Bill's Walks

The Sanctuary Way – Introduction

The idea for the Sanctuary Way came about in the 1970s when the Countryside Commission came up with a project called “The Urban Fringe”. The Countryside Commission has changed names several times and is now called Natural England but this is minimal when compared to the massive changes which have taken place along the route since I first completed it in the 1970s. The Countryside Commission scheme held my interest from its inception as I had long promoted the idea that a lot of wildlife and some good walks were available nearby in the Derwent Valley where I lived, even though at that time many of the paths away from habitation were not well marked. Little did I dream that seeing read kites would become commonplace thirty years hence!

The idea of walking a route from Whickham to Durham was hatched, like many good ideas, in a pub and we set about working out a route which avoided built-up areas and the current route indeed follows much of the original route. In order to have a fixed start and finished, I selected the door handles on Whickham Church and Durham Cathedral which gave the walk a name. It could well be called the Reclamation Way, so great has been the changes, all for the better, that we now see en route. These great improvements have come about from a variety of sources. Both Gateshead MBC and Durham County Council, which are responsible for the whole route, have carried our superb work in reclaiming derelict pit heaps and creating Nature Reserves, converting disused railways lines into walkways and other general improvements to footpath furniture and waymarking.

Along with this has been the planting of thousands of trees throughout the area. The main driving force here has been the Woodland Trust which all country lovers should support and whose sites are visited on other walks. In addition, the creation of The Great North Forest, which includes Woodland Trust sites has meant that as well as improvements to the route, the general views have also improved over the years.

There have been other changes too with the development of the Tanfield Railway, which highlights the industrial heritage of the area and even artistic ones with some of the sculptures to be seen on the walk. Further details of these can be found on several leaflets produced by Durham and Gateshead Councils in conjunction with Natural England and the Great North Forest, as well as the Durham Wildlife Trust on the “Bring Back Burdon Moor” leaflet. The Durham Wildlife Trust has developed other sites either close to or on the route. All of these will be mentioned in greater detail in the separate route descriptions for the four sections of the walk.

The complete walk can be done by hard walkers in a single day as it is about 23 miles, but for convenience I have divided the walk into four stages which involves circular walks of around 12 miles each. In effect either route can be considered as the Sanctuary Way as the return route of the circulars always has plenty of interest.