Hexham to Warden – 20 January 2024
It’s just across the bridge. Warden that is, actually the little village of Warden is a bit further up the road. Just across the bridge is a place called Bridge End, consisting of a pub called the Boatside Inn and an old church converted into small office suites. Why is it called Bridge End? Probably because it is the last bridge along the River South Tyne just before it merges with the River North Tyne to become the River Tyne. The actual meeting of the rivers is about half a mile to the east of Bridge End which you can get to along a footpath. Two of the routes will see it from the footpath on the south side as they come from Hexham.
When the walking programme for this year was put together the idea was to come from the direction of Haydon Bridge. Getting three routes of varying distances from Haydon Bridge proved quite difficult as most of the footpaths in the area are in a north-to-south direction rather than going from west to east. So we have two routes coming from the east and one route that is doing a circular from Bridge End.
The first route to start is the 9.5-mile route which gets off on the A695 road just south of Corbridge. This route comes west through a large wooded area made up of several individual woods with a large house called the Duke’s House in the centre of the wooded area. The route then drops south into Hexham and continues along a footpath close to the River Tyne and crosses the bridge at Bridge End before doing a small loop to the north and passing Warden on the way back to Bridge End.
The second route to start is the 10-mile route which starts in Hexham, goes past the Abbey and then west along the footpath close to the River Tyne before crossing the bridge at Bridge End. From there it follows a minor road to pick up a footpath along the River South Tyne before heading north past Newbrough and then east around an old quarry area before coming back south to the finish.
The last route to start is the 11-mile route which starts at Bridge End and does circular following a route that takes it along the footpath close the the River South Tyne and then north to Hadrian’s Wall Path not far from Brocolitia Roman Fort. The route then turns south and comes through Carr Edge Plantation and then further south back to Bridge End.
Carr Edge Plantation has the distinction of being the site of the first official Scouts Camp held in 1908. There are several memorials on the site but one of the main ones is an engraved inscription on a natural outcrop facing a cairn. The inscription reads B. P. 1908 LOOK WIDE. Look wide was the name given to that first camp.
Three quite interesting routes to choose from for our second trip out in 2024. Which one will you choose? You can get in touch with us from our Contact Page, you can also download the walk descriptions below and the GPS routes here.
Although we have not finished before at Bridge End we have been past it on a few occasions. The image for this post was taken in October 2022 on the way from Hexham to Haydon Bridge.
The video on the right was taken by a club member on the first walk of this year when all the routes finished in Chatton. The ground has been particularly wet over this past winter so there were a few muddy patches along the way. But check the video and you will see blue skies and sunshine, there will be more of that in the coming months and the ground will dry out as well so keep coming out.
