On a wet morning, with an unfavourable forecast ahead of us, 10 brave souls left the coach on the B6531 opposite the track leading to Hexham golf course.  When Peter Craig had sorted and counted his group, we crossed the road and headed down towards the club house.  Bypassing the club house, we continued on the track down to the level crossing.  Crossing the railway line, we then headed west along the tarmac track next to the R Tyne.  After about 700 m we turned onto a path on our right and down some steps and then followed this path alongside the river.  Reaching the A69 road bridge we stopped under the bridge for coffee, not perfect, but at least it kept us out of the rain.

On our way again we headed around Kingshaw Haugh  on a very muddy track until we reached the bridge over the S Tyne and crossed into Bridge End.  It was tempting to head straight into the pub at this point, but being brave souls we walked straight past, under the railway bridge and then turned west on a narrow path adjacent to the railway.  After about 500 m, opposite a house, we turned right (N) and started climbing.  After passing through a gate we entered a soggy grassy field containing sheep and continued to climb up to Private walk wood.  This should have given us an excellent view back towards Hexham but all we could see was mist and cloud.  Turning left through a gate, we headed towards the wood below Warden Hill.  The rain had more or less stopped by this time although it was still very damp.  After leaving the wood, we descended on a path and headed towards Whinney Hill.  Turning onto the B6319 at Whinney Hill, after a short distance we arrived at a junction with a couple of long seats, a good lunch spot.

After lunch, we headed north along a road and then west  on a track to Frankham Fell.  This brought us to Frankham Quarry which we entered.  Through the woods on muddy paths and down a difficult muddy slope, we arrived at the rock face of the quarry and the lake below it.  Leaving the lake we found a reasonable wide track which headed in a SW direction initially before swinging eastwards and then south to descend on a minor road into Frankham,   Continuing our descent S on this road we then turned east at the road junction and headed into Fourstones.  At Fourstones we crossed the railway line and joined the River Tyne Trail along the north  bank of the S Tyne.  This wet and muddy path headed in a generally SE direction until we reached a factory where we had to join the road beside a level crossing.  Heading S and then SE along the road and the pavement where it existed, we arrived at the pub at Bridge End.  What could have been an interesting and scenic walk, was unfortunately spoilt by the weather which was either wet or damp all day.