the river for around 200mtrs until you see a blue bridge (picture 3).

At the bridge, take a right and you will see the gate in picture 4.

Walk past the gate and in about 25mtrs you will see a path going off to the left. Take this path and follow it uphill to a stile (picture 5).

Walk past the stile into a field. Take the path to the right and follow this path uphill to a gate for about 150mtrs (picture 6) which will lead you into another field.

Go through this gate and walk straight ahead through the field on a clearly defined path (picture 7)

At the field boundary you will come to a bridge over rail tracks. Walk over the bridge and follow the path (picture 8) as it takes you towards a small group of houses.

As you approach the houses, you will be encouraged to walk into the field to your right. Do this and keep to the left of the field. You will approach a gate (picture 9) which will take you onto a road. Turn left at the road.

Walk for about 100mtrs until you come to a gate and a footpath sign pointing to Shadfen Bank 1 ¼ m. Go through the gate and follow the track (picture 10) between fields.

After about 200m, you will come to the corner of another field. Keep on the track and bear left, walking towards the woods (picture 11).

As you approach the woods, you will see that the path goes into the trees. Follow the path into the trees and continue to follow it (it is clearly marked) as it winds its way through the woods (picture 12).

When you reach a stile at the edge of the woods, walk past the stile and on to a path which will take you round the edges of a field (picture 13). Take this path with the woods to your left and a wire fence to your right.

You will then reach another stile which you need to climb over and then continue on a similar path round the next field.

Another stile will take you into a field. This time, there is no fence to your right but the path is clearly marked (picture 14). Continue straight ahead.

At the next field boundary, you will need to cross a ladder stile into another field. Continue again on the clearly marked path to the left hand side of the field. At the corner, you will continue round the edge of the field and in a few metres you will see a path cut into the bushes on your left (picture 15).

Follow this path and again, in the next field, keep to the left and continue on the wall worn path. You will come to some houses on your left and, hopefully, the alpacas will be out in the field!

A little further on, you will notice a gap in the hedge to your left and onto a road. Take this path and continue in the same direction but on the road (picture 16).

Continue on to the end of this road at which point you will see a road to your right and a road which bears left. Take the road which bears left and continue for about 500mtrs when you will come to a bridge. Walk over the bridge and continue walking on the road. In about 200mtrs, you should be able to see Bothal castle to your right (picture 17).

You have the option here to continue on the road for another 350m to visit the castle. Alternatively, turn round and head back the way you came towards the bridge. Before you get to the bridge, you should see Bothal Saw Mill and a footpath sign to ‘Morpeth 2 ¾’ on your right.  

Take this footpath which will take you on a path to the side of the river (with the river on your left) for 2 ¾ miles. Take the left when you come to a fork in the path.

At the end of the path, you will come to the A197 (picture 18) where you will see a footpath sign on the other side.

Cross the road and continue in the direction of the footpath sign (‘Morpeth ½’). In about 75mtrs, you will come to another signpost. Bear left here, following the direction of the ‘Morpeth ¾’ sign. Keep on the path for around 550mtrs until you once again come to the A197.

Head across the road and straight ahead down the path between the river (on your left) and the allotments on your right (picture 19).

Before you reach Morrisons, you will notice the path bends left  90° in line with the river so stay on the path. In just over 150mtrs you will come to the blue bridge that you crossed at the start of the walk. Continue past the bridge and onto Gas House Lane.

Check out my walk on Strava.
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Starting point: Heddon on the wall, NE15 0BU

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Once you’re parked (there’s on street parking in Heddon), head towards Heddon Banks Road, where the walk starts (point 1 on map).

Head down Heddon banks Road as the road bends downhill in a southwest direction. At the fork in the road, take the right fork and, in around 200metres, you will see a gate and a footpath sign pointing south (picture 1).

Go through this gate and head in the direction of the footpath sign, keeping to the left of the field. In just under 500m, you will reach the bottom of the field where you will take a right (picture 2). In about 50m (point 2 on map), take a left and walk through the long grass towards the golf course.

Keep to the left of the fairway and walk around 160m until you get to a path which forks. Take the left fork and head towards a rugby pitch. Walk on the right hand side edge of the rugby pitch – around 400m –until you get to a kissing gate onto Hadrians Wall path (picture 3, point 3 on map).

Go through the gate, take a right and follow this path for around 900m, at which point you will see another kissing gate on your right (picture 4, point 4 on map).

Go through this gate and keep to the left of the golf course. Skirt round the edges of the golf course for about 500m until you come to a wood straight ahead.

Take a right at this point and walk for a further 200m, keeping the wood on your left until you come to a clearing in the wood (picture 5, point 5 on map), on a slight incline with a way marker at the top (this might be slightly obscured by fallen trees so make sure you take a good look).

Head up this clearing and take a left at the top. Head a short distance towards an outbuilding and at this point you take a right (this is clearly marked). For the next 600-700m, follow the clearly way marked path around the golf club.  

Once you pass the café/driving range, walk to the right hand side of the road that takes you up to the B6528 (picture 6, point 6 on map).

In around 300m up this road, you will notice a clump of trees across the fairway to your right. You should also see a way marker. Cross the fairway (looking out for golfers!) and follow this path through the trees (picture 7, point 7 on map).

Once you reach a wider path, take a right here and follow this path out of the trees. At the first fork in the path, take the right fork. About 15m after this fork, you will notice a way marker which takes you off to the left. Follow this smaller path which is clearly marked through the grass and go through the gate (picture 8, point 8 on map).

Walk through the field keeping to the left hand side until you get to a stile (picture 9).

Go over the stile and walk straight ahead on Heddon Banks Road. Keep on this road until you get back to Heddon.

From Chapel Park to Ponteland, a 4.4 mile walk which avoids busy roads and even more importantly takes in some lovely pubs. Can also be done in reverse…

Check out my walk on Strava.
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Starting point: Jingling Gate, Westerhope, NE5 1NL

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At the Jingling Gate (point 1 on map), walk down Stamfordham Road in the direction of Ponteland. Walk past St John’s Church and cross North Walbottle Road. Take the path ahead which runs parallel and to the left of Stamfordham Road (picture 1).

After about 300 metres, you will see a gate to the right (picture 2, point 2 on map). Go through this gate and cross Stamfordham Road (be careful as this can be a really busy road!)

Enter the woods on the other side of the road and follow the clear path through the woods that brings you out onto Whorlton Lane. Take a left at this point.

Walk along this quiet road for about 1km. When you reach the T-junction (point 3 on map), take a right.

(Note: if you want to make this a proper pub crawl, take a left here for the Poacher’s cottage which is about 300m away). 

Walk along this next bit of road for about 850m (again, it is a quiet road). At the T-junction (picture 3), take a left.

Cross the road and walk for about 150m on the grass verge. On the right, you will reach a farm house with a ‘Black Callerton’ plaque (picture 4) on the wall outside. Take a right here and follow the Public footpath sign directing you to “High Callerton 1”. 

Walk through the farm and you will come to the gate in picture 5 (point 4 on map). Go through this gate and follow the footpath sign directing you to “Hold House 1/2 mile”.

Walk up the field, keeping to the right. In just over 150m you will reach another gate. Go through this gate and continue walking on the right hand side of the field for another 300m towards a second gate (picture 6). 

Go over the stile and walk on the right hand boundary of the field, which bears right after about 50m.  Keep to the right of the field and in about 200m, at the corner of the field, there will be a small bridge and stile to cross (picture 7).

Once over the stile, head straight across the field (picture 8) to another stile which is situated about 120m to the right of Hold House (picture 9)

Go over the stile and walk with the field boundary to your right until you reach a gate (picture 10)

Go through the gate and, at the cross roads (point 5 on map), follow the footpath marked “Ponteland 1 1/4”. Follow the path towards Ponteland, keeping the field boundary to your left. In about 850m, you will reach Rotary Way. Go over the stile and take a right (picture 11), keeping to a grassy path by the side of the road. 

Continue down the grassy track for about 500m and, when you reach a danger sign, turn left and head across the road and onto the old Ponteland Railway line (picture 12, point 6 on map). 

Walk along the old railway line for around 900m, at which point you will reach Callerton Lane (point 7 on map). Take a right and walk along the road, keeping Ponteland Leisure Centre to your right. In around 400m, you will reach the Diamond Inn (pictured) which you can enter for a well earned drink

(Note: you may also wish to visit the Blackbird or Seven Stars for an extended pub crawl).

As a keen walker but someone who is not always able to devote a full day to a walk, I’ve been inspired to write this blog as a result of recently spending a lot of time looking through books and the internet trying to find walks that didn’t take an hour in a car to get to the start of….I therefore bought a couple of os maps and tried out potential walks that start close to residential areas in Northumberland – e.g. Morpeth, Ponteland, Prudhoe, Westerhope. This blog will share with you the best of these walks and will point out the obligatory public house where possible!

Check out my walk on Strava.
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Starting point: Moor Road, NE42 5LJ

The start of this walk is next to the media centre off Moor Road. As you come off Moor Road and head towards the media centre, there is a grassy cut almost immediately on your left (point 1 on map).

Head down this cut for about 100 metres and turn right at the corner of the playing field, which will be on your right.

Walk 150 metres towards another field in front of you (at this point you are basically circumnavigating the two sides of the playing field).

At the entrance to the field, take a left and head upwards, keeping to the left hand side of the field. In about 150 metres, you will come to the corner of the field where you need to take a right.

Walk another 150 metres and you will come to a fence (picture 1, point 2 on map) which is basically a cross roads.

Take a left at the crossroads and walk for 300 metres, keeping to the right hand edge of the field. As you reach the bottom of the field, you will notice a path that goes off diagonally to your right. Follow this path to a gate.

Go through the gate ahead and into a new field. Almost immediately ahead you will see a gate on the left. Go through this gate (point 3 on map).

Once through the gate, walk straight ahead through the middle of the field. At the bottom of the field, you will approach a wood.

Go through the gate to the left hand side of the wood and walk down the edge of the field, keeping the wood to your right.

At the bottom of the field, take the fenced path to the side of the farm house.

Once past the farm house, you will see a footpath sign. Take the path straight ahead (not the one that bears left) and this will take you over a small ford (picture 2) and through the middle of the field.

Keep walking in a straight line and you will reach a gate. Go through the gate and you will be on a bridleway, where you can turn right or left (point 4 on map). Instead however, go straight ahead into the next field.

Head straight ahead through the field for about 400 metres, at which point take a right and head towards a gate leading into the woods (picture 3).

Once through this gate take a right and walk for around 150 metres at which point you will see a wide, straight path through the trees on your left (picture 4, point 5 on map). 

Take this path for just over 1km. Once this path opens up into a car park, take a right and head up a track (picture 5) in a North West direction.

Follow this track and at the top of the hill (point 6 on map) take a right into the field (picture 6) with the field boundary to your left.

Keep going until you reach a gate. Go through the gate and head diagonally (to the right and downhill) through this field to a gate at the other side of the field (which will be on your left at this point).

Go through this gate and walk straight ahead, keeping the boundary of the field to your left. 

You will then reach another gate (picture 7) which you need to go through and walk straight ahead.

At the next field edge, you will see signs to the left and right. Take the path to the left and head upwards towards a farm house (picture 8).

Once you reach the house, follow the footpath signs through the property and onto a road.

Once you have passed the farm buildings (point 7), take a right into a field with the boundary hedge of the field to your right.

Walk straight ahead as the field opens up and cut across the field to a gate in front of you. Head through this gate and turn left, keeping the boundary of the new field on your left.

Head towards a gate ahead of you and at the gate take a right (don’t go through the gate). Go straight ahead towards a small wood, keeping the field boundary to your left.

At the edge of the wood, take a left and head towards another gate (picture 9).

Go through this gate and continue straight ahead. At the field boundary, take a right, keeping the field boundary on your left.

Keep walking and you will eventually come to the cross roads you came to at the beginning of the walk (point 2).

Go straight over this gate (picture 10) and follow the path back down to Prudhoe.