Bill's Walks

Allendale Circular, Spitalshields and Eshells Moors

Filed under: Other

Distance: 12 miles

Map: OS Explorer Map 43 – Hadrian’s Wall: Haltwhistle and Hexham

Start: Allendale Town Centre (GR 836558)

Click to View Start Position on Google Maps

Try and pick a good clear day for this walk as the views are extensive and this is a great walk to stride out on surrounded by space and big skies. There is only one stile on this walk and it is one of these walks when you can stride out in lonely country and feel, in parts, to be away from it all but at the same time expend a limited amount of energy.

The start is the same as the Allendale to Hexham walk climbing up Leadside Bank and onto Spitalshields Moor to reach the junction of the walls at GR880597. Here we leave the Hexham route and head east with the wall on your left and after a few hundred yards you reach a gate and tarmac at GR 885598. Continue east along the road for half a mile to Jingling Gate where the road turns right and follow this road downhill for just over a mile to Ham Burn. Ignore the roads off to the left and the right and cross the ford (or if there has been wet weather by the footbridge) and climb quite steeply uphill to a junction where there is a seat.

This area is old England and the scene will have changed little over the years. It is an evens bet that over this road walking you will see no more than one vehicle as they only serve the few local farms. Turn right at the junction after having a rest on the seat and head south. There are fine views across to Devils Water and Slaley Forest and indeed several routes can be taken here to cover the ten miles to Blanchland which is a fine linear walk. However for our walk, turn right (west) at the t-junction to pass Low Eshells and reach High Eshells farm. The road, which changes to a byway here, turns left uphill for a short distane before heading west-south-west onto the moors. After about one mile from High Eshells the byway ends and there is a locked gate to prevent illicit vehicles continuing and wrecking the bridleway. Here is the only stile on the whole walk.

The track over the moor is quite clear and is basically level. After about one mile there is a deep valley on your left and a clear shooters vehicle track can be seen crossing Lawsley Sike and heading to the Foumart Hills. This is not our route today although it can be taken to reach Allendale by another route. Continue heading west passing to the south of Great Lawsley. It is easy to go wrong here as there is a shooters track which looks the main route. The bridleway is marked by a waymark which keeps to the west and is more like a path winding its way up through the heather. Continue west to Chat Fell Gate which exits on to a moorland road called Chats Lane. This brings you down to Moorhouse Gate where you then pick up Leadside Bank and it is now an easy mile back to the centre of Allendale.

I first did the Eshells Moor route as a very young lad back in the early 1950s as a cyclist where we carried the bikes over the wet areas. This was well before the era of mountain bikes but there was an organisation of cyclists called the Rough Stuff Fellowship who sought out difficult routes. We tried several in Scotland (many of which are still there today) and the only real change has been the bikes which are now better suited to the terrain. One of my friends Brian Harvey was on these early bike routes and is now like me primarily a walker and it is good to still be doing these old routes together over fifty years later. Such is friendship.

As stated at the start of this walk this is best kept for a clear day in winter. Much of it is over grouse moors and is best avoided in spring when not only the grouse, but all the curlew, lapwing and golden plover are breeding and there is also the period of the grouse season after the Glorious 12th in August when the shooting season starts as you will not have the solitude that makes this walk special.

There are a wealth of pubs for those seeking liquid refeshment at the end. The Allendale pubs are all good, whatever the season, as is The Crown at Catton but on our last walk over here we called in at the Carts Bog Inn which was the scene of many visits in previous years. This has recently changed ownership and is much improved. Whilst it is now a gastro pub it also serves good quality ales and has a nice fire in the winter which is a nice way to finish an enjoyable day!