An unexpected call from Charles Bragg, the afternoon before the walk, resulted in me leading a Phoenix walk for the first time in more than 2 years.  This was due to the fact that Ann Brown was in hospital and therefore could not lead.  Get well soon Ann.  

Using Ann’s text on the web-site, I plotted the route I thought she was taking, although without the knowledge of the area that Ann has.  Anyhow we alighted the coaches in Bellingham just to the west of the parish church and headed to the river. unfortunately missing the graveyard and the Long Pack.  Reaching the path adjacent to the river, we found it to be frozen solid.  Anyhow, we headed NW then W along the river bank under a fairly grey sky and a strong head-wind.  Going under the B6320 road bridge, we continued W along the River Tyne Trail with a fairly impressive hotel building up on our right.  At Shaw Banks the river headed SW while we continued NW.  The river then having turned NW, the path came alongside the river again and we followed it to Cuddies Loup where we joined the road leading to Charlton.  Just before Charlton we took a slight detour into  a field with a wall and sat and had a coffee stop.   

After the stop we continued a short distance along the road before taking a left turn on a minor road, crossed over the route of the old railway line and headed to Newton.  Crossing under the railway at Newton we headed north, climbing up  a field although most of the group headed NNW before I called them to order.  At the top of the field we passed thro a gate and then headed further north before turning west.  After waiting a few minutes to allow a farmer to organise his sheep, we continued to Park Cottage and then to Lanehead.  Reaching Redmire we turned N through the farm which brought us onto an ill-defined path over frozen ground.  Unfortunately, I went a bit off track and finding my way onto the RoW as shown on my GPS, I felt we were too far from the Tarset Burn so backtracked to a gate with a footpath sign and followed the east bank of the burn.  The RoW joined the path we were on after about 100 m.  While a scenic journey with the burn partly covered by ice, the going was quite difficult with very uneven ground which was frozen solid.   It had been my plan to have a lunch stop in the wood beside the burn but a wire fence with PRIVATE signs prevented that.  So we made our way past Greenhaugh Hall and found a sheltered and sunny spot in a lane just before we joined the road between Greenhaugh and Lanehead.

After lunch we headed SE down the road before taking a path on the left which headed diagonally across a field.  Once again this was difficult going on a rough icy path.  After crossing a minor road we found that the first half of the wood shown on the map and also on Google earth had been felled although the back half was still standing.  At the end of the wood we turned S on a good track.  The track left the fence line as we headed to Bimmerhill.  At this point the views were good as there was a fair amount of sunshine as we headed downhill in a SSE direction.  Approaching Charlton Farm we joined the road and proceeded to the dismantled railway line where we went thro a gate on the left.  There were 3 options, the middle path looked like the railway but seemed to be overgrown about 100 m further down where it went into a cutting, while to the left there was a nice walk parallel to the railway down a field with short grass.   I took the field option in the hope we could join the railway before Riding Wood.  Sure enough, before we reached the wood, there was a gate on our right which opened to the railway which was now at the same level.  Joining the railway line, we made our way to The Riding .  Here we found the railway blocked off where it crossed the road, so we headed onto the road in the hope we could rejoin on the other side.  There was a gate with a bit  of a track which appeared to head towards the railway line.  However, at this precise time a farmer was driving a large flock of sheep up the road and he looked far from happy as we stood still as the flock tried to get into the two fields either side of us, some of them jumping over a wall and a barbed wire fence in the process.  We therefore decided just to walk down the road to join the main road into Bellingham.  Reaching the road, we headed into Bellingham, a couple of people heading straight for the Cheviot pub while others headed for the coaches at the Heritage Centre.  

A good walk covering an area I had never walked before.