Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.
Two and a half miles north out of Alston on the Pennine Way to the grass ramparts of Whitley Castle, the Roman fort of Epiacum on the Maiden Way, and back the same line. The path climbs steadily out of the town past Harbut Lodge, drops to cross the Gilderdale Burn and then contours up the hillside with the whole South Tyne valley opening behind you. It is walled pasture the whole way with stock in most fields and a fair number of gates. The fort itself is on working farmland, so the lead stays on.
Five and a half miles there and back in around two and a half hours, upstream from England’s highest market town on riverside path and old trackbed to the green at Garrigill. Start from the station car park at Alston, beside the South Tynedale Railway, which is free and the largest parking in the town; the cobbled market place has only a handful of spaces. The South Tyne is alongside almost the whole way with plenty of places for a dog to get in, and much of it is safely off the lead, but riverside meadows are grazed by sheep and there are stiles and gates to negotiate at the field boundaries.
Five miles of nearly level linear walking in two and a half hours, north down the South Tyne valley on the old Haltwhistle branch railway past Kirkhaugh and Lintley to Slaggyford. Start at Alston station car park, which is free and the largest in the town, and take the narrow-gauge South Tynedale Railway back from Slaggyford rather than walking it twice, since the trail and the line run side by side. Traffic-free trackbed makes this the safest long off-lead walk in the North Pennines, with the South Tyne close by for a drink, but the viaducts have open parapets, sheep graze the adjoining fields, and dogs must be on a lead on the train.
Two and three quarter miles with 80 metres of climbing, an easy hour and a quarter up the South Tyne from Garrigill to a waterfall you can walk behind, returning on the trail above. Start at the village green in Garrigill, where roadside parking is free but limited to perhaps fifteen considerate spaces, so a weekday is easier. Pools and cascades all the way up give a dog constant water and shallow paddling, the wooded gorge section is fine off the lead, and the only cares are the wet rock behind the fall itself and the sheep in the meadows either side.
One short email when we add places or a council changes its beach rules. No noise, easy out.
NO SPAM · UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME · WE NEVER SELL THE LIST
Wagfinder Members · Coming soon
NO PAYMENT NOW · FIRST IN WHEN DOORS OPEN · EASY OUT