{"id":5351,"date":"2025-03-04T00:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T00:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/phoenixwalks.xyz\/?p=5351"},"modified":"2025-03-04T00:57:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T00:57:49","slug":"250224","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/phoenixwalks.xyz\/index.php\/2025\/03\/04\/250224\/","title":{"rendered":"250224"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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24 – 02 – 25\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0WOOLER<\/strong><\/h1>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Distance 16.6 Km\u00a0 (10.3 miles)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ascent\u00a0 \u00a0402 m\u00a0 (1318 ft)\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Average moving speed\u00a0 3.32 Km\/hr\u00a0 (2.06 mph)\u00a0 \u00a0 Start\u00a0 10.12 am\u00a0 \u00a0Finish\u00a0 15.53 pm<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Arriving at the bus park in Wooler, 14 of us\u00a0 left the coach.\u00a0 After counting the numbers, Katherine, on her first walk & lead for the club, led the group out of the bus park and started climbing up the road heading westward towards Browns Law.\u00a0 A stiff climb but the group kept up a good pace and I was the only one left behind, although in my defence, I did have to stop to resolve a problem with my new rucksack.\u00a0 Within 25 min, a short distance before Browns Law, we arrived at the car park and picnic tables.\u00a0 An ideal spot for our morning stop which we enjoyed in lovely sunshine.<\/p>

After the stop we were on our way again, joining St Cuthbert’s Way with a fairly steep climb through the wood and heading NNW.\u00a0 \u00a0At the end of the wood, the track leveled out somewhat and we headed W to reach\u00a0 a junction of tracks.\u00a0 Katherine took the good track heading south (St Cuthbert’s Way) which then curved right and we began climbing up Coldberry Hill.\u00a0 The track\u00a0 then headed WNW towards Gains Law.\u00a0 The track was relatively flat until we approached Gains Law at which point there was a slight climb.\u00a0 After Gains Law the track bent to the SW and at the point of the bend we had a good view down towards the Akeld Burn valley.\u00a0 We had also had good views of Cheviot, Hedgehope and Yeavering Bell although the murky atmosphere spoilt it slightly.\u00a0 Around this point, we had our first experience of rain.\u00a0 Unfortunately, subsequently there were to be other short periods of rain and a couple of hail showers.\u00a0 Anyhow, we continued in a WSW direction before crossing to the north side of the fence line but still on a good path.\u00a0 Around the point where we crossed the fence line we had the sight of a full rainbow to the north.\u00a0 Soon after, the track split with one leg heading south to join the Commonburn Road and the other continuing WNW towards what should have been a small copse of trees but in fact there were only about half a dozen trees.\u00a0 The route to these trees was very wet and we had to make several slight detours to keep out of the bogs.\u00a0 Katherine had intended having our lunch stop a little further on, beside another copse near Scaldhill, but because it had stopped raining, she proposed this as the lunch stop so we sat near the headwaters of the Akeld Burn and had another sunny and lengthy stop as we were ahead of time.\u00a0<\/p>

After lunch, we headed SW, skirted around a non-existing copse and then turned south towards Commonburn House.\u00a0 Giving the farm a miss, we joined the newly tarmaced road leading E to Wooler.\u00a0 With an excellent surface under our feet, we made a good pace.\u00a0 After about 1.5 Km, Katherine was looking for a path heading off to the right (S then SE) towards the wooded banks of the Common Burn.\u00a0 Having found the path, it was in reasonable condition at first but it soon became an exercise in keeping out of the large pools of water covering the full width.\u00a0 We progressed along the path slowly and then it turned ENE and it became significantly dryer.\u00a0 \u00a0As we continued ENE we had good views of the Cary Burn Valley.\u00a0 Soon we were joined by the Hell Path climbing up from the burn.\u00a0 On a very good track now, we progressed to Wooler Common Farm.\u00a0 Skirting around the farm, we continued NE on St Cuthbert’s Way, climbing up Kenterdale Hill thro the woods.\u00a0 At the top we waited for the rest of the group to catch up and then made our way down to Waud House.\u00a0 This was an awkward descent on a muddy slippery path and it did not go well with my arthritic knee.\u00a0 Reaching Waud House, we then rejoined the pavement on the road we had climbed from Wooler and made our way back down to the town, the coaches and the pub.<\/p>

A very enjoyable walk, despite the occasional rain and hail showers, in one of my favourite areas of Northumberland.\u00a0 Thank you Katherine – well led.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0Click on any photo to view full screen.\u00a0 \u00a0 Move through the gallery using the\u00a0 \u00a0<\u00a0 >\u00a0 arrows.<\/p>