Stonehaugh to Byrness via Bellingham Pennine Way RFM Blue Line Walking with Peter
Stonehaugh to Byrness
via Bellingham
Pennine Way
RFM Blue Line
Walking with Peter
25/04/25 to 26/04/25
We dropped down a hill and crossed a stream on a high metal and concrete bridge.
The climb up the other bank of the valley was arduous but mercifully short.
Our first coffee stop was on benches provided by the locals. It looked like an old, well built, stone farm and out buildings some now converted into private dwellings. The buildings were interesting with what looked like a substantial stone built hay barn but the stars of this show were the little brown birds noisily entertaining us whilst we supped.
Mum keeping a watch on her curious youngsters.
This is not Pennine Way walking, this is a country walk, but a beautiful walk never the less.
We headed down a long lane and were passed by a few isolated cyclists. This was probably part of the race as we were warned by one of the guys that there were plenty more cyclists to come. We crossed this style off the race route and encountered a mug tied to the rail with tissues inside it. What a curious thing to come across. We speculated as to the various uses the tissues may have been left there for.
Down a long grassy sheepy field to a valley bottom with another concrete and iron bridge high over a stream
We passed the rudely named Shitlington Hall Farm calling hello to a lady mowing the lawn. Crossing more sheepy fields we headed up towards the crags and the mast on the hill top.
This was to be our hardest hill of the day and to be honest it was pretty easy going. The crags were unimpressive but wild.
Our first coffee stop was on benches provided by the locals. It looked like an old, well built, stone farm and out buildings some now converted into private dwellings. The buildings were interesting with what looked like a substantial stone built hay barn but the stars of this show were the little brown birds noisily entertaining us whilst we supped.
We passed the rudely named Shitlington Hall Farm calling hello to a lady mowing the lawn. Crossing more sheepy fields we headed up towards the crags and the mast on the hill top.
This was to be our hardest hill of the day and to be honest it was pretty easy going. The crags were unimpressive but wild.
We reached the top of the crags and headed over towards the mast over more sheepy fields. Past the mast we met a young fellow carry a full pack, with a wolf like dog, walking towards us. The dog was friendly. We stopped and had a chat. This was to be the only walker we would cross paths with today. He told us he was walking John o'Groats to Land's End. wow. Seemed a really nice chap and looked pretty fresh so we were certain he would complete the challenge. Good luck to him.
We crossed more rough land to the hill above Bellingham and after having another coffee we descended to Brown Rigg and the end of this 7 mile section of the weekend's walk.
When we drove back for my car at Stonehaugh we found that we had parked on a very busy stretch of the race and there were hundreds of bikes crowding the road. We got away ok and drove 3 hours back home.
Bellingham to Byrness.
We crossed the stream, a tributary of the North Tyne in the valley bottom, passed a stranded train carriage converted into a cafe and headed out of the town up a hill.
We crossed White Hill and skirted Pearson's Hill heading for the moors.
The route passed Callerhues Crag and Moss.
The farm at Abbey Rigg looked a good place for the first stop. We skirted the farm passing through a field of heavily pregnant ewes who were near the farm because they were near to lambing, one of them lying down looked in the action of lambing. The horses at he top of the lambing field were keeping their distance but still watching us.
We sat on a perfect little mound for a break. It looked like a badger sett but was probably just rabbits. This was a good place to stop except for the noisy rooks in the woods behind us who were making an incessant racket. After our break we crossed a style and looked for an old wooden railway track Peter had seen in the guidebook. We realised quickly we were walking on the ghost of the track as the guide described it.
We crossed the very quiet B6320 passing a mound with as is usual a sheep on top. It looked like a spoil heap and sure enough the guidebook refers to abandoned coal mines in the area
At this point we came across this pair. They were travelling very light, trainers and tee-shirts but with Go-pros, head torches and small packs. We stopped and chatted for a while over past walks particularly Cross Fell. It was a pleasant exchange and they were the first walkers we had seen today. It turned out they were walking to Kirk Yetholm a total of around 40 miles. They thought they would arrive some time in the morning. Peter and I discussed this for some time after they had gone. We were kind of impressed but appalled at the prospect of such a challenge.
We followed them over the long deep valley and up the precarious slope. This steep slope was very difficult to ascend in very dry conditions it must have been murder in the wet.
We sat on a perfect little mound for a break. It looked like a badger sett but was probably just rabbits. This was a good place to stop except for the noisy rooks in the woods behind us who were making an incessant racket. After our break we crossed a style and looked for an old wooden railway track Peter had seen in the guidebook. We realised quickly we were walking on the ghost of the track as the guide described it.
We crossed a very lonely moor until we came into sight of this monument (this is a telephoto image). To us on the day the monument was just a bump on the horizon. There was a stout newish fence stopping access to that part of the moor. As it was not on the Pennine Way there was no need to visit it but we may have done if there had been access. We decided to stop at some rocks in the distance but as commonly happens the route deviated before we reached the rocks so we decided to press on.
We stopped at the top and had our break with this view. The local trees were full of birds Chiff chaffs, Willow warblers, robins, wrens and many more. Yet again a noisy though somewhat more musical break.
As we set off we met the pair again as they had lunched just in front of us. We waved and they walked away quickly as their pace was faster than ours.
We skirted the huge forest and had long views into the north. In the photo bottom right can be seen the bulk of Cheviot sitting on the far horizon. We will pass it on our final Pennine Way adventure in a few weeks time.
This is a landscape dominated by forestry but has its own beauty.
The tracks are narrow so we had to jump off into the grass to avoid a pair of these monsters. The drivers slowed down when they saw us which was much appreciated. They still left a huge cloud of dust behind them. Luckily it cleared quickly.
The mistletoe reminded me of Gdansk.
Peter strides ahead on the hard core roads. Not good for walking but necessary for the heavy timber lorries.
We crossed the bridge at Blakehopeburnhaugh. A tourist couple asked us where the waterfall was but we had no idea. We had a last coffee at the picnic benches. Guess what it was full of all the small birds we had become accustomed to noisy and welcoming. My legs were starting to suffer as the mileage and hard surface walking started to tell.
The track followed the river towards Cottonshopeburnfoot, they like long place names around here. It was very pleasant even though the river seemed to be going in the wrong direction.
I nearly stood on this resident but managed to pirouette away from it. Lucky boy.
The chapel at Byrness and the end of this section of the Way.
Onwards down the valley.
We crossed a footbridge next to the ford.
A final look at the chapel before we headed through the forest to Peter's car at the village hall about a quarter mile away.
As we set off we met the pair again as they had lunched just in front of us. We waved and they walked away quickly as their pace was faster than ours.
We skirted the huge forest and had long views into the north. In the photo bottom right can be seen the bulk of Cheviot sitting on the far horizon. We will pass it on our final Pennine Way adventure in a few weeks time.
This is a landscape dominated by forestry but has its own beauty.
The tracks are narrow so we had to jump off into the grass to avoid a pair of these monsters. The drivers slowed down when they saw us which was much appreciated. They still left a huge cloud of dust behind them. Luckily it cleared quickly.
The track followed the river towards Cottonshopeburnfoot, they like long place names around here. It was very pleasant even though the river seemed to be going in the wrong direction.
We drove back to Bellingham with its relic of a Chinese gun from another era.
We ate at the busy Black Bull Hotel. Guess what.. steak pie and chips.. works every time.
Stonehaugh to Bellingham
7.5 miles
550 feet ascent
875 feet descent
2.5 hours moving time
2.8mph
20,752 steps
Bellingham to Byrness
15.5 miles
1825 feet ascent
1475 feet descent
5.34 hours moving time
2.8mph43,367steps
Total
23 miles
2375 feet ascent
1350 feet descent
7.84 hours moving time
2.8mph
64,119 steps
Not bad.
Comments